You know that spring has sprung when coconut cake recipes start appearing!
This easy coconut cake is light, fluffy, and moist with lots of coconut flavor!
It’s the perfect holiday cake for Easter and Mother’s Day, but also an excellent addition to a summer picnic or bbq!
The Best Coconut Cake
- This coconut cake recipe comes out incredibly moist and delicious.
- It’s jam-packed with coconut flavor in both the cake and the frosting.
- It uses simple ingredients that are easy to find and most of which are likely in your cupboard.
- It’s really easy to make and almost as fast as a boxed mix but tastes so much better.
- Decorate this cake with toasted coconut flakes, slivered almonds, shaved chocolate, fresh fruit, or even edible flowers for a beautiful presentation.
Ingredients for Coconut Cake
Batter – If you have it, use finer-grained cake flour for a more delicate cake, but regular all-purpose flour will work too. This oil-free version uses room-temperature unsalted butter and eggs for faster mixing.
Coconut Milk – The secret to amazing coconut flavor is the addition of coconut milk! Be sure to pick up the canned version of coconut milk which is extracted from shredded coconut flesh instead of carton coconut milk which is heavily watered down. Canned coconut milk is easily found in the Asian section of your local market.
PRO TIP: Beat in an extra egg white for an exceptionally fluffy coconut cake!
How to Make Coconut Cake
Even if you’re not an experienced baker, you can still make this easy cake to impress your friends and family.
- Whisk flour, coconut, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
- In another bowl, cream the butter with sugar, and beat in the eggs one at a time. Add vanilla.
- Beat the flour mixture and coconut milk into the butter mixture in two parts.
- Pour batter equally into prepared pans and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool for 10 minutes before turning the cakes out onto racks to cool completely.
- Frost and decorate as desired.
PRO TIP: After frosting the cake, toast the coconut in a dry saute pan until it is barely golden brown. This adds beautiful color and intensifies the flavor of the coconut!
Storing Coconut Cake
- Keep leftover coconut cake covered in the refrigerator for up to two days.
- Use toothpicks to keep plastic wrap off the top of the cake.
- Coconut cake can be frozen with or without frosting. For unfrosted, wrap layers in plastic wrap and then foil for up to 3 months.
- For a fully frosted cake, place it in the freezer for about 2 hours to freeze the frosting and then freeze it as recommended for an unfrosted cake. Thaw layers of the finished cake at room temperature.
Other easy spring-themed cakes that guarantee baking success are coconut pie bars, a carrot cake, and this easy coconut layer cake that’s perfect for a crowd. Try it with cream cheese frosting or vanilla buttercream frosting.
Crazy for Coconut
Coconut Cake
Coconut Cake is super moist & flavorful with a coconut buttercream frosting. It’s the perfect spring dessert for a crowd!
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Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
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In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, shredded coconut, baking powder, and salt.
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In a large bowl beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy, approximately 3 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then add in vanilla.
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With the mixer on low, beat in the flour mixture in 2 parts, alternating with coconut milk. Divide batter between prepared pans.
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Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into centre of the cakes comes out clean.
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Transfer the cake pans to a wire rack and allow the cakes to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove and cool completely on the rack before frosting, about 1 hour.
Coconut Frosting
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With a whisk attachment on a stand mixer or a hand mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
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Gradually add sugar and ¼ teaspoon salt beating until incorporated. Whisk in coconut extract.
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Gradually add coconut cream, beating until light and fluffy. Add salt to taste and beat until combined.
Ensure you are using unsweetened coconut cream (not cream of coconut) for the frosting. Use full fat coconut milk for the cake for the best results.
Keep leftover cake covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Calories: 619 | Carbohydrates: 81g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 99mg | Sodium: 168mg | Potassium: 168mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 63g | Vitamin A: 842IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 51mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dessert
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OLD WRITING:
This Coconut Sheet Cake is easy to make and is loaded with delicious coconut flavor! This cake is the perfect potluck dish, it’s extra moist with a simple and delicious frosting.
I’m always on the lookout for a good sheet cake recipe. The simplicity of sheet cakes has always been attractive to me—just mixing the batter, spreading it, baking it, and topping it. What could be easier? And yet, many typical “potluck” sheet cakes just aren’t all that good. They’re either too dry and crumbly or too plain. (Or worse, both.) So, when I find a recipe like this one, I have to share it. This coconut sheet cake recipe is seriously one of my favorite cake recipes out there. It’s sweet, dense, and super moist. (Everything I love in a cake!) But it doesn’t lose that simplicity that makes sheet cakes so darn awesome.
Give it a try. You won’t be able to resist that second slice.
Recipe Notes:
- Use eggs at room temperature for this dish so they don’t cook when added to the saucepan.
- Use full-fat sour cream. While that isn’t a typical ingredient for me, it is the exact right choice for this recipe as it adds a really nice (and necessary) richness to balance out this sweet cake.
- The completed batter will seem pretty runny. Don’t worry, you didn’t make a mistake. It’s supposed to look like that, I promise.
- A full 10 x 15 pan is necessary for baking. You might be tempted to try a 9 x 13 pan instead. Don’t. In a smaller pan, the cake just won’t cook right.
- It is important to cook this cake all the way through. A cake with this moist of a texture won’t stay together—or taste very good—underbaked. Cook the coconut sheet cake until the top has a nice golden color. The old toothpick method will help here as well. Just insert a toothpick into the very center of the cake. If it comes out completely clean, then your cake is cooked through.
