Coconut Cake Recipe

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This coconut cake is irresistibly moist with a beautiful crumb and rich coconut flavor. Slathered with homemade coconut frosting, it's truly the best coconut cake recipe ever.

Prep Time20

Cook Time30

Cooling1

Total Time1 50

Course: cake, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: Servings

Author: Laura

Cost: $8

Equipment

Ingredients

Coconut Cake

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup salted butter (melted)
13.5 ounces full-fat coconut milk (about 1½ cups)
¼ cup canola oil
¼ cup sour cream
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup shredded coconut

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius). Line two, 6” x 3” cake pans with parchment paper and lightly grease.
In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and sea salt, set aside.
In a large bowl, melt butter. Whisk in coconut milk, canola oil, sour cream, eggs and vanilla.
Whisk in dry ingredients until smooth.
Add coconut and stir until evenly distributed throughout the batter.
Pour an equal amount of batter into each of the prepared cake pans.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the top is set and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove cakes from the oven and let cool completely on a wire cooling rack.
Lift the cooled cakes out of the cake pans and remove the parchment paper.

Make the Coconut Frosting

See this coconut frosting recipe post for instructions.

Assemble & Chill Overnight

Then, spread a small amount of frosting on a cake plate and place one cake round on top of it. Spread or pipe coconut frosting on top of the first cake round, then put the second on top of the frosting. Spread the rest of the frosting over the two layers.
Chill in the refrigerator overnight This cake gets more moist as it sits overnight, so please make sure to plan accordingly.

Serve

Coconut cake is best served room temperature, so I suggest removing the cake from the refrigerator 2 hours before serving.

Video

Notes

*Nutrition information calculated for the cake alone without frosting.

Ingredient Substitutions

Note: it’s best if all ingredients are at room temperature.

All-purpose flour. you can use gluten-free flour to make this gluten-free.
Granulated sugar. white sugar or organic cane sugar are the best choices.
Salted butter. unsalted butter works well.
Full-fat coconut milk. I use canned coconut milk. You can use a lite version but I recommend full fat.
Canola oil. avocado or olive oil can work in place of canola.
Sour cream. full-fat greek yogurt is a good substitute.
Shredded Coconut. I suggest unsweetened shredded coconut for the best results.
Coconut Frosting. Use this recipe for the best coconut frosting. Or you can make vanilla butter cream, vanilla frosting, etc. if you prefer.

Store/Freeze

Store leftover coconut cake in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Or you can freeze the entire cake or individual slices. I suggest flash-freezing the cake/slices, then wrapping them tightly in plastic wrap and storing them in an airtight container. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving - do not microwave.

Nutrition