Chocolate Coconut Cake

Moist chocolate cake layered with creamy coconut buttercream, topped with toasted coconut flakes and chocolate shavings.

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• Ingredients
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Tips to assemble the perfect cake
• Let's Get Baking!
• 📖 Recipe

If you are a lover of coconut and chocolate this is the perfect cake for you. Super moist, chocolate-y layers of cake layered with silky smooth coconut buttercream. You can dress this cake up or down to make a special celebration cake or a simple cake perfect for a simple afternoon tea.

The chocolate cake base in this recipe is so versatile and can be used in any application. Feel free to play around with the recipe and create your own flavour combinations! The chocolate cake base is my absolute favourite, but so easy to make. All you need is a bowl and a whisk to bring the cake together and create one of the softest, moistest chocolate cakes ever. I hope you all enjoy the recipe!

Ingredients

The ingredients needed to create this cake are pretty much all available in your kitchen!

Chocolate cake

• All-purpose flour: Also known as plain flour, is needed to give the cake structure
• White sugar: White sugar gives the cake sweetness and fluffiness. Don't try and reduce the amount of sugar as it will affect the texture of the cake. Despite the amount of sugar needed the cake itself isn't very sweet, and the bitterness of the cocoa powder will balance it out.
• Cocoa powder: Both regular and dutch cocoa powder will work in this case. There won't be any issues with the cocoa powder reacting with the baking soda, as we are using soured milk! (Some recipes rely on cocoa powder to react with baking soda to give the cake rise)
• Baking soda: Baking soda is essential as it helps the cake rise and gives it a fluffy texture

• Salt: Salt neutralises the sweetness of the cake and gives it balance
• Eggs: Eggs help bind everything together
• Milk: Milk brings richness and moisture to the cake, make sure you add vinegar to the milk at the beginning to give the milk enough time to curdle
• Vinegar: Adding vinegar to the milk helps it curdle. This will react with the baking soda to help the cake rise.
• Boiling water: The secret ingredient to a perfectly moist chocolate cake. The water will give the cake extra moisture and fluffiness for the perfect texture.

Coconut buttercream

• Coconut cream: Both coconut cream and coconut milk will work in this case, but coconut cream gives a richer coconut flavour and creamier texture
• Unsalted butter: Make sure the butter is softened to room temperature before making the buttercream, this will ensure that it whips up easily to the perfect consistency
• Icing sugar: Icing sugar is perfect for the buttercream as the finely ground sugar will dissolve faster, make sure you beat the buttercream enough so that the sugar has completely dissolved
• Pinch of salt: The salt helps to balance out the sweetness of the frosting

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does this cake last?

This cake will last up to 5 days when stored in the fridge. When consuming leave the cake out at room temperature for 15 mins. This allows the buttercream to soften up and become the perfect texture.

Can I add more coconut to the cake base?

Yes definitely! If you would like the chocolate base to also have a coconut flavour feel free to replace the milk with coconut milk, or even fold in some desiccated coconut.

Can I bake this in an 8-inch pan?

Yes definitely. The cake will be a little flatter, but it will still work perfectly. Just bake the cake for 45-50 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't overbake!

Can I make this chocolate cake vegan?

Yes, you can! Replace the eggs with a typical egg replacement, like flax eggs, and use coconut milk/oat milk/almond milk instead of regular milk. The cake is very forgiving and super easy so there won't be any troubles substituting vegan ingredients.

My buttercream is very greasy, how do I make it fluffy?

The buttercream will be greasy if it hasn't been beaten enough. Make sure you beat your buttercream for at least 5 minutes, if not longer. The longer you beat your buttercream the more air you will incorporate and the lighter it will become! Make sure you use an electric mixer or stand mixer for this otherwise it will take forever.

Tips to assemble the perfect cake

Here are a couple of tips if you would like to assemble the cake as I did.

Level off your cake layers

Leveling off your cake layers is important to creating a stunning cake. You can use a cake leveler for perfectly even layers, or a sharp serrated knife! A tip I like to use is to mark where you want to slice with a couple of toothpicks, then run your knife around the edge of the cake and slice above where you have marked. This prevents any potential wonky slicing.

Make sure your cake has cooled completely

Frosting warm cake will only lead to disaster. Frosting doesn't like warm cake and will slide right off the cake hasn't been cooled sufficiently. Make sure the cake is completely cooled and even chilled to make the frosting process easier

Use a piping bag to fill the centre of the cake

Filling the centre of the cake is relatively easy, but can look messy. To have a clean edge fill a piping bag with buttercream and pipe a border of buttercream around the circumference of the cake. Then all you need to do is fill the border with buttercream and top with another cake layer for a clean-looking edge.

Use a hot spoon to create swirls

A tip to create beautiful, effortless swirls of buttercream on top of your cake is to use the back of a spoon that has been run under hot water. The heat from the spoon will melt the buttercream slightly to create a shiny finish.

Let's Get Baking!

All fans of coconut and chocolate need to give this cake a try!

If you make this recipe make sure to leave me a comment and rating down below, I would love to hear how it went.

Also don't forget to tag me on instagram @catherine.justdessertsau and hashtag #cattycakes so I can see and share your desserts!

Follow me on facebook, pinterest, youtube and tiktok for more of my baking creations and updates! Until next time... happy caking!

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