Coconut Cake
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Oh this cake! Coconut Cake – it’s velvety, moist and melt in your mouth. We absolutely loved this cake so much. It uses the reverse creaming method which makes the best cakes in my book. It’s frosted with a simple coconut buttercream frosting that helps hold in all goodness!
Have you heard of the reverse creaming method? If not, please do listen! The strawberry cake on my blog also uses it. I learned this mixing method through the blog, My Cake School and I am obsessed.
We all have different ways of enjoying food, right? Some people like spice, some people like creamy texture, some people like crunchy textures, etc. Well…when it comes to cake, I love a velvety textured cake. It’s a denser cake, but still moist.
Reverse creaming entails mixing the dry ingredients with the butter first until the mixture represents coarse sand. Then the wet ingredients are slowly adding resulting in a thick and creamy cake batter.
I totally geeked out the first time I tried this method for baking cakes!
I could eat this batter by the spoonfuls – even the cake batter is velvety, rich and delicious.
Simply bake these until baked through – use the toothpick trick to make sure. The cake will be lightly golden on top and pull away from the edges. Let cool a little and then turn out to cool completely before frosting.
Let’s talk about the frosting…
I decided to use a traditional buttercream frosting but you could use any type of white frosting you would like. I also love this whipped buttercream frosting that’s super light and fluffy.
This will definitely be my new cake recipe for special occasions. Who doesn’t love a coconut dessert, right? It’s not something you typical get to enjoy like a chocolate cake, white cake or vanilla cupcake. It’s a little bit special and I love that! It’s the new Birthday cake for our family, for sure!
I hope you enjoy this delicious velvety cake as much as I do!
Coconut Cake
A moist and velvety coconut cake with buttercream frosting.
Ingredients
COCONUT CAKE
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 cups cake flour
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and sliced thinly
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 5 egg whites (use large eggs)
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/3 cup melted unrefined coconut oil
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoons coconut extract
- 14 ounce package unsweetened coconut flakes, divided (1 cup will go into the cake, the rest will be used on the top)
BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1/2 cup unsalted Butter
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
- 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
- 3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted if you can.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees and prepare 2, 8x8 cake pans. Spray with non-stick spray and sprinkle with flour to ensure the cake doesn't stick. To really ensure that it doesn't stick, trace the bottom of the cake pans on parchment paper, cut the circles out and place on the bottom of the greased cake pans; set aside.
- Prepare your ingredients - measure everything out before you start. Cut cold butter into thin slices; set aside. In a large bowl or measuring cup with a lip, mix together buttermilk, coconut oil, egg whites, vanilla and coconut extract. In a stand-alone mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add flour, granulated sugar, salt and baking powder. Turn mixer on low speed to mix dry ingredients together - if you need to also use a whisk, please do to make sure they are mixed well.
- With mixer on low-speed add one piece of butter at a time, wait a few seconds then add another. This process takes awhile but I promise it's worth it. Continue adding one piece of butter at a time and mix until the dry ingredients look like wet sand. You should be able to press the mixture between your fingers and it should stick together slightly, like wet sand does.
- With mixer on low-speed, slowly pour half of the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Turn mixer to medium speed and mix for 1 1/2 minutes. Turn off and scrape down sides of bowl.
- Turn mixer to low-speed again and add half of whats left of the wet ingredients, turn to medium speed for 20 seconds. Turn off and scrape bowl. Do this one last time with the remaning wet ingredients. The batter will be thick and creamy.
- Lastly, stir in 1 cup coconut flakes. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 35-40 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean when inserted in the center of the cake. Let cakes cool then frost.
- To make frosting, add butter and shortening to your mixer. Mix until creamy. Next, add half of the confectioners sugar, coonut extract and milk. Mix on low then on medium until creamy. Add the other half of the confectioners sugar and mix on high speed for 20 minutes until fluffy. Add more milk and mix again if needed.
Notes
If you don't have coconut oil, vegetable oil or canola oil works, too. Add an additional 1/2 teaspoon of coconut extract to get flavor.
Store cake in an airtight container in refrigerator.
Do we add the remaining coconut to the frosting or just on top after we frost the cake?
I don’t add it in the frosting, just on top. But you can if you’d like!
What do you mean by shortening?
Hi Rachel! Shortening is a type of fat used in baking. The common brand for it is Crisco shortening. You can substitute it for more butter in this recipe if you’d like. Some healthier alternatives are coconut oil or shortening avocado oil. Hope this helps!
How big of a package of flakes??
14 ounce! I updated the recipe to reflect the amount. Enjoy!
Question: I’m not a fan of egg whites only in a cake. Could I do whole eggs instead? If so, how many? I don’t mind the cake not being pure white. Thanks!
I haven’t tested the cake without using just egg whites. I would suggest trying the cake as is – you might like it! Otherwise 2 large eggs maybe? It’s so hard to say exactly because I haven’t tried it.
My husband wanted a coconut cake for his birthday. Since it falls on Valentine’s Day I wanted to make it extra special. I scoured the internet for recipes and magically your recipe for coconut cake showed up in my inbox. I didn’t think I could make a scratch cake that would be moist and flavorful, but I was so wrong! This is an excellent cake recipe. It is the first cake I have made from scratch, as good as any bakery cake!!!! Thanks for a winning recipe
This is great! I’m so glad!!