Southern Coconut Cake Recipe
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Birthdays are a big deal in my house. They always have been. From the time I was a little girl, I started planning my birthday before Christmas (my birthday is in January).
Now, I’ve somewhat transferred that to planning my son’s birthday and my husband, bless his heart, falls somewhere in there, too.
And this year, I wasn’t big on planning for my husband’s day. I’m not sure why I wasn’t. I just didn’t do much at all. As a matter of fact, you could say I didn’t do enough at all.
And you’d be right.
You could even say I was a pitiful wife for not doing more for him.
And you’d be right again.
So I decided to pull out all the stops and surprise him with a gorgeous birthday cake. He has three favorite cakes — strawberry, caramel, and coconut.
I decided on coconut for this year. It just sounded like a good surprise cake.
Here’s how I made it.
I started with my favorite Butter Cake recipe and then dolled it up with an over the top delicious Southern Coconut Frosting.
Can you say to die for?
Oh my word!!!
Southern Coconut Cake
Ingredients
Butter Cake
- 3 cups (360 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) baking soda
- pinch (0.4 g) kosher salt
- 1 cup (226 g) butter, softened
- 2 cups (396 g) sugar
- 4 large (200 g) eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup (227 g) buttermilk, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons (9.4 g) vanilla extract
Southern Coconut Frosting
- 1 cup (226 g) butter, softened
- 8 cups (908 g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 cup (227 g) milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.05 g) vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon (14 g) coconut extract , or coconut rum
- 1 (14-ounce) bag (400 g) unsweetened coconut flake
Instructions
Butter Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare 3 9-inch cake pans with shortening and flour.
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt with a whisk in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Cream butter until fluffy and then add sugar. Cream together for about 8 more minutes.
- Add eggs, 1 at a time, and cream together after each.
- Add flour mixture and buttermilk, alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Combine each addition of flour and then turn mixer on high to add air into the batter.
- Add vanilla and beat well. Turn mixer on high once vanilla has been incorporated for about 10 seconds to lighten batter.
- Divide among pans and bake for 25-30 minutes until set. You can follow my tips for how to tell when your cake is done.
- Turn out of pans onto cooling racks and allow to cool completely.
Southern Coconut Frosting
- Whip butter until it reaches light and fluffy stage.
- Slowly add sugar, beating well after each addition.
- When all sugar has been incorporated, the butter and sugar will look like crumbles.
- With mixer set on low speed, add in milk.
- Then, beat on high speed for few minutes.
- Add vanilla and coconut flavorings and beat on high speed until the frosting reaches a spreading consistency.
- If it is too dry, add milk a few drops at a time.
- If it is too wet, add powdered sugar a few sprinkles at a time until it reaches the correct consistency.
- Frost cake and then sprinkle with coconut flakes.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I’m hoping he didn’t notice all of the other stuff I didn’t do for his birthday.
And… I sure hope he remembers mine!
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
What are you doing when use cream as a verb? I dont know what you mean when you use it in baking, must be something southern. Sounds great though. Thank you.
I hope you enjoy the cake, C.!
Cream as a verb is a fairly common baking term – but I’m sure I probably throw in some other “southern” phrases here and there on my website. 🙂
It basically describes softening butter and adding sugar with it and combining until it’s light and fluffy. I hope this helps! Thanks!
I was thinking King putting colored jelly beans on top of cake for a Easter celebration
I made this recipe yesterday (Easter) as cupcakes and it was a big hit. Both cupcakes and frosting were AMAZING.
Robyn, I’ve made quite a few of your recipes since I found your website a few years ago. Everything I try turns out really good. Your chocolate cake recipe is my parents’ favorite and they always ask that I make it for special occasions. Even my aunt, who normally does not like chocolate cake, loves it. I don’t think I’ve ever commented before, but I want to say Thank You for your wonderful recipes.
This recipe made about 40 cupcakes. I filled the cups halfway, as they rise quite a bit! And I baked each batch for 20 minutes at 350. I checked for doneness, so other ovens may vary. For those that were wondering how to convert to cupcakes. 🙂
Hi MJ!
It makes my day to know you and your family are enjoying the recipes! I love this cake – and now you’ve made me crave some cupcakes! 😉 I know they were delicious for your Easter gathering!
Thanks so much for sharing your cupcakes tip and for the sweet comment! Please give my best to your parents and your aunt!
Can this cake be frozen?
Can I make this in a 9×13 pan? If so how little NGOs would you bake at what temp? My church needs a coconut cake for a funeral and I said I would make one.
I meant how long would I bake.
Hi Gail,
I’ve not made this cake in that size pan, I always make layers for this one…but you might want to try my Ultimate Coconut Cake that is made in that size. It’s delicious as well! Thanks!
Will this frosting frost a three layer cake?
Hi Robin,
This has always made enough frosting to frost 3 layers for me, as that’s what I make in this cake recipe. I hope you enjoy it! Thanks so much!
The Coconut milk was a Hit! The cake was moist, the Frosting….I added Cream Cheese. This cake was OUTSTANDING!
I’m thrilled that you enjoyed it! It is a delicious cake that we enjoy in my family too! Thanks! xo
Did you swap out the buttermilk in the cake or the milk in the frosting? I would like to use coconut milk also but I don’t want to mess it up.
I’m going to attempt to make this for my friend’s grandmother. . Sounds delicious. Substituting Coconut milk for milk. Here it goes! Details ……later.
I’m planning to make this cake for a January 28th Birthday Party for three of my January Birthday friends.
Could I substitute coconut milk for milk in the batter? A dash of coconut rum in the batter as well as the frosting?
My very Southern Grandmother would have my very Southern Grandfather bang open a coconut and poke holes
in her coconut cake and pour that fresh coconut milk over her cake and let it soak in for several days. It was a
taste of heaven!
I added the cup of milk and it made my frosting incredibly runny!!!!!
Mine too! I had to redo it. There’s obviously a mistake in the milk. Should be more like 1/2 cup