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Baked, Baking, Cakes & Pies, Coconut Cake, Dessert, From Scratch, Frosting, Recipes
Preface: Before you look at the list of ingredients in this cake stop. The cake is really, really easy to prepare. Use whatever frosting you’d like, but try the cake…
After a weekend of being shut in with sick kids, the stir crazy feeling was overwhelming, so why not bake? I have been actively searching for coconut cake recipes to prepare for a friends upcoming birthday, and I am not brave enough to prepare a “first time” cake to be served publicly… score family.
We don’t do coconut very often, yet no one, even the kids, will turn it down. The cake recipe is from one source, and the frosting from another with a little tweeking. Note, the cake batter uses powdered sugar. I have never seen this in a cake before, and was leery about it, but it was fantastic.
Speaking of frosting. I had a very hard time deciding the best type of frosting. Supposedly the “classic southern” coconut cake uses a whipped/meringue type frosting, verses a buttercream, but I grew up southern and buttercream was on every cake I’ve ever eaten. Anyway, this recipe intrigued me and settled my frosting dilemma.
Final thoughts? The cake is a keeper. Big time! The frosting was interesting. The original recipe was good, but not very “sweet” so I added some powdered sugar. I think it helped also to thicken the frosting slightly. I will definitely put the cake in my top favorites list, but will probably do a buttercream frosting next time. I just really want to find the “perfect” combination.
Has anyone tried the 7 minute frosting method? What did you think? Was it meringue like?
Coconut Cake with Raspberry Filling
- 3 cups (297g) sifted cake flour (sift before measuring)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 pound (450g) powdered sugar
- 4 egg yolks, well beaten *Beat until well combined, about 1 minute
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon almond extract (or coconut)
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- 4 egg whites, well beaten
Cake Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 – 9″ round cake pans with baking spray.
Combine the cake flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Sift these ingredients 3 times. In a mixing bowl, cream butter thoroughly; add sugar gradually. Continue creaming until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and beat well. Add flour mixture alternately with the milk, beating well after each addition. Stir in coconut and vanilla. Fold in egg whites gently until well combined.
Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Makes two 9-inch layers, or three 8-inch layers. (The original recipe link states to make it in 8″ pans, I used 9″ pans and sliced the layers in half.)
Frosting Ingredients:
- 1 cup Milk
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp coconut extract
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- Raspberry Preserves (at least 1 cup) *choose a good quality
- 1 1/2 cups coconut
Frosting Directions:
MaryMoh said:
That’s such a beautiful cake. Looks moist and delicious. I wish I can have a slice now….mmmm. I love coconut. It gives a lovely flavour to cakes.
ingrid said:
It looks wonderful! I’ve been wanting to try making a coconut cake but haven’t been motivated. Thanks for the push and passing along what sounds like the perfect coconut cake recipe for me.
~ingrid
Jane said:
Hi there!
Your food looks SO GOOD! I will enjoy checking out all of your recipes!
Jennifer said:
Ok, so I have a coconut cake recipe and use the 7-minute frosting for it. I actually like it alot. It always takes me more than 7 minutes and I usually have to add cream of tartar, but whatevs. The cake itself is reaallly sweet and I think I’d be overwhelmed with buttercream. My recipe has a sugar/sour cream/coconut filling that is added to the layers after being punctured and while hot. I’d like to try the raspberry filling though. I bet with the tarty flavor, the buttercream would be really good… hmmm… thinking of cake now 🙂
Bea said:
Can you use margarine instead of butter? and normal caster sugar instead of powdered sugar? If you are using 3 tins and halving each one that would make SIX layers – wouldn’t that be too much?/too high???? I was thinking of putting the mixture in two sandwich tins then putting the rasberry jam on one side and coconut frosting on the other then sandwiching them together…..would that work?
Amanda said:
Wow, this cake looks incredible. I absolutely love coconut. I wish I could reach right through the screen for a sample, yum!
