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Coconut Cake and Giveaway!

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Coconut Cake and Giveaway!

This giveaway is CLOSED!  Congratulations to Heather on winning!

Did you have a good Easter?  I hope so.  Mine was relatively uneventful.  The sun shined a lot, but the weather is still too chilly for my taste.  I colored Easter eggs, as you probably noticed in my last post.  Coloring eggs may be the most relaxing, fun thing I’ve done in awhile.  No pressure, just a good time.  I probably should have bought a couple extra packages to do it again when I’m feeling stressed J The plan was to make a pork shoulder for the first time, but somehow, the butcher gave us a pork loin, so yeah, that didn’t work out so well.  We watched Lincoln, which we all found rather boring.

And oh, yeah, I made Coconut Cake.  Not just any coconut cake, but the best coconut cake I’ve ever had or imagined.  I made a similar one a few years ago for my birthday, and it was good, but had a few flaws.  I’ve been wanting to post a coconut cake here for quite some time, as it’s probably my favorite treat, funny coming from a girl who hated coconut as a child.  So I’ve been working on my own original coconut cake recipe and searching for the perfect time to make it.

Coconut Cake and Giveaway!

Coconut Cake and Giveaway!

Coconut and Easter go hand in hand and since the main protein wasn’t going to work, there was plenty a room left in my tummy for a nice big Easter dessert.  It was time for Coconut Cake!

The cake is a chiffon cake.  Nice and light, while still being super moist with a hint of richness.  I used Bob’s Red Mill Fine Macaroon Coconut because I wanted coconut in every single bite of cake without big pieces to throw off the texture.  It was the perfect coconut to use.  I also tried their pasty flour for the first time and was thrilled with the results, a tender cake with a fine crumb, just what cake should be.  I have never been able to find coconut extract, so I use a combination of almond and vanilla in the cake and frosting to give that classic coconut cake flavor.

The vanilla soaking syrup adds extra moisture and flavor to the cake, but one thing about me hasn’t changed over the years – I’m still a frosting girl at heart.  And no frosting will do for a grand cake such as this except Italian Buttercream.  It has a few more steps than American buttercream, but the incredible creamy, silky smooth texture and subtle sweetness are more than worth it.  Toasted coconut on the outside adds great texture and really brings home the coconut flavor.  I used Bob’s Red Mill Flaked Coconut for this and I can’t imagine anything better.  The whole cake made my Easter, heck, it probably made my whole month.  I seriously considered grabbing another piece . . . but I didn’t.

Coconut Cake and Giveaway!

Coconut Cake and Giveaway!

Oh, you want to make coconut cake too?  Well, Bob’s Red Mill has kindly offered a giveaway prize today.  One lucky winner will get 1 bag of Bob’s Red Mill Unsweetened Flaked Coconut and 1 bag of Bob’s Red Mill Fine Macaroon Coconut to make this delicious coconut cake – or whatever else strikes your coconut fancy.

In order to enter the giveaway, answer the question: What did you make for Easter?

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Follow @piesandplots on Twitter. Come back and let me know you’ve followed in an additional and entirely separate comment.

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The giveaway ends Monday, April 8, 2013 at 11:59 pm EST.

The winner will be chosen via the Random Number Generator on random.org. The winner will be notified by email and will have 24 hours to respond. If the winner does not respond, a new winner will be chosen.  Good luck!

Disclaimer: Bob’s Red Mill Provided this giveaway, but all opinions as always are my own.

Coconut Cake and Giveaway!

Coconut Cake and Giveaway!

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Coconut Cake and Giveaway!

★★★★★

4.9 from 12 reviews
  • Total Time: 1 hour 45 mins
  • Yield: 10 1x
Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

Cake

  • 2 cups cake flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
  • 7 large eggs, separated
  • 3 additional large egg whites
  • 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
  • ½ vanilla bean, scraped, seeds and pod reserved
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon pure almond extract
  • ½ cup vegetable oil

Syrup

  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup water
  • Reserved vanilla pod

Frosting

  • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
  • 5 large egg whites
  • 1/2 + 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon pure almond extract
  • 2 cups flaked unsweetened coconut, toasted, for garnish

