toasted coconut cake
originally posted 12/4/2022
I want to start this off by saying sorry. I am so so deeply and truly sorry that this recipe uses about half a can of coconut milk instead of the whole damn thing. And I’m sorry because honestly I find that really fucking annoying in a recipe- so don’t worry I’m already well aware of how sucky I am for that. But, with a whole can this cake was just TOO coconut-y and I couldn’t do that to you either. I guess I’ll also take this time to say sorry to the people who detest shredded coconut in cake- which I also get… not that I hate it but the weird texture in familiar food thing, that’s what I get. But, I promise that toasting the coconut before adding it changes the texture and ups the flavor so so much. BUT, if you’re really camp no coconut shreds in cake you can leave it out- I’m not gonna force you to do something to your cake you don’t want to do. And in that case you might as well swap out the whole milk for the rest of the can of coconut milk, to get back some of the coconut flavor you loose from omitting the shreds. OKAY WOW, now I have nothing to be sorry about.
Anyyyyways!!! A really fun way to use this cake would be to have a little Samoa moment (the best girl scout cookie- and for that I am not sorry) and fill the cake with caramel pastry cream and cover it in dark chocolate ganache. OH YEAH. Or you could go the more tropical route!! Most recently I paired this cake with bearss lime + meyer lemon pink peppercorn curd (which was just this recipe with 50/50 lime and lemon juice and a few cracks of pink pepper), mascarpone whip and salty vanilla swiss buttercream. Match made in heaven if you ask me.
This recipe makes 4-6” cake layers or 2-8” cake layers.
Ingredients:
115 grams unsalted butter, room temp
260 grams granulated sugar
75 grams olive oil
120 grams egg whites, room temp (about 6 large egg whites)
260 grams all purpose flour
70 grams toasted coconut shreds
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
120 grams coconut milk
70 grams whole milk
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 330F and line your desired size cake pans with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitter with a paddle attachment beat together the butter, sugar and olive oil on medium speed. It won’t get fluffy the way creaming butter and sugar usually goes. Since olive oil is a liquid fat things will get weird and a little soupy but fear not that is totally normal! Once you add the egg whites it’ll emulsify!
While that’s beating- whisk together the flour, toasted coconut, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Combine the milks and vanilla into a liquid measuring cup- set everything aside.
Once the butter and oil mixture is nice and soupy… Add the egg whites one at a time. Allow each white to incorporate before adding the next. You’ll notice that the mixture will thicken and become fluffier!! Be sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. You should be scraping the bowl down at the halfway mark of adding the whites and after the last addition to make sure everything is nice and incorporated!
At this point turn the mixer off and add in half of you dry ingredients- turn the mixer back on low. While the mixer is running slowly stream in your wet ingredients. Once all the liquids have been added turn off the mixer. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add in the remaining half of the dry ingredients and turn the mixer back on to the low end of medium (about 4 on a kitchen aid) and beat the batter for about 10- 20 seconds, until almost all the dries have been incorporated. A few dry pockets should remain.
Stop the mixer and remove the bowl. You’ll fold in the remaining dry pockets into the batter. You do this to avoid over mixing the batter with the machine!
Weigh the batter into your desired cake pans. 275 grams per 6” cake pan or 550 grams per 8” cake pan.
Bake the cakes for 25-30 minutes (for the 6” layers) or 32—37 minutes (for the 8” cake layers). The cake should spring back when tapped in the center or a tooth pick inserted to the center of the cake should come out with a few crumbs. If you’re a real cake nerd- you’ll temp it… a perfectly baked cake should register 205F. Your baking times may vary depending on YOUR oven and its hot spots and its actual calibration (now would be a cool time to invest in an oven thermometer).
Allow your cake layers to cool completely before filling and frosting.
*wrap your cakes in plastic wrap and put them in the fridge to firm up before you fill and frost your final cake- it makes the cake much easier to work with!!*
I was wondering if I could pulverize the coconut shreds after toasting them. I like the flavor that they add, but the texture is off putting.