Classic Coconut Cake
- Total Time
- 1¼ hours, plus chilling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:1 9-inch cake
- 3cups/435 grams cake flour or all-purpose flour
- 2cups/170 grams unsweetened finely shredded coconut (or substitute 149 grams medium shredded)
- 2teaspoons baking powder
- 1½teaspoons kosher salt
- 1¼cup/300 milliliters buttermilk
- ⅓cup/80 milliliters coconut, grapeseed or vegetable oil (coconut oil should be liquified before measuring)
- 2cups/400 grams granulated sugar
- 1cup/227 grams unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4large eggs
- 1pound/452 grams cream cheese, room temperature (2 8-ounce packages)
- 3¾cups/453 grams confectioners' sugar (a standard 1-pound box)
- 1½cups/341 grams unsalted butter (3 sticks), at room temperature
- ½teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼teaspoon kosher salt
- 3cups/171 grams coconut flakes or chips (or substitute 224 grams medium shredded, unsweetened coconut)
For the Cake
For the Frosting
Preparation
- Step 1
Bake the cake: Heat oven to 325 degrees. Spray two 9-inch cake pans with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Spray again and set aside.
- Step 2
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, coconut, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a separate, smaller bowl, combine buttermilk and coconut oil; set aside.
- Step 3
In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat sugar, butter and vanilla on medium-high speed until mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, beating each egg until well incorporated before adding the next one. Continue beating until the mixture is very pale and nearly doubled in volume, another 4 minutes. Scrape down sides of the bowl, making sure no pockets of butter and sugar are hiding at the bottom, and beat another minute or so.
- Step 4
Reduce speed to medium-low and add a third of the flour mixture, followed by ½ the buttermilk mixture, and mix just to blend. Add another third of the flour mixture and the remaining buttermilk mixture and mix just to blend, then finish up by adding the remaining flour mixture.
- Step 5
Divide batter among cake pans and smooth the tops. Bake in the middle racks until cakes are puffed, pale golden brown on top and starting to pull away from the sides, about 32 to 37 minutes. Let cool slightly in pans before inverting on wire racks to cool completely.
- Step 6
Make the frosting: In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, butter, vanilla and salt together on high speed until nearly pure white and very fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Step 7
Place one cake round bottom-side-up on a large, flat plate (or cake stand). Using an offset spatula, frost with about 1½ cups frosting and place second layer of cake on top, bottom-side-up (this will give your cake a flat, rather than a rounded top). Using an offset spatula, spread a thin layer of frosting over the top and around the sides of the cake, making sure to fill in any crevices or gaps where the two layers meet. Chill cake for 1 hour.
- Step 8
Meanwhile, if you’d like to lightly toast the coconut, place it on a rimmed baking sheet and toast at 325 degrees until pale golden in spots, 3 to 5 minutes. (It will give the coconut a great toasted flavor, but you’ll lose the pure white snowball look of the finished cake.)
- Step 9
Frost cake with remaining frosting on the top and up the sides. Pat coconut onto the sides and sprinkle on the top of the cake. Chill cake for at least 30 minutes more before slicing.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Ann B.
Much easier than my mother's recipe that begins with "put two holes in a coconut with a nail and hammer".
Miranda
Don't add the melted coconut oil to the buttermilk until right before it goes in otherwise it will solidify.
Rgmartin
If you sub coconut cream add a tablespoon of lemon juice to make the baking powder work
Leah H
For an extra coconut punch add coconut extract instead of vanilla. I kept the vanilla in the frosting, though.
David
While the frosting is lovely, the sponge just did not turn out whatsoever for me. I made two rounds of cakes, with all ingredients carefully measured by weight, and both times they turned out remarkably dense and tough. I've rechecked my method against the recipe several times and just can't see where I've gone wrong. Anyone else had trouble getting these sponges to rise?
lab
Step #4 is very important, its imperative to mix the flour & milk, etc just till its all blended, them stop. I learned the hard way beat the cake batter too much and the cake wasn't really edible.
Annie
Add a teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice to frosting and continue to whip. The fresh lemon balances the sweetness of the frosting. There is no "ah, lemon" recognition in taste, but just a lighter sense to the frosting. Any time I make a frosting with cream cheese I add the lemon.
Bettina
Put a candle in center and cake cracked into three pieces.
Tied ribbon around it to hold it together.
R.S.
I incorporated the white, solid portion from a can of coconut cream into the frosting. It provided a bit of extra flavor too.
Irma
I substituted pure, dense coconut cream ( no water added) hor coconut oil. There is no comparison in taste or texture.
Phil J
Some crucial moments here or your cake will be dry and dense. Really important to beat the butter and cream to very fluffy, this is one of the only stages to incorporate air. Also, don’t overmix wet & dry cake ingredients- essentially the more mixing the more gluten formation, and we are looking for a light airy cake, not a chewy sourdough loaf. Finally, since baking at 325, not much browning so the top will be pretty pale yellow, so do not overbake! Also, the frosting is better w a little lemon
Kelly
I made this as cupcakes and they came out just great. Cutting the recipe in half gave me a dozen. I left them in the oven for 15 min, until they were slightly brown on top. The best coconut cake we'd ever had.