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 8 or 9 inch cake pans. Line the bottom with parchment and butter and flour the entire pan.
  2. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and coconut.
  3. In a large bowl stir together egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla bean seeds until fully combined and slightly lightened in color and increased in volume. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts and the oil. Mix until fully combined.
  4. In a large bowl, beat egg whites using a hand mixer on medium-high until frothy. This whole process takes awhile and could also be done using a stand mixer – I just knew I was using mine for frosting later. Add the cream of tartar and continue mixing until stiff but not dry peaks have formed.
  5. Add the flour mixture into the egg yolk mixture and stir until combined. Add 1/3 of the egg whites and carefully and gently fold in using a rubber spatula. Fold in the remainder of the egg whites. Divide the batter as evenly as possible among the 2 pans and bake, rotating halfway through if necessary, for about 25 minutes. Cakes may be made one day ahead of time and stored in an air tight container at room temperature. Allow cakes to cool completely in pans.
  6. Make the syrup. In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring water, sugar, and vanilla bean pod to a boil, stirring frequently and cook until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside to cool completely.
  7. Make the frosting. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, water, and corn syrup over medium heat, stirring frequently until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once this happens, stop stirring, attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan, and allow the mixture to come to 240 degrees F on the thermometer. In the meantime, place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on medium-high until foamy. Once foamy, add the cream of tartar and continue beating on medium-high until stiff peaks form. Be sure not to over whip the egg whites or they will become dry.
  8. Once the eggs are whipped and the syrup is at 240, turn the eggs to medium-low, immediately remove the syrup from the heat, and begin slowly and steadily drizzling it into the eggs. If the syrup is ready before the eggs, it can be turned down or removed from the heat while the eggs finish, before being replaced on the heat to bring to temperature. If the eggs are ready before the syrup, stop mixing them until the syrup is almost ready. Turn them back to medium-high briefly before turning them back down and adding the syrup.
  9. Once the syrup has all been added, turn the mixer back to medium-high and beat the frosting (what is basically marshmallow crème and is delectable all by itself) for 10-13 minutes until the bottom of the bowl is barely warm or at room temperature. It is important for it to not be too warm or the next step will not work.
  10. Once cooled, add the butter a couple tablespoons at a time, allowing each addition to incorporate before adding another. Scrape down the bowl occasionally. Once all the butter is incorporated, add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix to combine. Remove the bowl from the mixer and mix briefly by hand to make sure there are no clumps of butter. If the frosting is a bit soupy (because it was too warm when the butter was added) stick it in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes, beat it again with the stand mixer. It should come together.
  11. Assemble the cake. Place one cake on a cake plate. Using a serrated knife, cut the cake in half horizontally. Place the top half on a plate or back in the pan. Leave the bottom half on the cake stand. Drizzle with some of the vanilla syrup and cover with frosting. Place the top half of the cake on top, drizzle with syrup, and cover with frosting. Repeat with other cake. Cover the entire cake with frosting, including the sides. Once frosted, gently press the toasted coconut onto the sides of the cake and serve. May be stored at room temperature for up to 2 hours. May be stored in the refrigerator up to 2 days or frozen in pieces, wrapped in plastic and foil and placed in a zipper bag for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature for about 2 hours.
  • Prep Time: 1 hour
  • Cook Time: 45 mins

Comments

  6. We made turkey and dressing and mashed potatoes and biscuits and broccoli salad and had a great dinner!

    Reply

    • I wish I could send you a piece too! I really miss you 🙂 Was Ruth Ann making this cake already? I just posted it. If so, that’s very cool!

      Reply

  15. OMG I’m actually drooling……..what a gorgeous cake , when is the technology world gonna invent “that” computer where you can put your hand through the screen and grab what you see……… 🙂 I’m soooo gonna make this cake, Hey bet this would be nice if it had some dark chocolate element to the recipe.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • We should at least be able to smell it, right? 😉 Thanks so much! I’m allergic to chocolate and really liked that this was a traditional coconut cake, but feel free to mix it up however you like, and let me know how it works out!

      Reply

  16. This is the first year I didn’t make a huge ham dinner. We just ate ham & scalloped potatoes last week, so I made chicken. Everyone thought it was good. I made jello eggs for my daughter. I usually make a fresh strawberry o’cheese dessert, but we just ate all our leftover candy and cookies. I love Bob’s Red Mill! Thanks for the giveaway.

