Coconut Cake

Coconut Cake

Coconut Cake

This month, I baked three Coconut Cakes for the holidays. This recipe is from, The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook 2001-2010 (pgs. 498-99). I love this Coconut Cake recipe and it is the best tasting one I baked thus far. This cake is for serious coconut lovers. The only adjustments I made to the recipe was adding ½ cup of Shredded Coconut Flakes in the cake batter and reduced the Confectioners Sugar to 2 ½ cups instead of 3 cups in the Coconut Frosting. This cake is dense and rich with a creamy Coconut Frosting topped with Toasted Coconut.

Toasted Coconut
Ingredients
2 cups Sweetened Shredded Coconut Flakes

Directions
Heat oven to 450 degrees.

Place the shredded Coconut on a baking sheet in oven for about 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes. Keep an eye on the Coconut. It toasts up pretty quick.

Place on cooling rack to cool completely.

When cool, place in a large bowl and set aside.

Coconut Cake
Ingredients
2 ¼ cups Cake Flour, plus more for the cake pans

¾ cup Cream of Coconut (Goya)

5 Extra Large Egg Whites, plus 1 Egg, room temperature

¼ cup Water

1 teaspoon Coconut Extract

1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

1 cup Granulated Sugar

1 tablespoon Baking Powder

¾ teaspoon Table Salt

1 ½ sticks (12 tablespoons) Unsalted Butter, softened and cut into 12 pieces

½ cup Sweetened Shredded Coconut Flakes

Coconut Cake - divine!

Directions
Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees.

Grease cake pan, line with parchment paper (if using 2 9-inch pans; omit parchment paper if using 9 x 13 Baking Dish) and grease and sprinkle with Cake Flour. Tap on counter and get rid of excess Cake Flour.

Whisk Cream of Coconut, Water, Egg Whites, Egg, Coconut and Vanilla Extracts together in a medium bowl.

In a hand-held or stand mixer with paddle attachment, mix Cake Flour, Granulated Sugar, Baking Powder, and Salt on low speed until combined, about 1 minute.

Increase speed to medium, beat Butter into the Flour mixture, a couple of pieces at a time, about 1 minute. Continue to beat the mixture until it resembles moist crumbs, about 1 minute.

Beat in all but ½ cup of the Cream of Coconut mixture, then increase speed to medium and beat until smooth, light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add remaining Cream of Coconut mixture until batter is combined, about 1 minute.

With a spatula gently fold in Sweetened Shredded Coconut Flakes.

Scrape batter and pour into the prepared pans, smooth tops with spatula, and lightly tap the pans against the counter top two to four times to settle the batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes.

If you are using 2 9-inch cake pans, cool cakes in pans for 10 minutes. Run a small knife around the edge of the cakes, then flip them carefully onto a wire rack. Peel off the parchment paper, flip the cakes right side up, and cool completely before frosting, about 2 hours.

If you are using a 9 x 13 Baking Dish (I used Pyrex Glass Baking Dish), cool cake completely before frosting. If you want to place on decorative platter, cool cake in pan for 10 minutes and run a small knife around the edge of the cake and flip carefully onto platter.

Toasted Coconut - pure yumminess!

Coconut Frosting
Ingredients
2 tablespoons Heavy Cream

1 teaspoon Coconut Extract

1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

Pinch Table Salt

2 sticks (16 tablespoons) Unsalted Butter, cut into chunks and softened

¼ cup Cream of Coconut

2 ½ cups Confectioners Sugar

 2 cups Sweetened Shredded Coconut (Toasted)

Directions
In a small bowl, stir the Cream, Coconut and Vanilla Extracts, and Salt together.

In a hand-held or stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat Butter and Cream of Coconut on medium-high speed until smooth, about 30-45 seconds.

Reduce mixer speed to medium-low and gradually beat in Confectioners Sugar, then continue to beat until smooth, about 3 minutes. Beat in the Cream mixture. Increase mixer speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes.

Spread desired frosting over the cooled cake. Sprinkle as much of the Toasted Coconut Flakes over the cake. Cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and keep in fridge until ready to serve. I chilled the cake overnight.

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys