Italian Coconut Cream Cake
Ingredients
- For the Cake:
- 1/3 c buttermilk
- 1/3 t baking soda
- 38 g butter (softened)
- 32 g shortening (white, softened)
- 1 t vanilla extract
- 146 g sugar (2/3 cup)
- 84 g eggs (beaten, without shell)
- 83 g Flour (Plain) (2/3 cup; or 66g cake flour)
- 1/3 t baking powder
- 1/3 c coconut (soft flaked)
- 1/2 c raspberry preserve (as desired)
- For the Frosting:
- 76 g cream cheese (softened)
- 38 g butter (softened)
- 1/3 t vanilla extract
- 1/3 t coconut extract (or use 2 t vanilla)
- 2 t whipping cream (or half and half)
- 133 g sifted Sugar (Icing) (1.25 sifted cups)
- 1/3 c coconut (soft sweetened flaked)
- coconut (soft flaked, to sprinkle on top of the cake after frosting, as desired)
Method
Preheat oven to 350F/Gas 4. Line one 5" round cake pan with parchment or baking paper.
For the cake:
In a small bowl combine the buttermilk with baking soda; set aside.
In a large bowl cream the butter and shortening with vanilla and sugar until fluffy. Add in eggs and the buttermilk mixture; beat until well combined.
In a small bowl combine the flour with the baking powder, then add to the creamed mixture; beat until just combined. Mix in the coconut.
Pour into prepared pan. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until the cake tests done.
Allow to cool in pan, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once the cake is completely cool, cut the cake in half vertically, so you have a half-round cake. Place one half on a plate, then spread the raspberry preserves on top (use as much or as little as desired). Top with remaining half of cake.
For the frosting:
In a bowl combine the cream cheese with butter, both extracts, and cream; beat until combined. Add in icing sugar and beat until smooth, adding more cream or icing sugar if needed to achieve desired consistency. Mix in coconut.
Spread on top and sides of the cake. Sprinkle flaked coconut over the top of the cake (use as much as desired).
Notes
SJ Note 12 Aug 2010: This is delicious! I've made a couple of small modifications: the cake didn't come out of the pan very well with just greasing, so next time I'll line it with paper. And I've scaled down the frosting appropriately; half the original is still a bit much for this cake, so I've listed the thirded amounts. For the eggs, I needed 1 and 2/3 large eggs, so I just beat two eggs together with a fork and weighed out the correct amount, since egg sizes are defined by weight. I note I don't have coconut extract, so I just used vanilla; I also used cake flour instead of plain/all-purpose. Absolutely delicious!