Tag Archives: Coconut Cake

Ethereal Coconut Peach Layer Cake

It’s the last week of August and things are just peachy around here in the saltandserenity kitchen with this Ethereal Coconut Peach Layer Cake.

I know that some of you are in a hurry to get to all things pumpkin spiced, but slow down for a minute please. The markets here in Ottawa are still brimming with peaches, corn and tomatoes, so just relax and enjoy. Pumpkins can wait their turn.

The combination of peach and coconut is an unusual but very delicious one. Considering that both are members of the drupe family, it makes sense.

This triple layer cake, created by bake from scratch is an impressive beauty. Plush layers of coconut cake are filled with juicy peaches and fluffy vanilla buttercream. Toasted shards of coconut cover the sides for an extra burst of coconut flavour.

Watch how it all comes together:

Tips for Success for baking Ethereal Coconut Peach Layer Cake:

  • The recipe calls for cake flour, which has a lower protein content than all purpose flour and makes a more tender cake. No cake flour on hand, no problem. Make your own cake flour by combining all-purpose flour with some cornstarch. (The exact amounts are in the recipe). Cornstarch adds tenderness and lowers the overall protein content of the all-purpose flour, making a finer, more even crumb on your cake.
  • Brush cake layers with a peach simple syrup. The extra time taken to make the simple syrup will reward you with a lush and moist cake.
  • Use full fat coconut milk please. This is not the time to save calories.

Coconut Peach Cake

Servings 15
Calories 1189 kcal

Ingredients
  

Peach Simple Syrup

  • 1 medium peach, peeled, pitted and sliced into 8 wedges
  • 100 grams granulated sugar
  • 120 grams water

Cake

  • 340 grams unsalted butter, room temperature removed from fridge 1 hour before baking
  • 400 grams granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs room temperature
  • 437 grams cake flour or 382 grams all purpose flour plus 55 grams cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher salt or 1/4 teaspoon Morton's Kosher salt
  • 180 grams coconut milk
  • 120 grams buttermilk
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
  • 3 medium peaches, peeled, pitted and cut into 1/4 inch thick wedges

American Buttercream

  • 567 grams unsalted butter, room temperature removed from fridge 1 hour before using
  • 1365 grams icing sugar, sifted
  • 240 grams 35% whipping cream
  • 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal Kosher salt or 1 teaspoon Morton's Kosher salt

Garnish

  • 120 grams coconut flakes, toasted

Instructions
 

Peach Simple Syrup

  • In a medium saucepan, heat all ingredients over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, and let cool. Using a blender, food processor or immersion blender, blend until mixture is smooth. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Cake

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 3 (9-inch) round cake pans. Line bottom of pans with parchment paper; butter and flour pans again.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar at medium speed until fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape sides of bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a small bowl, stir together coconut milk and buttermilk. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with coconut milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating just until combined after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Divide batter among prepared pans.
  • Bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and let cool completely on wire racks. Brush layers with Peach Simple Syrup.

American Buttercream

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter at medium speed until creamy, 5 to 6 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar, cream, and salt, beating until smooth. Use immediately.

Assemble Cake

  • Place 2 cups American Buttercream in a piping bag fitted with a medium round tip. Pipe a ½-inch-thick layer of buttercream around edge of one cake layer. Spread buttercream within border. Layer half of peaches in center, gently pressing into buttercream and ensuring border is higher than peaches. Repeat layers once. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread a thin layer of American Buttercream on top and sides of cake. Freeze for 30 minutes. Spread remaining American Buttercream on top and sides of cake. Press toasted coconut into sides of cake. Cover and refrigerate for up to 4 days.

Notes

Recipe created by Bake From Scratch Magazine. 
If you don’t have cake flour on hand, you can make your own by adding some cornstarch to all purpose flour. See amounts in recipe.

Nutrition

Calories: 1189kcalCarbohydrates: 152gProtein: 7gFat: 64gSaturated Fat: 42gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 2gCholesterol: 186mgSodium: 774mgPotassium: 205mgFiber: 3gSugar: 127gVitamin A: 1944IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 68mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

KK’s Coconut Cake with Coconut Caramel Filling

valentines day party 1If you have a coconut lover in your life, this cake is the perfect way to declare your love for them. The very first time I had this cake was several years ago. My niece, KK, made it for my mom’s 76th birthday. She was only 10 years old at the time. She has been baking ever since she could grasp a spatula. At her house, half birthdays are celebrated with as much hoopla and joy as full birthdays, so with a five person family, that works out to 10 cakes a year and almost 150 cakes in her short lifetime. She has some mad baking skills!3 slicesa sliceThis is my twist on her cake. I have added a coconut caramel filling to spread between the layers. This filling, known as kaya is created by cooking coconut milk, eggs, granulated and coconut palm sugar and pandan leaves over a double boiler until the sugar becomes caramelized and everything thickens into a beautiful jam-like consistency. I learned how to make kaya from pastry chef Anna Olsen on The Food Network. Kaya is traditionally spread on toast and then dipped in soft boiled eggs for breakfast in Singapore and Malaysia. Clearly I grew up on the wrong continent. All I got for breakfast, when growing up was a bowl of Cheerios!

Pandan leaves are long narrow bright green leaves that grow on a tropical plant known as the Screwpine.  Commonly found throughout Southeast Asia, they have been called, “The vanilla  of the east.” They can be found fresh or frozen in at Asian grocery stores or online. Vanilla extract is a good substitute if you can’t find pandan leaves. 

Making the coconut caramel (Kaya) filling takes time and patience. If you are short of either, just double the amount of buttercream frosting and use it to fill the layers as well as frost the top and sides of this cake. It will still be delicious, but I will say that Kaya pushes this cake further along on the bliss meter.

When you first start cooking the kaya, the pandan leaves will give off a grassy aroma. As they begin to steep in the coconut milk, eggs and sugar, the fragrance becomes more subdued, reminiscent of almonds and sweet cream.double boileringredients for cake 1Although my sister would never do this, I weigh the cake batter to make sure I get an equal amount in each pan. That way, the layers all cook at the same rate. weigh cake batterTo frost the cake, I made an American buttercream. The recipe I used comes from Nila, over at thetoughcookie.com. She is a buttercream wizard. Check out her Battle of the Buttercream posts. She taught me that the addition of a few drops of lemon juice really brighten all the other flavours of the buttercream without making it taste like lemon. Really cool trick!

I piped a border of buttercream around each layer and then filled the center with the coconut caramel filling. The border keeps the coconut filling from oozing out,pipe a boarder of buttercreamcoconut caramel fillingserving a slice

Click here to print recipe for KK’s coconut cake with coconut caramel filling.

cake with candy