On a recent trip to Surfas, (my favorite specialty ingredient supply store), I stumbled across a one pound bag of unsweetened coconut shards. I didn’t purchase them at the time because I didn’t know what I would make with them. They stuck in my mind, however, and over the past few weeks I daydreamed about what I could possibly use them for. They have such an airy look to them, so I knew I wanted to make something that would relate to clouds or the sky in some way. In the end I decided to make a white cake with light blue vanilla buttercream icing and sprinkle the coconut shards over the top of it. I also added a splash of rose water, (Lord knows how I love rose water!), to the white cake for some extra sweetness. Yum!
Coconut Rose Almond Cake
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Cooling Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients
White Cake
- 1 and 1/2 Cups Ultrafine Baking Sugar
- 2 and 3/4 Cups Cake Flour
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Rose Water
- 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 1 and 1/2 Teaspoons Almond Extract
- 3/4 Cup Unsalted Butter softened
- 1 Cup Whole Milk
- 4 Egg Whites
- 1 Whole Egg
- 1/4 Cup Unsweetened Coconut Shards
Buttercream Frosting
- 3 Cups Sifted Confectioner’s Sugar
- 1 and 1/4 Cups Unsalted Butter softened
- 2 and 1/2 Tablespoons Whole Milk
- 1 and 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 11 Drops Blue Food Coloring
Instructions
White Cake
-
Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add each of the egg whites separately, mixing well after each addition. Add the egg with yolk and the softened butter and mix well.In a small bowl, mix the milk with rose water, vanilla and almond extracts. Slowly add the milk mixture to the large bowl, blending for a minute after each addition. Once the cake mix is smooth and fluffy, pour it evenly into two well-greased 8-inch cake pans and bake them in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean.
-
Once the cake is done, remove it from the oven and allow to cool for about 15 minutes. Shake the pan a little bit to loosen the grip of the cake, then place a plate on top of the pan and, wearing oven mitts, flip it over so that the pan is on the top and the plate is on the bottom. Gently remove the pan and place the plated cake layer in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Repeat this process with the second cake pan as well.
-
While the cake layers are cooling, make the Buttercream Frosting recipe below. Once the cake layers and the frosting have finished cooling, place the bottom cake layer onto the display surface, (i.e. a cake stand or pretty plate that you will serve it off of), and begin evenly frosting the top of the bottom cake layer. Then, center the second cake layer on top of the bottom cake layer so that they line up perfectly. Now frost the sides and top of the cake so that the entire cake surface is frosted and no cake surface is visible through the frosting. Sprinkle the top of the cake with the coconut shards and serve at room temperature.
Buttercream Frosting
-
Mix together the confectioner’s sugar and butter until they have a thick and heavy consistency, (about 5 minutes). Mix in the milk, vanilla extract and the blue food coloring until the frosting becomes creamy and is a solid, even light blue color (no color streaks!) Place the frosting in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to prevent it from becoming too runny, but not any longer otherwise it will become too hard and tear at the cake while you’re frosting it.
Ooo, so pretty! The only use I can think of for coconut is in making seven-layer bar. But that looks so springy!
– Melanie
Ohhhh!!! That's a good idea! I think they can be put in no-bake cookies too…I remember you made baller no-bake cookies one time, I had to withhold from eating them all. It was either at your house or one of the past Christmas parties or something…all I can recall is sweet peanut-buttery deliciousness.
Wonderful recipe! The colors originally enticed me, but then you added rose water! Yum! Beautiful, easy to make and lovely presentation. Perfection.
lovely, lovely, lovely : )
how hard is the cake supposed to be eventually ?
i remember white cake to be quite soft but it ended up really hard like frozen butter.
That is….bizarre. I'm not sure how that could've happened to be honest :/ Maybe the oven temperature is off and it was hotter than it should be? One of my old apartment's oven was always about 100 degrees over what the dial said so I kept a thermometer inside the oven to make sure I knew exactly how hot it was in there.
This is an gluten-free appetizer or snack. Super delicious, budget-friendly, kids-friendly food. I really like this dish.
vex 3
To be honest, I’m not sure how it could have happened. It was probably hotter than it should have been because the oven temperature was off. I kept a thermometer inside the oven of one of my previous apartments since the temperature inside was almost usually roughly 100 degrees hotter than the dial indicated words from letters
you always keep writing articles with such good information, you are a good writer and a great blogger. https://www.ayushibosus.com/
Let's Be Penpals!
from my homestead to your inbox