Something that I really want to focus on here at i am baker is recipe quality. I have spent a year getting my feet wet in decorating, and now I want to stick my toes into the recipe pool.
Gross. Feet and recipes? Not my best analogy.
So my goal is to start with the basics. To find a great basic recipe then to tweak it to fit my needs, or if it is amazing, leave as is and bow to the feet of the creator.
What is with me and feet today?
My first trial is with is with white cake.
I love white cake and love it when it is soft and light and airy (but not spongy). However, the thing I like best about white cake is that it lends itself so easily to other flavors. You can pair it with a fantastic chocolate frosting or a super sweet strawberry sauce. (say that 3 times fast)
Or in this case, the soft elegance of coconut.
Traditionally, a coconut cake is accompanied by coconut filling and frosting.
But I am weird and only like a hint of coconut… hence a white cake with coconut topping.
Or, after it was all said and done, white cake, chocolate cake, and coconut frosting with decorative coconut flakes.
So, after all that confusion, I will get back to the point. White cake.
Basic White Cake (adapted from Joy of Baking-great site!)
2 large eggs separated
1 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup room temperature butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract*
1/2 cup milk
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
*I love the addition of almond extract, but you can certainly leave this out for a more pure vanilla flavor. The original recipe does not call for it.
Directions:
Separate the eggs, placing the whites into one container and the yolks into another. Let come to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 8in (I used 9in) pans. Normally I use PAM, but this recipe really calls for the butter and flour method. Just trust me on this one.
Put sifted flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and set aside.
Using an electric mixer ( I love that this recipe calls for an electric mixer as I do not even own a KitchenAid Mixer), beat the butter until soft and creamy, about 1 minute. Add 3/4 cup of sugar (reserving the rest) and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Now add egg yolks, one at a time, until completely incorporated. Add vanilla and almond extract until combined, about 30 seconds.
Now you are going to add your flour mixture and milk. Starting with the flour, add 1/3 of the mixture and mix until incorporated. Now add 1/2 milk mixture, mix until combined. Add half the remaining flour, combine. Now add the rest of your milk and combine. Add remaining 1/3 of your flour mixture, and go ahead and mix until combined. This whole process should take less then 2 minutes, as you do not want to over beat the batter.
In a separate clean bowl with clean whisk attachment, whip eggs whites until foamy then add the cream of tartar. (I did this on medium speed) Beat until soft peaks occur, and then gradually add in your remaining sugar. You will want stiff peaks, which took me about 3 minutes. Now, take your rubber spatula and fold your eggs whites into your cake batter. Make sure they are fully incorporated, but do not over stir the batter, as you do not want to eggs to deflate.
Put batter into prepared pans and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Cakes are done when an inserted tooth pick comes out clean or with very few crumbs. At this point I place the cakes directly into the freezer and leave them there for at least an hour. This locks in moisture and also makes it easier to frost.
Seven Minute Coconut Frosting
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup water
3 large egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp coconut extract
(I did not have enough frosting to cover the outside of my cake and had to improvise, but I also added another entire cake to the interior, so I believe if you are making the white cake alone you will not have the same problem.)
Directions:
In a double broiler (or a stove top safe glass bowl over the top of a pot of boiling water) combine sugar, water, egg whites, and cream of tartar with electric mixer and whisk attachment until combined, about 30 seconds. Place bowl on top of pan of boiling water (water should only be about 1-2 inches deep) and beat with electric whisk attachment for seven minutes until soft peaks occur. Remove from heat and add coconut extract. Beat for 2 to 3 minutes or more until frosting is spreading consistency.
Since I was covering this cake in coconut, I used a majority of the frosting on the internal structure, alternating between each layer of white and chocolate.
The addition of this type of frosting to the interior left this cake beyond moist.
The final result was delicious.
Like, I am going to start making this for peoples birthdays as a special treat delicious.
The white cake was distinctive and delectable, and can easily stand on its own!
FIRST!!!!!
WHOOOHOOOO!!!
Looks good, too bad Joe hates coconut. He’s picky.
Question: What does sifting flour do to the end result of your baking? I don’t have a sifter and therefore never use one when a recipe calls for it.