Joni @ Old Centennial Farmhouse said:
Hi there! I noticed traffic coming to my blog from this blog. Thank you for sending folks over. I just wanted to let you know that common courtesy would see my blog’s name (Old Centennial Farmhouse) in the link to my recipe, just thought I’d drop by and let you know that for future reference.
It’s always nice to get a lead to one’s blog when someone else uses your recipe, if credit can be given by name, it should be. I would have emailed this note to you but was unable to find an email address to give this information to you directly.
Thank you!
Joni
stephanie said:
In the cake recipe you say egg whites “well beaten” then fold into cake batter gently. What does well beaten mean? Are you beating until frothy or to soft peaks or firm peaks? The cake looks amazing..Don’t want to screw it up..Thank you.
laurelg1 said:
I went back to the original recipe and since it has been a while since I made this one, I believe that the whites need to be beaten until well combines but not to peaks. Thanks! I will update the recipe!
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Pam said:
the egg whites should be whipped to soft peaks and folded into the cake batter so you will have a light texured cake.
wendyb964 said:
Oooh, looks wicked good to me! My mum loved coconut and fresh raspberries. Though not a fan of coconut until recently, this is on my list cakes to make. The first and only attempt at 7 min frosting was at 10 years of age with parents gone and no powdered sugar in the house. Sis and I were impatient and burned the syrup. Lesson: Tupperware is NOT heat proof. Wound up with a caramel hand, stuck it in the freezer (not typical 40 years ago), eventually had a hand of oozing blisters though no scars. Last year I did try: was lovely though, imho, not worth the time. Our family loves buttercream +/- light cream cheese +/- whipped cream which seems more manageable. Thank you for the lovely post and introduction to a new blog 🙂
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Diana said:
@Joni… This recipe is made from scratch, the one I saw on your blog was from a cake mix and didn’t look nearly as delish as this one.
Tammy said:
I make this in the form of cupcakes, I core the centers out of the cupcakes, mix the raspberry perserves and unsweetened coconut into a filling, fill the cupcakes and replace the “core” as a cap then frost them and add coconut & a fresh rasperry to the top! YUMMMM!
Leslie said:
3 cakes cut in half equals 6 layers – but the photo shows 4 – am i missing something?
laurelg1 said:
You are so correct. I looked into it and noted that I copied the original recipe which called for 8 inch pans, but I actually used 2 – 9″ pans instead. I have corrected the recipe. Thank you!
Jean said:
My coconut cake recipe calls for 7 minute icing. Yes it’s rather like marshmallow. Buttercream frosting sounds delish tho and I love the addition of the raspberry!
Stephanie said:
@Joni- this isn’t your recipe, so your lesson in internet courtesy is misplaced here! The recipe here looks great, and I’m going to try it this weekend. Thanks for sharing it!
Lee said:
Hi, could I please ask how deep your sponges came out? I have made two batches of this recipe in 9″ pans and they are quite sunken and only just level with the top of the pan and I just wondered if I’m doing something wrong or they are quite thin? Many thanks lee
Wendy W said:
Thank you for this recipe. The cake was an excellent addition to my Easter meal. 2 other items: 1 – I cut back on the amount of powdered sugar in the frosting because we like our frosting less sweet and 2 – The list of cake ingredients include both 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 teaspoon almond extract (or coconut). However the instructions tell when to add vanilla but not the other. Are both extracts needed? I only add the vanilla and it was really good.
Karli said:
K. so the cake itself is delicious, if you like an “anti”pound cake. this means you will literally lose pounds carrying this cake from point A to point B. It is ridiculously heavy and dense. Also, the frosting needs much help. I am planning my husband’s birthday and am having to rescue this cake due to lack of time, and am adding a whipped Chambord filling as well in hopes that it may lighten this rock of a cake. Flavor? yes. Cake? Not so much. It is quite a delicious brick….
Heather said:
I came across this cake on pinterest and had to make it. It was so delicious and will most definitely make it again. I used Smucker’s just fruit seedless raspberry which was perfect. Thanks so much for posting this recipe!!!
jojo said:
Cant wait to try coconut cake my fav