Coconut white cake with lemon Swiss meringue buttercream

User Reviews

5.0

6 reviews
Excellent
  • Prep Time

    2 hrs 30 mins

  • Cook Time

    1 hr

  • Additional Time

    4 hrs

  • Total Time

    7 hrs 30 mins

  • Servings

    12 slices

  • Calories

    1280 kcal

  • Course

    Dessert, Cake

  • Cuisine

    American

Coconut white cake with lemon Swiss meringue buttercream

A variation of my classic white cake, this White Coconut Cake is chock full of tropical flavors like coconut and lemon, and it's made entirely with egg whites for that pristine color! Paired with a fluffy and buttery lemon Swiss meringue buttercream frosting.Intermediate - This cake is great for intermediate cake bakers. The cake recipe is simple, but the process of making frosting and assembling the cake will require more time, and a little experience for best results. Please use weight measurements for accurate, consistent results. US based cup, teaspoon, tablespoon measurements. Common Measurement Conversions.

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Ingredients

Servings

Coconut white cake

Dry ingredients

  • 480 g cake flour / pastry flour 4 cups, measured by spoon and level method
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • ¾ tsp baking soda

Wet ingredients (all at room temperature for best results)

  • 270 g sour cream 1⅛ cup
  • 200 g coconut milk about ¾ cup (from a can, and not coconut cream)
  • ¾ cup unsweetened desiccated coconut
  • 5 mL coconut extract 1 tsp, optional
  • 10 mL clear vanilla extract 2 tsp
  • 5 mL lemon extract or almond extract
  • 340 g unsalted butter 3 sticks, softened
  • 500 g white sugar 2 ½ cups
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • 9 egg whites from large eggs about 270-288 g . Room temperature

Coconut syrup (optional)

  • 200 g white sugar 1 cup
  • 267 g coconut milk 1 cup canned coconut milk

Lemon Swiss meringue buttercream

  • 10 egg whites from large eggs about 310 g. Separated while cold, and then brought to room temperature
  • 620 g white sugar 3⅛ cups
  • ½ tsp sea salt (generous ½ tsp)
  • 850 g unsalted butter softened to about 68°F (7 ½ sticks)
  • 15 mL lemon extract 1 tbsp
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Instructions

  1. Prepare the cake pans - line the bottom of three 8 inch cake pans and butter and flour the sides. For best results you can use cake baking strips for white sides. Baking strips need to be soaked in cold water ahead of time (at least 15 minutes). After 15 - 30 minutes of soaking, wrap the prepared cake pans with the soaked baking strips and set aside until needed.
  2. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Coconut cake

  1. Sift all the dry ingredients together and set aside. This includes the cake flour, baking powder and baking soda.
  2. In another bowl or jug - combine the sour cream, coconut milk, desiccated coconut and the flavor extracts. Stir to combine and set aside until needed.
  3. Place the butter, salt and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. With a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar mix together until light, creamy and fluffy. This can take about 5 - 10 minutes depending on the texture and temperature of the butter and the ambient room temperature.
  4. Whisk the egg whites separately until slightly frothy. This is to break up the egg whites and to make them loose. They do not have to be whisked into a meringue.
  5. Add the whisked egg whites to the butter-sugar mixture. Mix for 2 - 3 minutes until the egg whites have completely incorporated into the butter.
  6. Next, add in the rest of the wet ingredients and mix until well incorporated. If the mixture becomes grainy, do not worry. This can happen if the ingredients are at different temperatures, but it will come together after the dry ingredients have been added.
  7. Gently fold in the sifted dry ingredients. Be careful to NOT OVER-MIX the dry ingredients.
  8. Divide the cake batter equally between the 3 cake pans. Use an ice cream scoop to evenly divide the batter, or use weight measurements to divide the batter with more precision.
  9. Use an offset spatula to spread the batter evenly in the cake pan. Knock the pans on your kitchen countertop 2 - 3 times, firmly but not too hard, to knock out any air bubbles stuck in the batter.
  10. Bake the cake pans in the preheated oven for about 25 - 35 minutes, rotating once, halfway through the baking time. Baking time is 25 - 30 minutes without cake strips, and up to 35 minutes with cake strips.
  11. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean, or when the surface of the cakes are just starting to be springy to the touch.
  12. Remove the cake layers from the oven and let them cool for 5 - 10 minutes. While the cake is still warm, gently remove the cakes from the pans and keep them on cooling racks.
  13. While still warm, soak the cakes with the coconut syrup, using a squeeze bottle (about 3 - 4 tbsp per cake layer).
  14. Let the cakes cool completely.
  15. While the cakes are cooling, you can make the Swiss meringue buttercream (you can also make this the day before too).

Coconut syrup - this can be made a day ahead, or just before the cake is being made.