This focus on recipe quality of yours is going to be delicious if this first cake is any indication. It is a beauty Amanda.
On another note about your comment *what is it with me and feet today*. I don’t know but keep looking down, won’t be long I bet before you can’t see them for a few months! LOL Glad to hear that the OBGYN check-up today went so well.
Oh my goodness. This looks gorgeous and yummy, Amanda! Will you PLEASE be my neighbor already? I promise I’d share a cup of sugar with ya whenever you needed it.
Great question Lauren! If you can
accurately measure your ingredients (I do not have a scale and just use
measuring cups) I have heard that you do not need to sift. But if you
use measuring cups, sifting helps to ensure accurate measurements.
Looks delish, Amanda!
oh that is just calling my name, I love coconut and the combo of choc and vanilla cake, yum,yum,yum! I really want a piece
most of the treats are gone from my kitchen. Maybe I’ll just have to get in there and make one myself-don’t hold your breath.
This looks so delicious. My grandma used to make a white cake that was to die for!
Everything looks so delicious, but I find one sentence very disconcerting: I do not even own a kitchenaid mixer. Please tell me it’s because you have a better one! If there’s ever been a baker deserving of the best mixer out there, it’s you! Do I need to start a donation box?
Normally I don’t respond to coconut cakes very well but the mixture of white and chocolate cake plus the frosting and coconut looks AMAZING. Thanks for sharing this!
“At this point I place the cakes directly into the freezer and leave them there for at least an hour.”
So straight out of the oven into the freezer? You don’t let them sit for 10 minutes, remove from the pan, and then put in the freezer?
How many white layers and chocolate layers did you actually cook? Did you cook 3 of each or are these torted?
When you cook a cake this tall, how do you store it for the next few days? Most cake domes are not that tall.
Hi, I am wondering the same thing about the freezer. Do you let them cool long enough to take them out of the pan first or directly into the freezer? Thanks!
This is a beautifully layered cake, Amanda
P.S. – I’ve graduated from Le Cordon Bleu – working as a Specialty Pastry Chef and running a small business out of my home for now. Thank You for all of your kind thoughts, words, and encouragement. I’m still always in awe of your talent and photography! I wish you a very blessed 2011!
I am the same way Zoe!! I can only take so much, and even then actually eating coconut flakes is out of the question. I think I am going through some weird pregnancy stuff… for some reason I just love this flavor right now!!
Blessings!
Coconut cake is my favorite!
This is truly a talent I don’t have. Beautiful!
Oh, I would kill for a piece of this cake right now! My former m-i-l made a fabulous coconut cake and 7 Minute icing. I haven’t been successful in doing so ~ this recipe gives me hope.
Thanks so much for sharing your talent and creativity with us! I don’t know how you do it, especially being pregnant, but your efforts are truly appreciated.
Pat
I can’t take it – UNCLE!!! Amanda – you must stop torturing and taunting me so!! I vowed to give up the sugar and move more . . . wailing nowwwwwwwww
Really Amanda, it’s pretty awesome that I come to your site and lose weight, even if it is just water weight from salivating. Great recipe on the frosting. I love coconut, it’s one of my favorite. The cake as whole-beautiful!
O.k.- I don’t even like coconut. But this darling, sweet, fluffy *bow at the feet of its’ creator* cake is mighty tempting, I must say. (Just hope those feet are clean).
Beautiful cake Amanda! You always get my thumbs up-even when you talk about feet or ham balls
xo
looks delicious…I adore coconut!
I did your trick of wrapping the wet rag around the pan for making a level cake….worked like a charm.
I’m not a big coconut fan, but I am now!!
White cake doesn’t do it for me. But my mom makes a yellow cake with sour cream coconut frosting that we have to have Every Single Christmas (we dare not more than once a year!).
It looks beautiful, though! And I too think you need a stand mixer. I got my first one yesterday! It was a Christmas present but I was hemming and hawing about which model I wanted. I ended up with bowl-lift. I asked for some lil PME tips for my birthday this weekend. I can’t wait to make some cookies!
