Coconut Cream Cake Recipe

Close up of coconut cream cake with coconut frosting slice.

5 from 100 votes

This Coconut Cake Recipe is layer upon layer of coconut flavor in every bite! Coconut cake, coconut cream cheese frosting, sprinkled with toasted coconut. A coconut lover's dream!

Prep Time20

Cook Time1 30

Freezing Time8

Total Time1 50

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Coconut Cream Cake

Servings:

Calories: 644kcal

Author: Elise Donovan

Equipment

Electric Mixer
Mixing Bowls
2 9 inch Round Pans

Ingredients

COCONUT CAKE

Wet Ingredients

1 cup butter softened
1 3/4 cups white sugar
1/2 cup cream of coconut Coco Lopez is the one I used, it can be found by the drink mixers at your grocery store- reserve another 1/2 cup to drizzle on the cake after baking
4 large eggs

Dry Ingredients

2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Additional ingredients

1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon coconut extract

COCONUT CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1/2 cup butter softened
8 ounces cream cheese softened
1 teaspoon coconut extract
2 pounds powdered sugar more if needed
milk as needed
toasted coconut for topping, see below for recipe

Instructions

For the Cake

Separate eggs, set whites aside.
Beat wet ingredients together including egg yolks until fluffy.
Sift dry ingredients together and stir well. In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk and coconut extract. Set aside.
Add dry ingredients to wet using mixer on low speed alternating with buttermilk/extract mixture.
In a clean bowl, beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Fold egg whites into batter.
Line two 9-inch pans with baking spray and flour (or what works BEST is lining the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper- cut a circle for the bottom of the pan and a strip for the sides and still spray above and below the paper)
Bake at 275 degrees for about 90 minutes (this cake comes out much nicer when cooked at a lower temperature). After about 60 minutes, do the "toothpick test", repeating every 5-10 min or so until the toothpick comes out clean.
After the cake is out of the oven and transferred to parchment paper or a cooling rack, poke each cake with a few holes (making sure not to poke all the way through) and drizzle another 1/2 cup of coconut cream over the top. This keeps the cake extra moist.
After the cake completely cools, gently cover it with some plastic wrap and transfer to the freezer to freeze overnight.
The next day, frost immediately after removing from the freezer (see frosting recipe below). This keeps the cake from crumbling while it is being frosted. Put a layer of frosting in-between the two cakes and then continue to frost the remainder of the cake.
After frosting, sprinkle the cake with toasted coconut (instructions for toasting are below). Allow the cake to thaw for about an hour before serving.

For the Frosting

Beat butter, cream cheese, and coconut extract together, adding powdered sugar little by little until reaching desired consistency.
If it seems to get too stiff, add about 1 tsp of milk at a time until you get the consistency you want (add milk to thin it out, add powdered sugar to thicken it up).

Toasted Coconut

Place contents of about 1/2 bag of sweetened, shredded coconut on a cookie sheet. Spread it out so it makes just a single layer. Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 8-10 minutes. Some pieces will still be white and soft, some browned slightly with a little crunch.
Press toasted coconut into the frosting all over the top and sides of the cake.

Video

Notes

This is one of our more advanced recipes on our site but well worth the work! We have made this countless times and it will turn out great as long as you carefully follow the instructions and don't skip steps.

This cake requires freezing OVERNIGHT so be sure to make it a DAY AHEAD of when you plan to serve it! This is a very moist cake and the freezing of the cake makes it so it will not crumble when it is frosted then next day. This step is very important if you want to keep your cake looking pretty.

I have had a few comments with people saying they had issues with sticking, so make sure to grease and flour! I always grease my pan, then line the bottom and sides with parchment paper (so it doesn't slip) cut a round piece of parchment paper for the bottom and a long strip for the side of the pan. Then grease again over the parchment paper and lightly flour.

Some people have had issues with the cake overflowing in 2 pans, I'm not sure if this is an elevation issue or an over-beating issue with the batter, but if the batter seems to be filling your pans more than 3/4 full, consider using a 3rd pan or reserving some of the batter for some cupcakes.

One reader mentioned that she just made it in a traditional 9x13 inch pan without doing the layers and it turned out great. Another reader just did cupcakes and said that they turned out really good too! With either of these options you will need to adjust your baking times accordingly and really watch it close by doing toothpick tests. The cupcakes should cook much faster so start checking those sooner.

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