Mother’s Day is only a few short days away and this year we’re making coconut cake! It’s the perfect dessert for this spring season; it’s light, fluffy, moist, and totally delicious. It’s also pretty easy to throw together. You can even bake the cake and make the frosting a few days ahead of time and assemble it the day before or day of..easy!
My favorite part of this cake are the giant, toasted coconut flakes. I think they add a nice visual appeal, plus I really like the slightly crisp texture they add to the cake! I got these flakes in the baking section of my local Whole Foods, but I’m sure you can find them in other grocery locations as well…and if you can’t, the more typical shredded coconut is perfectly acceptable!
If your mom or mother figure is a simple coconut and vanilla type of person, then is totally the cake for her. Enjoy! xx, Jenny
Here are more cake recipes you will love:
- Lemon and Thyme Cake
- Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Six Layer S’mores Cake
- Apple Cranberry Cake with Salted Caramel Buttercream
- Sour Cream and Cinnamon Crumb Cake
- Sticky Toffee Pudding
- Our Best Easter Desserts
Coconut Cake
INGREDIENTS
cake
- 2 ⅓ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ⅓ cup white sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
- ½ cup coconut milk
- ½ cup whole milk
frosting
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 4 cups sifted powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
garnish
- 2 cups toasted unsweetened coconut flakes
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350˚F.
- For cake: Line the bottoms of two 6” cake rounds with parchment and lightly grease the sides. Set aside.
- Place flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk together.
- In another mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time and continue to mix. Add vanilla and coconut extracts. Scrape down sides of the bowl.
- Add dry ingredients and mix together until mixture just comes together. Stir in coconut milk and whole milk and continue to stir until mixture is smooth.
- Divide mixture into prepared cake rounds and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake and the tops are golden brown.
- Allow cake to cool completely and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- For frosting: Place butter and cream cheese into a mixing bowl and beat together until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Stir vanilla extract and salt into the mixture and beat until completely incorporated and mixture is smooth.
- To assemble: Place a thin layer of frosting over the top of one of the cake circles and top with the other cake circle, inverted (so both cake circle tops are touching one another). Gently frost the two tiered cake with a thin layer of frosting (the crumb coat). Place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Coat the cake in another layer of frosting and with handfuls of toasted coconut flakes, carefully press them onto the sides of the cake until fully coated. Smooth the frosting on the top of the cake, if needed. Slice and serve.
NOTES
- *Makes 1 (6 inch) cake
Did you make this recipe? We want to see!
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Added candied bacon on the top! Omg want it again!
Delicious! Rich crumb with subtle and delicious coconut flavor. I made it for my MIL and her family during her recovery and everyone loved it as a special treat. I lightly toasted the shredded coconut before decorating and that ended up adding texture and visual appeal. I also used 9″ pans as my MIL does not have 6″, and they worked well, I shorted the baking time by about ten minutes. Mine of course looked nothing like Teri’s but I’ll bake this again, thanks SFB!
So glad you enjoyed this Corey!! Thanks for you comment and rating! :)
Just LOOKING at this cake makes me happy. It’s beautiful.
I’m a mom. Hope someone makes it for me. I adore all things coconut.This one looks amazing.
Hi Jenny
What tweaks did you do to this recipe.
It’s not that I want to copy your web site, but I really like the style. Could you let me know which theme are you using? Or was it especially designed?
its specially designed.
You…are…my…hero!!! I cant believe something like this exists on the internet! Its so true, so honest, and more than that you dont sound like an idiot! Finally, someone who knows how to talk about a subject without sounding like a kid who didnt get that bike he wanted for Christmas.
this cake came out very dense.. almost hard feeling… and barely rised at all. i even made it twice because the first time I thought I must have messed something up. but it came out the exact same the second time. however, it did taste pretty good.
I doubled the recipe to bake in 9-inch pans.
The cake had a reasonable rise and baked to normal thickness, but for some reason came out really dense. Was this the expected texture?
The flavours were quite delicious overall =)
Hm, this cake has a pretty fluffy texture or at least it should. I would maybe add a 1/2 cup more coconut milk in the future, if you want to give it another go…should help to lighten the cake up!
I did something way wrong. My two cakes are each about as thick as a finger…where did I go wrong? Thanks.
Are you saying they’re super thick or super thin? Did you use 6 inch cake rounds?
At first, I used a 9-in but since I have tried it twice with a 6 inch and agree with the other readers’ comments that it is very dense. I’ll try extra coconut milk. The icing is terrific though!
Coconut cake is such a great treat. My mom and I both love it so I think I will make this for mother’s day.
I must make this cake this Sunday–I think my mother would love it!
This looks stunning! I love how you elegantly decorated the sides with the toasted coconut flakes. Beautiful!
I’ve never made coconut cake and it’s one of my Mother’s all-time faves so I may have to try this out for Sunday!
I once worked at a bakery that was famous for their coconut cake..it’s since closed and I miss it so! Ahhh, the memories! Think I’d better make this.