Coconut Cream Cake

American Dessert Recipes

1/2 c. butter 1 c. sugar, divided 2 1/4 c. cake flour 3 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 1 c. coconut milk 4 egg whites 1 package coconut cook n' serve pudding mix 2 c. milk shredded coconut for garnish frosting

A rich, dense mildly coconutty cake with a coconut pudding filling for all the coconut lovers at your table. Yield: about 12 pieces Ingredients note: Cake flour Substitute all purpose flour for cake flour by removing 2 Tbsp. of every cup. I measure out a cup of flour and then dip a Tablespoon into the sifter and subtract two. Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare a 9x13 baking dish by spraying it with nonstick. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream butter with 1/2 c. sugar. In a medium bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. In a metal bowl, whip egg whites to soft peaks (this is when you lift your egg beaters and the egg whites look like the top of a Dairy Queen soft serve ice cream cone). As the egg whites get stiffer and stiffer (closer to soft peaks), start adding 1/2 c. sugar, 1 Tablespoon at a time. Shake canned coconut milk vigorously before opening. It separates out during shipping, but readily recombines if you shake it like you mean it! Measure out 1 c. of coconut milk. Alternate adding dry ingredients with coconut milk. When both have been added, fold in the whipped egg whites. Gently pour the batter into the prepared 9x13 baking pan. Bake at 350°F for 30 min., until the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. While the cake is baking: Prepare the coconut cream pudding according to package directions: Whisk together 2 c. milk and pudding mix. Heat over medium high heat until mixture comes to a full boil. Don't wander off, stir consistently if not constantly (boiling over pudding is a sticky icky mess). Pour into a small to medium bowl and place in the refrigerator to chill. To assemble the cake, the pudding and cake must both be cooled. Finish the cake: Remove cake from oven and allow to cool 10 minutes in the pan. Then run a knife around the edge of the pan and invert it onto a rack. Allow it to cool completely. When you're ready to assemble, cut the 9x13 cake into two halves shortwise, so you end up with two 9x6-1/2 pieces. Place the first piece on the cake plate. Spread the coconut pudding on top of the cake layer. (You may not need to use all of it.) On a separate plate, frost the top of the top layer. Gently set it on top of the pudding layer. (This way you don't squish the pudding out while frosting the top of the cake.) Frost the sides of the cake, then dust with shredded coconut.

Submitted by Gretchen Grant
Contributed on: Monday September 17th, 2007 and modified on Monday September 17th, 2007