I remember early on when dating J, we went to Strange Donuts and he ordered a sno ball donut. It was covered in coconut and filled with a marshmallow cream. It was beautiful as he said it was good. This memory alone has lead me to believe that J really loved coconut and marshmallow cream.
Fast forward to this past week, I borrowed a The Magnolia Bakery cookbook from the library. I tried a few recipes in there and we liked the majority of them so I figured trying one of their cake recipes before Easter would be great.
While I would typically do a carrot cake for Easter, I remembered J's love for sno balls and decided to make this beautiful Coconut Cream Layered Cake. This cake is a labor of love, as it was pretty time consuming! I will say that the instructions on baking this cake were spot on. It was not difficult by any means, but it did take some time to accomplish.
We poured a cup of coffee to enjoy a piece of the cake and I'm waiting for J to declare this is the best cake he's ever tasted in his life (knowing that he typically will choose a chocolate cake, but remembering this donut date). "This is good!" he said.
I waited for more.
Silence.
"Don't you like coconut cake?" I finally asked.
"This is the first time I've ever had it. It's good." he replied.
I started laughing. "I thought you like coconut cream cake! That's why I made this recipe. I don't even like coconut cake that much!"
He started laughing, "No. I mean it's good, but it's not something I would typically choose."
We had a good laugh that neither of us were big fans of coconut, yet we had this huge triple layer coconut cake! Thankfully, we have a few friends and within a day, we were able to share the rest of the cake with them.
Magnolia Bakery's Coconut Layered Cake
INGREDIENTS
4 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1½ cups/3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1½ teaspoons grated lemon zest
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1½ cups full-fat coconut milk
2½ cups sweetened shredded coconut
1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease and flour three 9-inch cake pans. Line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a stand mixer with the paddle, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl and the paddle.
4. With the mixer on medium speed, beat in the vanilla and lemon zest until combined. Beat in the whole eggs and yolks, one at a time, mixing after each addition until fully incorporated. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the coconut milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl and beat for 30 seconds, until you no longer see streaks of flour.
5. Remove the bowl from the mixer. With a rubber spatula, fold in 1¼ cups of the coconut just until incorporated.
6. Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
7. Let the cakes cool in the pans for at least 30 minutes. Transfer the cakes to a cooling rack to cool completely.
8. To assemble and decorate the cake, place the first cake layer top side up on a cake turner. Use an icing wand to evenly spread 1 cup coconut filling over the layer. Add the second cake layer top side down and spread 1 cup coconut filling over it. Place the third layer over the filling top side up. With an icing wand, spread the meringue over the top and sides, making sure to use all the icing for a really lavish cake. To get the meringue to look fluffy, touch the end of the icing wand to the icing and pull away quickly to create peaks.
Garnish with the reserved 1¼ cup (125g/4.4oz) shredded coconut.
COCONUT FILLING
INGREDIENTS
1½ cups whole milk
¾ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
4 cups sweetened shredded coconut
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1. In a medium pot, whisk together the milk, sugar, and four. Set over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it comes to a slow boil, 10 to 12 minutes.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and add the coconut and vanilla. Stir until combined. Pour the mixture into a shallow bowl to cool quickly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely chilled before using.
Marshmallow Meringue Icing
INGREDIENTS
2¼ cups (450g/16oz) granulated sugar
½ cup (120g/4.2oz) water
¾ teaspoon cream of tartar
5 egg whites
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, water, and cream of tartar. Stir to moisten all the sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat without stirring. If necessary, use a moistened pastry brush to wash down any sugar that remains on the sides of the pan.
2. Meanwhile, in a stand mixer with the whisk, combine the egg whites and vanilla and beat on medium speed.
3. When the sugar mixture comes to a boil, clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan. Do not stir the mixture at all. Bring the sugar syrup to 223°F.
4. As soon as the sugar syrup reaches 223°F, increase the mixer speed to high.
5. Watch the syrup carefully. When it comes to 230°F, remove from the heat. By this point the egg whites should be fluffy and about one third of the way up the bowl and almost white.
6. Carefully and gradually pour the hot syrup in a thin stream into the egg whites as they are beating on high speed. Be sure to pour the syrup onto the side of the bowl (and not onto the whisk) and let it drizzle down into the beating whites.
7. On high speed, continue to whip the meringue mixture for about 5 minutes. The icing is finished when it pulls away from the sides of the mixer bowl and puffs up in the center. You should have firm, shiny peaks that curl slightly at the ends when the whisk is removed. This icing must be used immediately.