Three rich layers of coconut cake are held together by homemade coconut pudding and crushed pineapple, and topped with a light, fluffy coconut frosting. This cake takes some time, but is well worth the effort. You can easily spread out the various steps across an afternoon while preparing any other dishes. Prepare one to two days in advance.
* Multiply serving weight in grams by the carbs-per-gram ratio to calculate the total estimated carbs.
Two Hours Before Starting
8 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup whole milk, room temperature
Two hours before you plan on making the cake, remove eggs and milk from fridge and let come to room temperature.
1 pound (4 sticks) butter
Place butter on a plate and let rise to room temperature to soften.
Cake Pan and Oven Prep
vegetable shortening
flour
parchment or wax paper
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350°F. Generously grease three 9 inch cake pans with vegetable shortening and cover pan bottoms with rounds of parchment paper or wax paper. Grease parchment rounds, dust cake pans with flour, and tap out excess.
Batter
½ cup pineapple juice (from can of crushed pineapple)
Drain a can of crushed pineapple. Reserve crushed pineapple for cake assembly. Put juice in a small saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until reduced in half, about 6 minutes.
60g / ½ cup shredded coconut
Pour reduced pineapple juice into a small bowl or measuring cup and add coconut. Mix until coconut is evenly coated. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, and coconut. Set aside.
398g / 3 ½ cups cake flour
596g / 3 cups sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
reserved butter
Add butter and use a pastry blender to cut the butter into small, pea-sized pieces with the flour.
1 ½ cups of reversed egg-milk-vanilla mixture
Add 1 ½ cups of reserved egg-milk-vanilla mixture and mix at lowest speed with a hand mixer until incorporated, 5 to 10 seconds.
remaining egg-milk-vanilla-mixture
Increase speed to high, add remaining egg mixture, and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
Stop mixer and thoroughly scrape sides and bottom of bowl. Beat on medium-high until thoroughly combined and batter looks slightly curdled, about 15 seconds longer.
reserved coconut-pineapple mixture
Add reserved coconut-pineapple mixture and mix with a spatula to combine.
Baking
Pour equal amounts of batter (about 2 cups) into three prepared cake pans. Spread batter to sides of pan and smooth with rubber spatula.
Bake until top of cakes turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cakes may rise in center slightly but will level when cooled.
Remove pan from oven and cool on rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the perimeter of the pan to loosen. Invert cake onto large plate, peel off parchment, and reinvert onto lightly greased rack. Cool completely before decorating.
Coconut Pudding (for Filling)
1 ½ cups heavy cream
½ cup milk
128g / ⅔ cup sugar
pinch of salt
In a medium saucepan, whisk heavy cream, milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking occasionally, until mixture just begins to steam, about 10 mins.
½ cup heavy cream
24g / 3 tablespoons cornstarch
In a separate bowl or measuring cup, combine cornstarch and heavy cream. Whisk until smooth and there are no lumps.
Add cornstarch mixture to saucepan and cook, stirring occasionally, until pudding starts to thicken and barely reaches a boil, about 5 minutes.
Immediately reduce heat to very low and stir for 5 minutes or so until thickened.
½ tablespoon coconut extract
Remove from heat and stir in coconut extract
Pour pudding into a 1-quart dish. Cover tightly with plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent skin from forming.
Refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.
Coconut Frosting
40g / 5 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
In a small saucepan, whisk flour and milk.
Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until it it is as thick as brownie batter, about 3 to 5 minutes. (Once it gets hot enough, mixture will thicken in about 30 seconds so be sure to keep stirring and remain by the stove.)
1 teaspoon coconut extract
Stir in coconut extract once mixture has thickened.
Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. The thickened milk mixture must be cooled completely before you continue.
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
192g / 1 cup sugar (not powdered sugar!)
While the mixture is cooling, use an electric hand mixer to cream the butter and sugar together in a medium bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add cooled milk mixture to creamed sugar mixture. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the frosting until it is very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Stop periodically and scrap down the sides of the bowl.