  1. Place the sugar and coconut milk in a saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Lower the heat and let it simmer for 2 - 5 minutes and then remove from the heat.
  2. Let the syrup cool down completely. Store the syrup in a squeeze bottle until needed. You can use the syrup while warm or at room temperature.

Swiss meringue buttercream - can be made ahead of time.

  1. Use my perfect Swiss meringue buttercream recipe to make the lemon Swiss meringue buttercream. Use the quantities given in this recipe, and add the lemon extract in place of the vanilla extract.

Frosting and decorating the cake

  1. Once the cakes have cooled down, they are ready to be frosted. If needed, trim and level the cake tops to make them evenly flat.
  2. Place a cake layer on your cake turntable (or platter). Measure and place about ½ - ¾ cup of Swiss meringue frosting on top of the cake and use an offset spatula to spread it evenly. Leave a small margin along the edge of the cake.
  3. Place the second cake layer on top and repeat with an equal amount of frosting.
  4. Place the final cake layer on top, with the bottom side facing up (this is to create a flat surface on top). Place about ¾ - 1 cup of frosting and spread the frosting along the top and sides of the cake, filling any gaps between cake layers. Make sure the frosting is spread very thin, over the top and sides, to create a flat surface and straight sides. This will be your crumb coating (which catches and seals in any loose crumbs).
  5. Let the frosting “set” in the fridge or in a cool place for about 30 minutes.
  6. Once the crumb coating is “set”, apply another thin layer of white frosting. It doesn’t have to be smooth, but make sure it’s as even as possible.
  7. Next, in four bowls - place 1 to 1 ½ cups of frosting each. Color one bowl with a deep blue color. Color the second bowl with a lighter blue color and the third bowl with a pastel blue color. You can use the same blue color, but add fewer drops of blue coloring to match the gradient. Keep the final bowl plain white.
  8. Using a small spatula, take small dollops of the blue frosting and create spatula strokes of the buttercream on the white cake surface. Alternate between the different blue colors and white to create a blue and white spatula painted cake. Read the post for more tips on how to do this.
  9. Place the remaining frosting on plastic wrap, and roll it up to create a tube of frosting with all the remaining colors. Cut one end of the tube of frosting. Place this inside a pastry bag, which is attached with a large closed star piping tip. When you squeeze the pastry bag, you should now get blue and white swirls of frosting coming out of the piping tip.
  10. Pipe large swirls of white and blue frosting on the top of the cake. Read the post for more tips on how to do this.
  11. Decorate with matching sprinkles.

Notes

  • This recipe is for a 3 layer cake. If you want to make a 2 layer cake, change the number of servings to 8 in the recipe card and follow the recipe. A 2 layer cake will still serve 12, but the slices will be shorter. 
  • This cake can be sliced as shown here, and can serve up to 28 people (1 x 2 inch cake pieces), as they are very tall cake slices.
  • This cake can be sliced as
  • shown here
  • , and can serve up to 28 people (1 x 2 inch cake pieces), as they are very tall cake slices.
  • Here's an overview of the workflow
  • Here's an overview of the workflow
  • Day one morning- Make the coconut syrup (can be done the day before too).
  • Day one morning - Make the Swiss meringue buttercream.
  • Day one afternoon/evening - Bake the cake layers and allow them to cool overnight.
  • Day two - Frost and decorate the cake layers.
  • Swiss meringue buttercream
  • Swiss meringue buttercream
  • Follow this recipe on how to make Swiss meringue buttercream for detailed tips on troubleshooting and perfecting SMBC. SMBC can be stored in the fridge or freezer if you make it a few days (or even weeks) ahead of time. 
  • You can also follow my EASY Swiss meringue buttercream recipe for an ever easier cheat's version.
  • Please read the notes in the current post for details on how to create a spatula painted cake and the blue and white swirls on top. Change the colors to match any event, or to match your preferences. You can also keep the cake pure white.

Nutrition Information

Show Details
Serving 1large slice Calories 1280kcal (64%) Carbohydrates 119g (40%) Protein 12g (24%) Fat 87g (134%) Saturated Fat 56g (280%) Cholesterol 210mg (70%) Sodium 376mg (16%) Potassium 340mg (10%) Fiber 2g (8%) Sugar 88g (176%) Vitamin A 2442IU (49%) Vitamin C 1mg (1%) Calcium 104mg (10%) Iron 1mg (6%)

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 12slices

Amount Per Serving

Calories 1280 kcal

% Daily Value*

Serving 1large slice
Calories 1280kcal 64%
Carbohydrates 119g 40%
Protein 12g 24%
Fat 87g 134%
Saturated Fat 56g 280%
Cholesterol 210mg 70%
Sodium 376mg 16%
Potassium 340mg 7%
Fiber 2g 8%
Sugar 88g 176%
Vitamin A 2442IU 49%
Vitamin C 1mg 1%
Calcium 104mg 10%
Iron 1mg 6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

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6 reviews
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