Brett wanted a "chocolate coconut cake" for his birthday this year. He had never had a chocolate coconut cake; he just thought it sounded good. I had never had such a cake either...so we had to make one up.
I found a recipe in my Southern Living cookbook that I cannot find online. Here is my version of Southern Living's "Four-Layer Coconut Cake" recipe:
Cake Batter:
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 2/3 cups sugar
5 large eggs
3 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup coconut milk (SL said to use regular milk)
6 ounces flaked coconut (I could only find a 14 ounce bag so I used about half of it)
2 teaspoons coconut extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream shortening and butter. Gradually add sugar and eggs 1 at a time. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt and add to butter mixture alternately with milk. Add coconut, coconut extract, and vanilla extract.
Before I go on I must admit that I did not end up with a four-layer cake. I only had three 9" round cake pans, so I made a three layer coconut cake instead.
Pour batter into three greased and parchment paper lined 9" round cake pans.
I love using parchment paper instead of flouring the pan. It's less messy and more importantly, super easy! All you do is take three layers of parchment paper and fold them in half several times until you have a triangle. Put the point of the triangle in the middle of one of your pans and cut a rounded edge where the edge of the plan lies. Unfold and you have three perfect rounds for your 9" cake pans. I spray the pans before and after placing the parchment.
Bake at 350 for 23 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. SL says to let the cake rest for 10 minutes before removing from pans. Place all layers on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, I ended up putting the layers in the refrigerator--with parchment paper in between each layer and covered with plastic wrap.
Filling:
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
14 ounces of flaked coconut
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (My addition, not in the original recipe)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (My addition, not in the original recipe)
Place the first four ingredients in a large saucepan. Before adding the beaten eggs to the pan, I ran them through a mesh strainer to eliminate egg lumps in the final product.
Cook egg and milk mixture over medium-low heat for 12-15 minutes (while whisking constantly) until thickened and bubbly. I do not know why, but it seemed to take me over 30 minutes to achieved "thick and bubbly" filling. I may have taken the whisking constantly too seriously...
Remove from heat and stir in coconut, vanilla extract, almond extract and chocolate chips. Make sure that all the chocolate is dissolved (add more if you desire). Note: I ended up with filling that tasted a little too sweet for my tastes. I was still very enjoyable, but next time I plan on either reducing the sugar or using unsweetened baking chocolate. Cool completely.
I stored the cake layers and filling overnight in the refrigerator. The next day I made the topping and assembled the cake.
Topping:
2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Beat cream at high speed until foamy. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until soft peaks form.
Toasted coconut flakes:
A few handfuls of coconut flakes
Toast on a cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper of course, in a 325 oven for about 10 minutes. Or toast them however long you like to get the color and texture that you fancy. Mine looked like this:
I like to start assembling all layer cakes by putting a small amount of filling or frosting directly on the tray before any morsel of cake is placed. This makes the cake stay put while you frost.
Spread chocolate coconut filling in between each layer. Cover the top and sides of the cake with the topping and garnish with toasted coconut flakes. Enjoy with steamy mug of coffee!
No comments:
Post a Comment