Assembly and Decorating
reserved coconut pudding
284g / ½ cup crushed pineapple
Once completely cool, place one layer of cake a plate or serving platter. Top cake with about half of the coconut pudding. Sprinkle and spread ½ cup of crushed pineapple on top of the pudding.
reserved coconut pudding
½ cup crushed pineapple
Place another layer of cake on top of the pudding and top with most of the remaining pudding and an additional ½ cup of pineapple. Depending on how much filling you want, you may have leftover pudding that someone will have to eat (oh the horror).
reserved coconut frosting
¼ cup shredded coconut, or more as desired (30g=(14g)}
Place final layer of cake on top and decorate cake with frosting. Sprinkle top of cake with shredded coconut as desired..
Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve. Leftover cake will keep for up to a week in the fridge.
From MakeBetterFood.com. . (makebetterfood.com/recipes/coconut-pineapple-cake/).
¼ cup shredded coconut, or more as desired (30g=(14g)}
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Two hours before you plan on making the cake, remove eggs and milk from fridge and let come to room temperature.
Place butter on a plate and let rise to room temperature to soften.
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350°F. Generously grease three 9 inch cake pans with vegetable shortening and cover pan bottoms with rounds of parchment paper or wax paper. Grease parchment rounds, dust cake pans with flour, and tap out excess.
Drain a can of crushed pineapple. Reserve crushed pineapple for cake assembly. Put juice in a small saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until reduced in half, about 6 minutes.
Pour reduced pineapple juice into a small bowl or measuring cup and add coconut. Mix until coconut is evenly coated. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, and coconut. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add butter and use a pastry blender to cut the butter into small, pea-sized pieces with the flour.
Add 1 ½ cups of reserved egg-milk-vanilla mixture and mix at lowest speed with a hand mixer until incorporated, 5 to 10 seconds.
Increase speed to high, add remaining egg mixture, and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
Stop mixer and thoroughly scrape sides and bottom of bowl. Beat on medium-high until thoroughly combined and batter looks slightly curdled, about 15 seconds longer.
Add reserved coconut-pineapple mixture and mix with a spatula to combine.
Pour equal amounts of batter (about 2 cups) into three prepared cake pans. Spread batter to sides of pan and smooth with rubber spatula.
Bake until top of cakes turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cakes may rise in center slightly but will level when cooled.
Remove pan from oven and cool on rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the perimeter of the pan to loosen. Invert cake onto large plate, peel off parchment, and reinvert onto lightly greased rack. Cool completely before decorating.
In a medium saucepan, whisk heavy cream, milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking occasionally, until mixture just begins to steam, about 10 mins.
In a separate bowl or measuring cup, combine cornstarch and heavy cream. Whisk until smooth and there are no lumps.
Add cornstarch mixture to saucepan and cook, stirring occasionally, until pudding starts to thicken and barely reaches a boil, about 5 minutes.
Immediately reduce heat to very low and stir for 5 minutes or so until thickened.
Remove from heat and stir in coconut extract
Pour pudding into a 1-quart dish. Cover tightly with plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent skin from forming.
Refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.
In a small saucepan, whisk flour and milk.
Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until it it is as thick as brownie batter, about 3 to 5 minutes. (Once it gets hot enough, mixture will thicken in about 30 seconds so be sure to keep stirring and remain by the stove.)
Stir in coconut extract once mixture has thickened.
Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. The thickened milk mixture must be cooled completely before you continue.
While the mixture is cooling, use an electric hand mixer to cream the butter and sugar together in a medium bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add cooled milk mixture to creamed sugar mixture. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the frosting until it is very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Stop periodically and scrap down the sides of the bowl.
Once completely cool, place one layer of cake a plate or serving platter. Top cake with about half of the coconut pudding. Sprinkle and spread ½ cup of crushed pineapple on top of the pudding.
Place another layer of cake on top of the pudding and top with most of the remaining pudding and an additional ½ cup of pineapple. Depending on how much filling you want, you may have leftover pudding that someone will have to eat (oh the horror).
Place final layer of cake on top and decorate cake with frosting. Sprinkle top of cake with shredded coconut as desired..
Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve. Leftover cake will keep for up to a week in the fridge.
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