Southern Coconut Layer Cake (from Scratch)

This triple-layer Southern-style Coconut Cake is made from scratch and frosted with sweet coconut buttercream for moist, tender, melt-in-your-mouth perfection.

Jump to:

• What's the Story on this Recipe?
• Coconut Layer Cake Ingredients
• How to Make this Coconut Cake Recipe
• Substitutions
• Equipment
• Storage
• Top Tips
• FAQ
• More Cake Recipes
• What to Serve with Coconut Cake
• Coconut Cake with Coconut Buttercream Frosting

What's the Story on this Recipe?

We always come home after visiting the South with a list of recipes to learn and share. A few years back, Mr B and I traveled to Tennessee (again) and I returned with a yen to bake up rich, decadent, double- and triple-layer Southern-style cakes. Traditional, old-fashioned, fancy-pants cakes with rich layers and heavenly frosting and names like Hummingbird and Majestic.

First, I was determined to make triple-layer strawberry cake from scratch. Which I did.

And it was Fabulous.

So I took what I learned about the cake batter science from my strawberry cake and ended up with this amazing coconut layer cake. As in, delicate, tender, melt-in-your-mouth, loaded with coconut, light as a cloud Amazing.

If you are a coconut lover, you are going to love this cake!

Coconut Layer Cake Ingredients

All ingredients should be room temperature.

• Cake flour: It is vital that you use cake flour for this recipe. Cake flour is a finely milled, delicate flour that results in a fine crumb and a good rise. My personal cake flour preference is Bob's Red Mill Super Fine Cake Flour.
  • I cannot stress this enough: when it comes to flour in baking, sift first, THEN measure.
• Egg whites: Eggs are easier to separate while they are cold, but egg whites should be at room temperature before you whip them for the cake.
• Sugar: Use plain granulated sugar.
• Butter: Use unsalted butter. If you only have salted butter, reduce salt added by ¼-teaspoon.
• Coconut milk: Use full-fat, unsweetened coconut milk. Do not use light coconut milk or coconut cream.
• Coconut: Use sweetened, shredded coconut. Avoid using coconut that is old or dry.
• Coconut extract: Coconut extract has a sweet, rich flavor similar to coconut milk.
• Sour cream: Use full fat sour cream. This recipe has not been tested with low fat or non-fat sour cream.
• Butter: Use unsalted butter. If you use salted butter, reduce the amount of salt used to ¼ teaspoon.
• Salt: Use fine table salt. It will dissolve more readily and evenly than kosher salt.
• Powdered sugar: (i.e., confectioners' sugar, icing sugar) is simply pulverized granulated sugar.
• Sweetened shredded coconut: You can also use unsweetened shredded coconut - the cake will still be plenty sweet.
• Baking powder

How to Make this Coconut Cake Recipe

Cake Layers

Position oven rack in the center (or just below center) of the oven. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour three 8-inch round cake pans. 

HINT: Line the bottom of the pans with parchment rounds for easy release and clean-up.

Measure sifted cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Sift together three times and set aside. 

Whisk together sour cream and coconut milk in a small bowl and set aside. 

Using an electric mixer with a large mixing bowl, cream butter and 1 cup of sugar together until light and fluffy. Add coconut extract and mix to combine.

Add flour mixture alternately with coconut milk and sour cream mixture, beating after each addition. Remove bowl from mixer and set aside. 

In a medium mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add ½ cup sugar gradually, beating until meringue will hold medium peaks. (Medium peaks can hold their shape, but the peak curls over when the beaters are lifted.)

Use a clean spatula to gently fold beaten egg whites into batter. (Do this step by hand. Do not use a mixer.)

Pour the batter evenly into the three prepared cake pans. Bake layers in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes (8" pans) or until a toothpick or skewer comes out clean.

Always test the cake before taking it out of the oven.

Allow cakes to cool in their pans over a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully tap out onto wire rack to cool completely.

Wrap layers in plastic and chill in refrigerator for at least an hour.

Coconut Frosting

Using an electric mixer, beat butter on medium-high until light and fluffy. Add coconut and vanilla extracts and salt and mix to thoroughly combine. 

Slowly add powdered sugar, mixing well after each addition. 

Add coconut milk, one tablespoon at a time time, beating on medium-high until fully incorporated. 

