Coconut Cake
Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 7:27PM
Margot in Coconut Cake, cake, dessert

Many years ago, I saw a glorious coconut cake on the cover of a magazine.  My several attempts at making it were a miserable mess.  There just didn’t seem to be enough cake batter to make this six layer cake, so I gave up. 

Then I saw Ina Garten make coconut cupcakes and pulled the recipe on-line.  I used her cake batter recipe with two big changes:  cake flour instead of all purpose flour, and buttermilk instead of whole milk.  The result was a sky high cake with a moist and tender crumb.  I also substituted this family recipe for Pastry Cream Filling, and used real whipped cream and coconut for the frosting. 

Fabulous, a little awkward at the last minute, and messy to cut. Never a piece left though.

Prepare Cake Pans: 

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa Coconut Cupcakes 

Two 9x2”cake pans, plus one 6” cake pan (potentially, two 10x2” cake pans)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

For the Cake:                                    

3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 extra large eggs
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
3 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
7 oz sweetened coconut

For Cream Filling: 

6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
4 cups milk
2 Tbs unsalted butter
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp pure almond extract
4 oz sweetened shredded cococut

Let cool in a glass or metal bowl, then cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours.  I usually make this the day before I am going to assemble the cake.

For Frosting:

1 pint heavy whipping cream, cold
1 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure almond extract

To Assemble:

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