Brown Sugar Coconut Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

This cake will fool you. Just when you think you have had enough, you come back for more. The addition of brown sugar gives off a subtle caramel/toasted coconut flavor without having to put in any of the work of actually toasting the coconut. And cream cheese frosting, well that's always a win in my book.

If raspberries are in season when you make this, I highly recommend adding them either to the top of the cake or even placing them inside the layers with the coconut frosting. They are a dynamite combination!

Dessert was one of the first things I learned to make. Yes, maybe I started with box cake mix but hey, you gotta start somewhere. There is something so special about sharing dessert, it makes people happy and seeing people happy makes me happy. I especially love celebrating birthdays. Maybe it's because I have an inner desire to make everyone feel as special as I did when I was a child on my birthday.

My birthday was the one day that I had the number one say in what I wanted and that included birthday cake. I got to choose the cake, the frosting, fillings and even the theme of plastic figures that graced the top of the cake (usually princesses). The store always had a catalog of cake examples they could make and I took my sweet time scanning over each and every image until I was ready to pick the perfect one. I'm sure this was my parents favorite part, waiting for a child to make a decision who was blinded by options. But I loved it, it was my favorite part because it's not really your birthday until the cake is picked out.

I'm sure this was one of many factors in my love of celebrations but really, I just love celebrating people, life events, accomplishments or the fact that it's Friday. I think we all need to give ourselves permission to celebrate a little more often and eat cake.

Brown Sugar Coconut Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Optional topping

Large flake coconut

Raspberries

blueberries

strawberries (not pictured)

Preheat your oven to 350°F. (175°C)

Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature before you begin.

1 ¼ cup (280 g) All Purpose Flour

1 cup + 2 Tbs (126 g) Coconut Flour

1 ½ tbsp Baking Powder

¼ tsp Salt

¾ cup (180 g) Coconut Milk

3⁄4 cup (270 g) Buttermilk

¾ cup (169 g) Butter, unsalted

¾ cup (165 g) Dark Brown Sugar, packed

1 ⅓ cup + 1 Tbs (285g) Granulated Sugar

3 Large Eggs

3 tsp Vanilla Extract

1. Grease, flour, and line with parchment paper, three 9x2 inches (23 x 5 cm) cake pans.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, coconut flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. Open your can of coconut milk and mix until homogeneous.

4. In a liquid measuring cup, combine the coconut milk and buttermilk and set aside.

5. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy about seven minutes.

6. Add the vanilla and each egg one at a time, about 20 seconds in between each addition. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl while you go.

7. Turn your mixer on low and add ⅓ of the dry ingredients mix for a few seconds, just before all the flour is fully incorporated, then add ½ of the milk mixture and mix until almost fully incorporated. Continue this process, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as you go. Once you see just a trace of flour remaining, stop mixing and scrape the bottom of the bowl with your spatula and give about three strokes by hand to fully combine.

8. Divide the batter evenly into the prepared pans.

9. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 – 30 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

10. Place the pans on a wire rack and allow to cool for about 10 minutes then invert them onto the racks to cool completely.

11. Trim the sides of the cake and level the tops.

Frosting

1 ½ c (340 g) Butter, unsalted and at room temperature

1 ¾ c (400 g) Cream Cheese, room temperature

3 ⅓ c (417 g) Powdered Sugar (Confectioners/Icing Sugar)

2 tsp Vanilla Bean Powder

¾ c (70 g) Unsweetened Desiccated Coconut

This is a soft frosting so working with cold equipment is important.

1. Chill or freeze a medium mixing bowl and your beaters, or paddle attachment if using a stand mixer, at least 15 min before you begin.

2. Combine butter and cream cheese until smooth, then slowly add the vanilla and powdered sugar. Mix until combined.

3. In a second bowl, add 1 ½ cups of frosting and add the desiccated coconut. Mix until combined.

4. Divide the coconut frosting mixture between the two middle layers and cover the cake with the remaining (coconut free) frosting. If the frosting becomes too soft, place the cake and frosting in the fridge for at least 15 minutes before starting again.

Tip: This cake is best when made a day ahead. You can even bake and freeze the cake layers in advance and ice the cake while the layers are still frozen. Having frozen cake layers will make frosting the cake much easier.

Note: This cake should remain in the refrigerator before serving

Enjoy!