Kathleen Rear

It’s Jefrey’s birthday. You know what that means! Yay!

Coconut Cake

For the Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line two 9 inch cake pans with parchment paper then set aside.

3 cups Cake Flour
2 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6oz. (1 stick + 3 tablespoons) Butter (room temp.)
1 3/4 cups Sugar
2 Eggs (room temp.)
2 teaspoons Vanilla
1 1/4 cup Coconut Milk

Combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
Combine the wet ingredients: coconut milk, vanilla and eggs and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
In turns on low-speed, add half the dry then half the wet ingredients then add the rest of the dry then the rest of the wet until everything is combined.

Pour the batter evenly between the two cake pans and place into the oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Place the pans on a wire rack to cool before frosting.
Tip: Make the cake a day before and store in wrapped in cling film in the fridge. The cold cake will frost much easier.

For the frosting:
Cream Cheese Frosting
2 sticks Butter (room temp)
2 8oz. containers Cream Cheese (room temp)
1 lb. Powdered Sugar
2 cups of Sweetened Flaked Coconut

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment whip together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.
Turn the mixer down to low-speed and add in the powdered sugar by small increments until well combined and smooth.

Starting with the bottom layer smooth about 1/2 cup portion of the frosting onto the top then place the top layer on and spoon most of the rest of the frosting onto the top layer. Smooth the frosting over the side of the cake and smooth it over the sides and in between the cake layers. Make swirls on the top to form a decorative pattern.
Next gather the coconut in your palm and pat it into the frosting on the sides of the cake. This will be very messy!
Continue until you have a nice layer and all of the frosting is covered. Sprinkle the coconut onto the top.