Coconut Cake – Happy Birthday Daddy!

    Although I have no idea why, I hated coconut as a child.  My brother and mother were not big fans of it either, but my dad loved it.  Every year someone in our family makes my dad a coconut cake for his birthday.  Many years, my aunt would be the one to do this.  However, over the last few years, as my love of cooking and baking has grown, I have been the one to make coconut desserts for my dad.  Last year it was a coconut pie and the year before that it was a coconut sheet cake.  This year, I decided to try Ina Garten’s Coconut Cake – a double layer, butter cream frosted cake sprinkled with shredded coconut.  It was a hit.  My dad’s birthday falls the day after Christmas.  We normally have his favorite meal - my mother’s Hamburger Noodle Casserole, Tossed Salad, and Coconut Cake.  The hamburger noodle casserole is a far stretch from a healthy meal, which is the main reason Mama only makes it once a year.  It is made up of egg noodles, ground beef, onions, Campbell’s condensed tomato soup, tomato sauce, and smothered in shredded cheddar cheese.  Coconut Cake was a sweet way to end Dad’s Italian inspired birthday lunch. 

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients

For the cake:

·         Coconut oil, for greasing the pans

·         ¾ pound unsalted butter, at room temperature

·         2 cups sugar

·         5 large eggs, at room temperature

·         1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

·         3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting pans

·         1 teaspoon baking powder

·         ½ teaspoon baking soda

·         ½ teaspoon kosher salt

·         1 cup milk

·         4 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

For the frosting:

·         ½ pound unsalted butter, at room temperature

·         1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature

·         1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

·         1 pound confectioners’ sugar

·         6 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

Directions

1.      To make the cake:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease two 9-inch cake pans with coconut oil.  Line each cake pan with parchment paper and brush the parchment paper with coconut oil.  Dust each parchment paper lined pan with flour.  Set aside.

2.      On medium-high speed, cream together the butter and sugar in the bowl of a heavy duty mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, about 4 minutes or until light and fluffy.  Reduce the speed to medium and add the eggs, one at a time.  Add the vanilla bean paste.  With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients and milk, alternating between the two and beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Mix until the batter is just combined.  Fold in the coconut.  Divide the batter between the two prepared cake pans.  Bake for 30 to 35, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Leave the cakes in the pan to cool on a rack for 30 minutes.  Turn the cakes out of the pan and cool completely on rack.     

3.      To make the frosting:  In the bowl of a heavy duty mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla bean paste on low speed.  Very slowly, add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.  Do not whip the icing. 

4.      To assemble the cake:  Place one layer, top side down, on a flat plate.  Spread the frosting on evenly.  Place the second layer on top of the first layer, top side up.  Frost the top layer and the sides.  Gently press the coconut into the frosting.  Serve the cake at room temperature. 

Cook’s notes:  

·         You may use butter to grease the cake pans, instead of coconut oil.  

·         I used salted butter in the cake batter because that was all I had on hand at the time. 

·         Ina’s original recipe calls for both almond and vanilla extract.  I didn’t feel like paying $5.00 for a tiny bottle of almond extract, so I substituted vanilla bean paste instead.  Vanilla extract may be substituted for vanilla bean paste. 

·         Although I was very unsure about this particular ingredient, I used Bird’s Eye frozen shredded coconut.  I let the coconut defrost overnight in the refrigerator.  The ingredients on the bag were coconut and sugar, so I assumed it was sweetened coconut.  It worked out just fine.  

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