Post by nana on Jan 13, 2019 17:58:09 GMT -5
Coconut layer cake, the absolute best. I just made this for my daughter's birthday. It is a Test Kitchen recipe, so naturally there are a bunch of fussy steps. Over the years I have found you can dispense with some of them. I usually don't mess with their recipes too much, because if you follow them exactly they are foolproof. Thanks to Vaporvac's help, I did like Chuckie does and posted my changes in a different color.
The recipe calls for a can of cream of coconut, like Coco Lopez or Coco Goya, like you would use to make pina coladas. (DO NOT USE COCONUT MILK OR WATER!!!) But I've always hated the list of ingredients on them,and plus they are, while delicious, wicked sweet, and almost made the cake uncomfortably sweet. This time I found a can of something called coconut cream, which was organic, and only had coconut and water as the ingredients. It needed to be mixed back together before I used it, but even the chemical laden stuff separates, and I can report that it worked superlatively well. So if you can find the organic, go ahead! Also, since I just got a kitchen scale, I weighed the flour, and by golly, measuring it with a measuring cup had give me a bit too much flour, so measure carefully or weigh it.
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour 2 nine inch cake pans, and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
CAKE:
3/4 cup cream of coconut(or coconut cream--again, NOT milk or water!)
5 large room temp egg whites
1 large room temp egg
1/4 cup water
1tsp coconut extract
1tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups (9oz) cake flour--But use regular all purpose if that's what you have, it will be fine.
1cup(7oz) granulated sugar (NOTE: my coconut cream was unsweetened so I added about a half cup of sugar extra. It was still less sweet than using the Coco Lopez, and it tasted great.)
1 TBSP baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened and cut into TBSP size chunks (I used salted and only put a pinch of salt in)
FROSTING:
2 TBSP heavy cream
1 tsp coconut extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
2 sticks of softened butter
1/4 cup cream of coconut(or coconut cream. I did not add extra sugar to the frosting)
3 cups confectioners sugar
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut (To decorate the cake once it is frosted. It's extra good if you carefully toast it in the oven or in a pan, but be really careful: it goes from lightly browned and delicious to burnt and horrible in the wink of an eye. Unsweetened shredded coconut is too hard and dry to be pleasant on the cake.)
FOR THE CAKE
Whisk the cream of coconut, egg whites, egg, water, and extracts in a medium bowl.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using an electric mixer on medium/low, beat the butter into the flour one chunk at a time, and continue to beat the mixture 1-3 minutes, until it resembles moist crumbs.
Beat in all but 1/2 cup of the coconut/egg mixture, and increase the mixer speed to medium, and beat the batter until smooth, light and fluffy, about 1-3 minutes.
Reduce speed to low and slowly beat in the remaining coconut/egg mixture until combined, about 30 seconds.(See what I mean about fussy steps?)
Scrape the batter into the prepared pans(it will be kind of thick), smooth the tops and gently tap the pans on the counter to settle the batter.
Bake until a toothpick in the center comes out with just a few crumbs on it. about 30-35 minutes.
Cool in pans 10 minutes, then turn out on racks, peel off the parchment paper, and flip them back right side up to cool completely. This is moist cake, so do this operation with care!
FOR THE FROSTING
Stir the cream, extracts, and salt together in a small bowl.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and cream of coconut together with an electric mixer at medium/high speed until smooth. Reduce mixer speed to medium/low, and gradually beat in all the confectioners sugar. Continue to beat until smooth, 2-5 minutes.
Beat in the cream mixture, increase the speed to medium/high, and continue to beat until light and fluffy, about 4-8 minutes.
Use about 1 cup of the frosting between the layers. (I like to sprinkle a bit of the shredded coconut between the layers too. Not too much, just a thin layer.) After you frost the rest of the cake, press the shredded coconut onto the sides and sprinkle it over the top.
The recipe calls for a can of cream of coconut, like Coco Lopez or Coco Goya, like you would use to make pina coladas. (DO NOT USE COCONUT MILK OR WATER!!!) But I've always hated the list of ingredients on them,and plus they are, while delicious, wicked sweet, and almost made the cake uncomfortably sweet. This time I found a can of something called coconut cream, which was organic, and only had coconut and water as the ingredients. It needed to be mixed back together before I used it, but even the chemical laden stuff separates, and I can report that it worked superlatively well. So if you can find the organic, go ahead! Also, since I just got a kitchen scale, I weighed the flour, and by golly, measuring it with a measuring cup had give me a bit too much flour, so measure carefully or weigh it.
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour 2 nine inch cake pans, and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
CAKE:
3/4 cup cream of coconut(or coconut cream--again, NOT milk or water!)
5 large room temp egg whites
1 large room temp egg
1/4 cup water
1tsp coconut extract
1tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups (9oz) cake flour--But use regular all purpose if that's what you have, it will be fine.
1cup(7oz) granulated sugar (NOTE: my coconut cream was unsweetened so I added about a half cup of sugar extra. It was still less sweet than using the Coco Lopez, and it tasted great.)
1 TBSP baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened and cut into TBSP size chunks (I used salted and only put a pinch of salt in)
FROSTING:
2 TBSP heavy cream
1 tsp coconut extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
2 sticks of softened butter
1/4 cup cream of coconut(or coconut cream. I did not add extra sugar to the frosting)
3 cups confectioners sugar
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut (To decorate the cake once it is frosted. It's extra good if you carefully toast it in the oven or in a pan, but be really careful: it goes from lightly browned and delicious to burnt and horrible in the wink of an eye. Unsweetened shredded coconut is too hard and dry to be pleasant on the cake.)
FOR THE CAKE
Whisk the cream of coconut, egg whites, egg, water, and extracts in a medium bowl.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using an electric mixer on medium/low, beat the butter into the flour one chunk at a time, and continue to beat the mixture 1-3 minutes, until it resembles moist crumbs.
Beat in all but 1/2 cup of the coconut/egg mixture, and increase the mixer speed to medium, and beat the batter until smooth, light and fluffy, about 1-3 minutes.
Reduce speed to low and slowly beat in the remaining coconut/egg mixture until combined, about 30 seconds.(See what I mean about fussy steps?)
Scrape the batter into the prepared pans(it will be kind of thick), smooth the tops and gently tap the pans on the counter to settle the batter.
Bake until a toothpick in the center comes out with just a few crumbs on it. about 30-35 minutes.
Cool in pans 10 minutes, then turn out on racks, peel off the parchment paper, and flip them back right side up to cool completely. This is moist cake, so do this operation with care!
FOR THE FROSTING
Stir the cream, extracts, and salt together in a small bowl.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and cream of coconut together with an electric mixer at medium/high speed until smooth. Reduce mixer speed to medium/low, and gradually beat in all the confectioners sugar. Continue to beat until smooth, 2-5 minutes.
Beat in the cream mixture, increase the speed to medium/high, and continue to beat until light and fluffy, about 4-8 minutes.
Use about 1 cup of the frosting between the layers. (I like to sprinkle a bit of the shredded coconut between the layers too. Not too much, just a thin layer.) After you frost the rest of the cake, press the shredded coconut onto the sides and sprinkle it over the top.