Frost Cake

Once the cake is completely chilled, trim the layers. Spread the top of the bottom layer of cake with frosting. Add the middle layer and frost top. Add the top layer. 

Apply a crumb coat to the entire cake. (A crumb coat is a thin layer of frosting that covers the top and sides of a cake.) Return the cake to the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.

Frost the entire cake with a generous layer of frosting. Sprinkle flaked coconut over top and sides of cake before the frosting sets.

Substitutions

Easy Cake Flour Substitute*: If you can't buy/find cake flour, try this easy substitute. For each cup of cake flour, measure out 1 cup of flour, then remove 2 tablespoons from the cup. Add 2 tablespoons cornstarch, and sift together.

*Note: I have never made this particular cake using this cake flour substitute, so substitute at your own risk.

Homemade Powdered Sugar: To make powdered sugar, combine granulated sugar and cornstarch in a ratio of 1 cup to 1 tablespoon. Place them in a high-powdered blender (i.e., Vitamix, Blendtec) and blitz until the mixture is ground to a soft powder.

Equipment

Use the Right Cake Pans

The kind and quality of baking pans you use can have a great impact on the success of your cake. For this recipe, I recommend using three 8-inch stainless steel round cake pans, lined on the bottom with parchment rounds. (I love the weight of these pans!)

If you use glass or dark pans, or pour only two cake layers instead of three, you will need to adjust the baking time and/or temperature.

Glass cake pans: When baking cake layers in glass pans, lower the baking temperature to 335°F (168°C), and bake 8-10 minutes longer.

Dark cake pans: Generally, drop the baking temperature to 335°F (168°C) so the cake batter doesn't heat up and brown too quickly, especially on the bottom. Bake the layers 6-10 minutes longer, depending on your oven.

9-inch pans: 9-inch pans expose more surface area and bake faster, so you will need to adjust the temperature and time. If you only have a 9-inch pans, simply drop the baking temperature to 335°F (168°C) and bake for about 22-25 minutes.

Storage

Store cake on the counter in a covered cake plate or wrapped in plastic wrap. It will last about a week before it starts to get stale.

How to Freeze Cake Layers

Cake layers can be baked well ahead of time, then frozen for up to 3 months, until you are ready to frost them.

• To freeze cake layers, first bake and completely cool the layers. 
• Wrap each layer individually in plastic wrap.
• Wrap each plastic-wrapped layer in aluminum foil.
• Use a permanent marker to label and dates the layers
• Bonus: place each wrapped, labeled layer in a reusable freezer bag.

Top Tips

How to Know When a Cake is Done

1. The edges of the cake pull away from the sides of the pan.
2. The cake springs back when gently pressed.
3. When inserted near the center, a toothpick comes out clean.
4. The internal temperature, measured on an instant-read thermometer, is 210°F (99°C).
5. If you listen very carefully, you can hear the cake layers sing as they bake. You will heat a faint crackling or sizzling sound, as the steam from the liquid ingredients cooks out. As the cake gets closer to being done, the sound will become softer and slower, becoming a barely audible whisper when the cake is done.

Tips for Introducing Meringue into Cake Batter

The key to the success of this coconut cake is how and when you introduce the meringue (i.e., the egg whites beaten with sugar) to the rest of the cake batter.

Many recipes similar to this one have you make the meringue, take it to medium or stiff peaks, and set it aside while you make the rest of the cake batter. However, I've learned that you get a discernibly lighter cake if you mix up the batter before you whip up the meringue. 

Meringue is basically a mixture of proteins and water. Air whisked into the egg white becomes trapped and surrounded by a network of proteins, and adding sugar stabilizes this protein network. 

Making the meringue after the batter allows you to gently fold it in immediately after whipping it up. This way, the meringue's protein network doesn't have time to start breaking down or setting up, and more teeny tiny meringue bubbles make their way into your cake, ultimately making it lighter. 

FAQ

More Cake Recipes

What to Serve with Coconut Cake

Coconut layer cake is a perfect dessert to top off a summer barbecue, spring shower, or winter party. (If you want to go with a full-tilt Southern menu, serve up some Nashville Hot Chicken, Memphis coleslaw, and fried green tomatoes for the main dish!)

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