That looks super good! I love the flavor of coconut (but not really the texture of flakes). I wish I wasn’t on a diet, or I’d try this!
pairing this white cake with chocolate cake, is a good idea. Pleasing to the eye, and the pallate.I love to bake, and always looking for a new idea to try.
I think I’m going to make this but using a coconut cake in between the chocolate and almonds in the frosting so it tastes like an Almond Joy. Love it.
Oh my gosh I so want a peice of that right now. That looks like truely the yummiest cake of all. Um, can you mail me a slice of that yummy heaven?
Another gorgeous cake!
Oh, I want to sink my teeth into a piece of this!
omg that looks amazing!!
I have to click away from this post as my mouth is watering too much. Amanda this looks truly delicious. Just one question, when you take the pans out of the oven should I leave them on my benchtop for a few minutes before transferring them to the freezer?
That is one pretty cake!
*sigh* This looks so heavenly, Amanda!
What a gorgeous cake – I’m completely crazy for coconut and especially love it paired with chocolate.
Gorgeous photos!
It looks beautiful and it sounds great! I love coconut!
In my culture we never bake by volume, always by weight, but it’s still expected to sift flour. It adds air and breaks up lumps. We don’t usually have fancy equipment though like I’ve seen in American baking posts, just a straight forward sieve.
Goodness, I’m ecstatic I stumbled upon your blog (c/o Cup of Joe). Those treats look incredible!
xoxo,
Dreaming of Palm Trees
OH MY, this cake looks fabulous! I have been searching for a great white cake recipe…I’ll have to give this a try!
Lovely! I think the cake is absolutely beautiful… I love the pretty strips of white cake and chocolate cake.
very nice–it’s like the ultimate mounds bar. bravo.
OMG, OMG, OMG – coconut cake is my absolute favorite. Today is my birthday and I usually have a slice of coconut cake! Can’t this year due to gluten, so this will be my virtual slice. Thank you for the birthday treat! As usual, it’s a stunner. Happy New Year!
LOVING how you alternated flavors in this cake…why haven’t I ever thought of that?!
That cake is absolutely gorgeous! We’d love if you could enter it into theRecipe4Living 5th Birthday Contest! You could win a huge gift basket full of Scharffen Berger gourmet chocolate! http://www.recipe4living.com/articles/the_recipe4living_5th_birthday_recipe_contest_sponsored_by_scharffen_berger.ht
Hey lady! We’re coming down to the cities this weekend. Got any of this cake left over????
Your multi-colored layered cakes are always so pretty! Looks delicious!
Hi, I’m new to your blog. I love it. Consider me a new reader.
I’m also a baker with my own baking blog and love your ideas.
This cake looks great. Definitely something I have to do in the future. Jackie
I have been loving your site…this is the first of your recipes I am trying…can’t wait. I know it will not disappoint. Hope mine looks as pretty as yours!
Oh my goodness – glorious!!! My mom’s birthday is next weekend and she LOVES coconut…I’ve been planning on making a coconut cake…methinks I might have to take after you! I love the white/chocolate cake combo!
What recipe did you use for the chocolate cake? This looks so amazingly wonderful!
Oh my goodness this cake looks amazing!!!
Looks absolutely perfect!
Wow! This cake is one I can taste right now! Yum!!!!
I made this today, as a layer cake, with a cream cheese-based coconut frosting for the layers and sides, then for the top I made a ganache from melted Bounty bars. OH MY GOD. It took me to another level, taste-wise!!!!! Thanks for the inspiration!!!
Hey there! I just stumbled upon your blog today and this coconut cake of yours caught my eye. I’ve wanted a coconut cake for the past two years for my birthday, but no one knew how to make one (a girl can’t bake her own birthday cake!). I’m saving this for my next birthday!
I’m making this for my son’s 12th birthday in a couple of months. It’s just gorgeous! My to-be 7 year old will need his own cake on the same day, so I can’t wait to see what other ideas you have. Thank you!
That cake looks SO good!!! I’m bookmarking this. I definitely have to try it! Love that 7-minute frosting too!
