Coconut Cake with a Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

It’s Marlee’s Birthday today (she’s 27) so everybody should celebrate with this delicious cake that we actually made for our favorite neighbor David’s birthday a few weeks ago!

We know that Coconut with Lemon sounds like a weird combination but it’s totally not! It’s actually a really pleasant and refreshing combo! This cake is super moist, and wonderful and just generally delicious. So give it a try, and let us know what you think!

Coconut Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake:

3/4 pound (3 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons Tahitian vanilla extract
2 teaspoons coconut extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup milk
8 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

Frosting:

1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon Tahitian vanilla extract
2 teaspoon lemon extract
2 lemons (zested)
1 pound confectioners’ sugar, sifted
6 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

Step 1:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F on convection(it makes a difference). Use baking spray, like Pam Baking, to grease the 2 (9-inch) round cake pans.

Step 2:

Cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until light yellow and fluffy.

Step 3:

Crack the eggs into a small bowl, then with the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl once during mixing. Add the vanilla and coconut extracts and mix well.

Step 4:

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Step 5:

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk to the batter in 3 parts, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.

Step 6:

Fold in the 8 ounces of coconut with a rubber spatula.

Step 7:

Pour the batter evenly into the 2 pans and smooth the top with a knife. Bake in the center of the oven for 35 minutes, until the tops are browned and a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a baking rack for 30 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto a baking rack to finish cooling.

Frosting!

Step 8:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine the cream cheese, butter, lemon zest, vanilla and lemon extract and whip. Add the confectioners’ sugar and mix until smooth and tasty.

Step 9:

To decorate the cake, lightly press more coconut onto the sides. Serve at room temperature.

Optional: If you want to give the cake bigger lemon kick, add a layer of our beautiful lemon curd with the frosting in the middle and a design of your choice with some on top, we attempted a checker board pattern. As you can see, it’s not perfect, but it definitely tasted good.