- Hey, I'm John Kanell,
And today on Preppy Kitchen,
we're making an amazing coconut cake.
So let's get started.
First off, set your oven to 350,
and you're gonna wanna line three 9-inch cake pans
with parchment paper and butter and flour them.
Into the bowl of my stand mixer with a sifter over it,
I'm adding three cups of cake flour, that's 360 grams.
I'm also adding in two cups,
or 400 grams, of granulated sugar.
So this cake is gonna use the reverse creaming method,
and we're not gonna cream the butter and sugar up,
we're gonna cream the butter into the flour and sugar.
I'm adding in one teaspoon of salt,
it's gonna give us some contrast.
I also want half a teaspoon of baking soda,
and two and a quarter teaspoons of baking powder.
Okay, my scale is done.
Now we're gonna sift this out.
I don't wanna make a mess.
Hmm.
Give it a quick whisk just to combine everything up.
And now I'm adding one cup, or 226 grams,
of nice, soft, room temperature butter.
You can see it's yielding to the touch,
it's not melting away.
If you watch this channel regularly,
which would make me so happy,
you'll know that over mixing cake batter is horrible.
It gives you a dense gummy cake,
because really you're activating the protein in the flour,
and then it's gonna give you
that stretchy bready consistency,
which is not what you want for a cake.
With this method, we're gonna mix the butter
into the dry ingredients
and all that flour is getting wrapped
in the fat from the butter.
That's gonna protect or insulate
all the proteins from activating,
and you're gonna have a wonderful,
beautiful crumb to the cake.
Time to pop this onto your stand mixer
with a paddle attachment.
You could also do this in a giant bowl
with a hand mixer too.
Grab a paddle attachment.
We're gonna pop this on and mix on low
for about a minute until you have a nice crumbly mixture.
While this mixes, we're gonna separate eggs.
We only want the egg whites
because this is a light beautiful cake.
The yolks are just gonna give it
a little bit too much color.
It's purely aesthetic.
Lightly beat your egg whites
just for a few seconds to break 'em up.
Now let's take a look at our crumbly mixture.
This looks amazing.
Look at that.
It's like the most beautiful sand
you ever imagined in your life
'cause it's made a butter and sugar.
Right now, I'm gonna add those egg whites right in.
Get this started mixing on low.
Today's recipe uses one cup of milk.
We're gonna have vanilla and a touch of coconut extract.
I'm only using a little bit,
and it's really amping up the coconut flavor.
If you don't want to use coconut extract, you can omit it.
And if you wanna get some more coconut flavor,
and it's a little bit milder,
instead of using one cup of milk,
use one cup of light coconut milk.
Okay, one cup in you go while mixing on low,
two teaspoons of a nice vanilla,
and almost one teaspoon of coconut extract.
Now we're gonna increase speed to medium
and mix it for about a minute.
After 30 seconds,
let's scrape the bowl down just to be nice and safe.
Scrape that down.
It's a nice, lovely texture we have.
30 more seconds.
Okay, if you're used to the normal way of making cakes,
this seems sacrilegious.
You're like, "Oh my gosh, you're over mixing the batter."
But because it's been wrapped in butter, it's totally fine.
Now I'm adding one cup of sweetened shredded coconut.
This is the stuff that they use in German chocolate cake,
and it is so good.
It's like my brother and I's favorite sneak snack
when my mom wasn't looking.
And now we're gonna gently fold it into the batter.
Now we're gonna divide the batter evenly
among the three pans.
And it's a thick batter as you can see,
so you definitely need to spread it out.
Each of these pans is getting
about 450 grams of cake batter,
just in case you're measuring things out.
These cakes are ready to go into the oven,
350 for about half an hour.
Make sure you rotate them halfway through the bake,
and you'll know they're done
when a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let them rest in the pans for 20 minutes
and then invert them to cool.
In you go.
My cakes are out of the oven and they're cooling.
So that can only mean it's time
to make an amazing coconut cream cheese frosting.
Hello, delicious.
So into the bowl of my stand mixer
fitted with a whisk attachment,
I'm adding equal parts butter and cream cheese,
eight ounces of each, that's 226 grams.
I'm also adding in a quarter teaspoon of salt.
We're gonna mix this up until it's creamy
and looking nice and fluffy.
Mix it on high, should be about three minutes.
This looks great.
I just wanna show you what you should be seeing.
Look at that.
It's like an amazing amalgam of cream cheese and butter.
I bet it tastes delicious, but it's for the frosting.
Scrape the bowl down really quickly.
And now while it's mixing,
we're gonna add one teaspoon of vanilla
and an optional half teaspoon of coconut extract.
Mix that in.
And now we're gonna add
about five cups of powdered sugar a cup a time.
So, just gonna mix it on medium speed.
Just let it incorporate and then add the next cup in.
Each cup by the way is 120 grams.
My last cup of sugar is in, and we scraped the bowl down,
so we're gonna mix this on medium speed
until it is fluffy, creamy, and amazing.
And by the way, I've also made coconut cakes
with a Swiss meringue buttercream,
but instead of just butter,
I've had coconut cream and butter and it is very, very nice.
So let me know if you wanna see that on the channel.
This, however, looks beautiful, fluffy, and amazing.
So now it's time to assemble our cake.
Add a little dollop of frosting just onto your cake stand
to hold everything in place.
The first layer of cake goes on,
and you can see this baked up really nice and flat.
I'm adding one cup of frosting onto the first layer.
This is a third of a cup triggered scoop, and it's so handy.
Gosh, a nice coconut cake is one of my dreams come true.
You could also check out my Italian cream cake,
which has coconut and pecan, it's so good.
We're gonna add the next layer right on top
and repeat that process with one additional cup of frosting.
Spread that out again,
and you really just want a nice level layer
so your cake builds up nicely and isn't lopsided.
Here we go.
Our last layer goes right on top.
I'm gonna add most of the frosting on top
with some on the sides, and we'll just work it out.
This does not have to look nice in any way, shape, or form
because we're gonna be coating it completely with coconut.
So really don't worry about smoothing it out at all,
just have a nice layer of coverage
and make sure everything is sealed with buttercream
so it doesn't dry out.
So you have a choice here.
If you want your cake to be angel white,
we're gonna use shredded coconut.
If you want some play of contrast and a little crunchiness,
you can toast your coconut in the oven or even on a pan.
Just move it around every couple minutes
'cause it browns really quickly.
350 is fine.
So I'm adding two and a half cups, or 250 grams, of coconut.
I'll sprinkle some on the top and pat it down,
and then we'll also be patting it on the sides.
But as you know, it'll get a little bit messy.
As long as your counter's clean,
you can just scoop it up and pop it back on.
One important thing is to not wait too long
after applying the frosting to put the coconut on
because the frosting will set and dry out just a little bit
and your coconut won't stick.
This looks good to me.
To make cutting easier, chill your cake for half an hour,
give it a slice, and you're ready to enjoy.
That cake melts in your mouth.
There's coconut flavor throughout
and that cream cheese frosting is luscious,
especially when paired with the shredded coconut.
I hope you get a chance to make this recipe.
And if you like this video, check out my cake playlist.