Just used this for a birthday part as alternative to the icing recipe with the “Pina Colada Cake” recipe in Sky High Cakes (3-layer cake recipe book). Big hit and this icing is so easy to work with, plus no fat?!? (Or almost none – I mean – there’s enough fat and sugar in the cake if you can avoid fat and have it taste just as good…)
It’s funny because I had never heard of this sort of ‘meringue-like’ icing recipe, but as I was cooking it my mother-in-law arrived, and immediately she said “oh you’re making 7-minute icing!”…maybe this recipe USED to be better-known, or maybe my family is weird.
Went beautifully with the rum brown sugar cake and pineapple filling from the Sky High recipe, and this icing made plenty to ice the top and sides of a 3-layer cake.
Thanks for sharing!
Hey! I am just in the process of baking the white cake ( I am actually going to use it to make a checkerboard cake! ) but just a question…your ingred. list says baking powder, but your instructions say baking soda…I am going to assume you mean baking powder?
I was about to write the same thing Marie Baars wrote regarding the powder/soda thing, but I just went with powder since that’s what the listed ingredients said.
My other question is to the consistency of the batter…it’s so thick. Like cookie batter thick. Is this normal for this recipe?
How thick does this cake end up being? I feel like I might have made a mistake as my cake definitely isn’t very tall… Does it get much thicker than when you pour the batter in?
Amanda, you list “butter” in the coconut cake recipe (and other recipes. I normally use unsalted butter. Please tell which butter – salted or unsalted that your recipe are calculated for.
thanks!!
Cheryl
Can I double the recipe? I want to make a sheet cake.
Or would it work without doubling the recipe? We have birthdays at work and I want to make a cake to bring into work.
Hi! I’m attempting to make this cake right now. I just put it in the oven actually, so I’m really excited to see how it turns out. One question – in the Joy of Baking recipe they put in baking powder instead of baking soda. Did you modify that purposefully or is that a mistake? I only noticed because I was putting away my ingredients and realized I never the baking powder, though it’s on the ingredient list. Does using baking soda change anything significant about the cake?
I’ll let you know how mine turns out! It’s one of my first cakes from scratch.
Ps. LOVE your site!
I’m about to make this cake and I want to know how your cake turned out with the baking soda/powder discrepancy? Please advise. Thanks!
Are saying that when you remove the cake from the oven you place it directly into the freezer – pan and all?
I’ve only recently come across your blog, but keep coming back to it, again and again. I’m LOVING it!!!! I agree, love white cake for it’s ability to pair well with any flavor.
I was wondering if I can make this cake in a 9 x 13 cake pan?
I dont have cake flour, can I use self raising or plain?
Do you have a good recipe for a WHIPPED CREAM FROSTING? I have your coconut cake in my oven just now…yum!
Lovely cake! I love chocolate and coconut together, and I’ve also been looking for a go-to white cake recipe. This is perfect! Thanks for sharing.
Also, I’m totally loving the new layout. I meant to say something before, but it slipped my mind! It’s perfect
Will have to mark this one. My FIL loves coconut cake and his wife hates to bake. I have been thinking of making a coconut cake for Christmas Eve this year. Thanks for the recipe.
thanks so much for this! i used your white cake recipe + cake flour recipe for my daughter’s birthday cake. it was amazing! i linked to it, too. thanks again!
Please can you tell me how much butter you need in grams , because I get confused in cups .
Being that butterflies taste with their feet, maybe the feet analogy is not so far off. Maybe it would be appropriate to decorate the cake with butterflies.
I was going to make this cake and I know pictures is white and chocolate, but there is no mention of anything to make the chocolate layers or chocolate. PLease advise, TY
Its further down in the post.
ok, maybe I am blind, but the last thing in the post is the icing recipe
Icing was gritty from sugar. Powdered sugar would have been much better. Thumbs down.
Hi Christine- So sorry you didnt like the frosting! It should definitely not be grainy at all. I found that when the ingredients were heated together the sugar dissolved nicely… wonder why that didnt happen when you made it? Maybe not enough heat? Better luck next time.
Hi just came across your beautiful blog great job -this cake looks fantastic was wonderin if I could add dessicated coconut to the white cake batter