Coconut cake heaven

I thought of going to Metropolitan Market to buy John one of their ridiculously expensive little cakes for Father's Day. Then I realized I had almost everything on hand to make a homemade coconut cake, including a can of that hard-to-find cream of coconut (not to be confused with unsweetened coconut cream.)

I can't find it at the grocery store, but they sell "Coco Lopez" at the big liquor stores because it's an essential ingredient in Pina Coladas.

The best coconut cakes are made with that gooey sweetened cream. There are dozens of "best ever" coconut cakes on the Internet, some of them pretty crazy-- like adding expensive coconut cream to a plain old white cake mix.  Why bother?  Others have pages of ingredients and instructions which turns me off.

I think the fewer ingredients the better with cakes. If you're going to consume all those calories, it might as well be wholesome.  I found a fairly simple recipe on Epicurious and especially liked it because you use up the rest of the cream of coconut in the frosting, so none of the decadent stuff goes to waste. 

I tend to lose recipes then I'm kicking myself later, so I'm putting this one on the blog then I can look it up.  The cake is dense, moist and not too crumbly or sweet.  Definitely a once-a-year cake. If you like to bake, I hope you give it a try.

Coconut Cake

2-3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup butter, room temp
1 cup canned cream of coconut
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

Heat over to 350.  Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans.  Whisk all dry ingredients together in a bowl.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar, butter and cream of coconut in large bowl until fluffy.  Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. On low speed, beat in dry ingredients, alternating with buttermilk until just blended.

Using clean beaters, whip egg whites until stiff but not dry.  Carefully and gently fold whites into batter. Divide between pans and bake for about 45 minutes until tester in center comes out clean.

Cool on rack 10 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool completely.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

 2 (8-oz) packages of cream cheese, room temp
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Approx 1/2 cup cream of coconut

Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy.  Add the powdered sugar, vanilla.  Gradually add the coconut cream until you get the desired consistency.  Top with sweetened coconut flakes.