Mark
Made half the frosting on account of a cream cheese shortage. It was fine. Used whole milk on account of a buttermilk shortage. Also fine. A very forgiving recipe - delicious. Do not overbeat the batter and everything will click!
Erica
for bundt, same temp add ~20 min. bundt frosting: 1.5 packages cream cheese, 1 stick butter, 1 cup powdered sugar, vanilla & almond extract, salt. could layer with berries or lemon.
Laura
Love this frosting! The cake was okay - had to sit in the fridge for a week so I don't know how it would have been fresh - but it was still a hit !
N. R.
This cake came out perfect for me. I used cake flour after reading people’s comments about the texture being too dense. I suspect that those who used all purpose flour got a denser texture, and recommend choosing cake flour if you want to make sure you have a light texture.
Judy in Chicago
I've made this cake multiple times and get raves each time. I've varied the recipe each time: 1) The frosting recipe is too rich; I use the canned vanilla or cream cheese frosting 2) I add chocolate frosting and chocolate chips between the two layers 3) I use buttermilk instead of coconut milk 4) Sometimes, I half the recipe and cut the one layer in half. Then, I stack the two after I frost the middle layer. I cover the half cake with frosting and shredded coconut An amazing recipe!
Lauren Kerr
This is a wonderful moist, dense, coconutty cake. I followed the recipe to the letter except that I used 4 duck eggs which made it extra rich and slightly more risen. I might add coconut extract to the frosting instead of vanilla next time, but it was creamy and delicious as is. So glad they offer weights as well as volume measurements!
oil
This looks really good.
LT
This cake is amazing- made precisely aside from no added coconut to batter used both coconut extract and vanilla extract and veg oil. Loved this cake! Make with coconut icing 1 pkg creamed coconut and 1/4 cup warm water - mix thoroughly until smooth Add to mixer 1 pkg Philly 1 cup butter softened 1 tsp coconut extract 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/4 tsp salt 1 kg bag icing sugar
Cheryl
I made the cake using all purpose flour and it was a bit dry. I would use cake flour to make again. The frosting was great and my cake with the coconut looked exactly like the recipe picture.
jz
Awesome recipe! Added 1/4 tsp almond extract to cake mix. Bring your buttermilk to room temp before blending with ‘cooled’ melted coconut oil. Mix dry and liquids carefully by hand after beating butter, sugar, and eggs.
Susigaj
This was a very heavy cake. I'm not an inexperienced cake baker. I read the other comments about steps 3 & 4 and followed the steps exactly. What surprised me was the difference between the volume measure of flour and the weight. My 3 cups of cake flour weighed quite a bit less than 435 grams so I kept adding more to make sure I used 435 grams of cake flour. The other ingredients compared the same volume to weight. Could there be an error in the weight measure for flour?
Texas Katie
I have made this twice. I followed the recipe but subbed coconut cream for oil, added coconut extract and added the lemon juice to the frosting as others advised. The first time it was divine. The second time the sponge was disappointingly dry. I baked it 1 1/2 days in advance, allowed it to cool and wrapped tightly in multiple layers of Saran Wrap. Stored at room temp. I cooked it until golden brown on top and just pulling away from the sides.
Anna J.
I love this cake so much. It’s dense but in the best way, so that it seems almost creamy with the perfect touch of salt. I make it every year for my dad’s birthday. Coconut cake was his favorite, though he believed a recipe should begin with a coconut and a hammer. He has since passed away, but I love making this annually (or more often!) in his honor. Also, with two 6” cake pans you can halve the recipe and get a charming mini cake. Thanks for the fabulous recipe AR!
Michelle
I felt the frosting was "overabundant"...so I only made 2/3 of it and it was still plenty. This is an amazing coconut cake!!
Peggy H.
Delicious! Not too sweet, which is not always true for a coconut cake. I made it with ermine frosting instead of cream cheese, which was a more neutral flavor profile and allowed the coconut to shine.
Peggy H.
Beautiful! Made the cake as written (w veg oil), but swapped ermine frosting for the cream cheese, for a more neutral flavor that allowed the coconut to shine. The cake is on the drier and firmer side, but it was delicious and perfect for a layer cake that requires stacking. Rave reviews at the Christmas dinner table.
jane
I added 170 grams of unsweetened finely grated coconut, which is what the recipe calls for, but it was WAY too much. 170 grams equals 3.4 cups. I should have gone with the 2 cups that the recipe calls for. Is it possible that the recipe should call for 100 grams instead of 170 grams?
nellie
The cake is yummy but not quite coconutty as i had hoped and the whole family agreed that this was just too much icing. The presentation is wonderful - so joyful!
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