    Reply

  21. Coconut cake is my favorite treat too!

    I WAS going to make cookies with Easter colored M&M’s, but I didn’t get the chance.

    Reply

  32. We don’t celebrate Easter so I really can’t remember. But that is a heck of a cake!

    Reply

  33. To be honest I didn’t make a thing for Easter. I consumed slot if food made by family.
    Ham
    Meatballs
    Deviled eggs
    Twice baked potatoes
    Then desert.

    Reply

  36. This Coconut Cake with Itallian Buttercream Frosting looks so delicious.For Easter, I made a chuck roast with creamy mashed potatoes. I made a Cream Cheese Pound cake for dessert.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  38. I made a vegetable tray to take to my sisters….ok, to be honest I didn’t even make the veggie tray. I did buy the supplies for it though, does that count? 🙂 We were lucky enough to go to two places and the only thing we were asked to bring was a veggie tray.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  42. This cake looks Amazing. I love coconut and have never tried coconut cake. I will be trying to make this very soon. So glad you had a good Easter!

    Reply

  43. Jessica is right, I made the veggie tray, but indulged in pork tenderloin, lasagna, seared beef roast tips, broccoli (at two places) asparagus (also at two locations) and a bevy of fruit and desserts. As for the cake….. coconut is not my thing, but it looks great.

    ★★★★

    Reply

    • Wow Art! You ate at two locations, that’s alot of food buddy. LOL. Why haven’t you gained any weight like me.

      Reply

    • It was without a doubt a lot of work, but it was sooooo worth it. I wouldn’t want to make it everyday, but it was a lot of fun to make and eat.

      Reply

  48. What a stunning cake! I sure wish I had celebrated Easter, if only to enjoy such sweet coconut indulgence myself. However, I did make a deconstructed sort of lemon meringue pie for Passover- Lemon curd, meringue kiss cookies, and raspberries on top.

    Reply

  49. Love Bob’s Redmill Coconut. I use it to make quinoa granola and Heidi’s power bars!

    What I made for Easter? After my fiance and I took a wonderful afternoon nap, I cooked up a big pot of chili and some corn bread and we settled in for a night of Game of Thrones. Maybe not traditionally Easter, but perfect nonetheless

    Reply

  51. I made an Easter brunch for my parents: waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, scrambled eggs with chives, bacon, and coffee. It was a fun change to old traditions. 🙂

    Reply

  52. I ate with my Mema for Easter. So she did most of the cooking. I did make two Easter Bunny cakes though. One was with sugar, and the other was Sugar Free because I have an Aunt that is diabetic! Everyone loved them!

    Reply

  69. For Easter I made a delicious roasted butterflied free range chicken with carrots, blue sweet potatoes, and red skinned potatoes. It was yummy.

    Reply

  70. I liked you on Facebook. I think I will make this cake as cupcakes for a fund raiser next weekend.. A winner.

    Reply

  72. the cake looks wonderful! for Easter, I actually made something with coconut–the creamy fruit salad from Ingrid Hoffman’s new cookbook.

    Reply

  80. We haven’t celebrated Easter yet because we had to wait until our cousin was with us and not his mom. Therefore, why not make coconut cake? 😉 looks tasty.

    Reply

  83. Well, as I am a coconut fan I made a coconut cream pie, I will be trying this coconut cake recipe. Thanks

    Reply

  85. We had a very traditional Easter dinner with Ham, potatoes, salad, vegetables and rolls. Carrot cake was a guests request for dessert. It was a great weekend.

    Reply

  100. Yum! That is the most beautiful coconut cake ever! I love that it’s soaked in a vanilla syrup.

    Reply

  101. Nothing. We went to my mother-in-law’s and she pretty much insists on making it all. Although we did help her with the setup and serving on Easter.

    Reply

  102. Ham with orange and cardamom glaze, smashed horseradish parsnips, braised collard greens with orange zest and chilli flakes, as well as yogurt biscuits.

    Reply

  108. I love your pictures and recipes, they are mouth watering. Would love for you to share them with us at foodieportal.com. We are new but at foodieportal.com we are not photography snobs, we are just foodies.

    Reply

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