Alton Brown's Coconut Cake

This coconut cake (sidenote: isn't this a great picture? Ray's photography skills are getting quite good!) was one of the very first recipes Ray and I attempted baking together (because Ray has a secret man-crush on Alton Brown). It was SO delicious that all we could do was just stand there and look at each other, speechless, while jamming cake into our mouths. It's been almost a year and a half since we first made the cake, never really finding a good occasion to recreate it. Until Sang and Jenn decided to host a fantastic dinner party at their newly re-furnished home. 

My original perception of the cake was that it was delicious, but lacking something extra. I decided to adapt the filling for Paula Dean's "Is It Better Than Sex?" cake, notably the crushed pineapple and vanilla pudding filling for this second version of Alton's cake.

Coconut Cake with 7-minute Frosting

adapted from Alton Brown

For the cake:

 Vegetable oil, for cake pan

14 1/4 ounces cake flour, plus extra for pans, approximately 3 cups

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup fresh coconut milk

1/2 cup fresh coconut cream

8 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature

16 ounces sugar, approximately 2 1/4 cups

1 teaspoon coconut extract

4 egg whites

1/3 cup coconut water

For the 7-Minute Frosting:

 3 large egg whites

12 ounces sugar, approximately 1 3/4 cups

1/3 cup coconut water

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon coconut extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Grated coconut

Filling

A can of crushed pineapple cooking in 1 cup of sugar
Vanilla pudding

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil 2 (9-inch) cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper. Oil the parchment paper and then flour the pan. Set aside.

Place the flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.

Combine the coconut milk and coconut cream in small bowl and set aside.

Place the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer and using the paddle attachment, cream on medium speed until fluffy, approximately 1 minute. Decrease the speed to low and gradually add the sugar slowly over 1 to 2 minutes. Once all of the sugar has been added, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides. Turn the mixer back on to medium speed and continue creaming until the mixture noticeably lightens in texture and increases slightly in volume, approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the coconut extract.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the milk mixture to the butter and sugar in 3 batches, ending with the milk mixture. Do not over mix.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the batter, just until combined. Divide the batter evenly between the pans and bang the pans on the counter top several times to remove any air and to distribute the batter evenly in the pan.

Place in the oven on the middle rack. Bake for 40 minutes or until the cake is light golden in color and reaches an internal temperature of 200 degrees F.

Cool the cake in the pans for 10 minutes then remove and transfer to a cooling rack. Once the cakes have cooled completely cut across the equator of each to form 4 layers.

Place the 1/3 cup coconut water into a small spritz bottle and spray evenly onto the cut side of the 4 layers. If you do not have a spritz bottle you may brush the coconut water on with a silicone pastry brush. Allow to sit while preparing the frosting.

Frosting:

Bring 1 quart of water to a boil in a 4-quart saucepan over high heat. Decrease the heat to medium to maintain a steady simmer. In the meantime, place the egg whites, sugar, coconut water, cream of tartar and salt into a medium size-mixing bowl. Place the bowl over the simmering water and immediately begin beating with an electric hand mixer set to low speed.

Beat for 1 minute and then increase the speed to high and continue to beat for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and beat in the coconut and vanilla extracts for 1 minute. Allow the frosting to sit for 5 minutes before using.

Place pineapple mixture and vanilla pudding on the cake. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup coconut and top with the next layer.

 

Repeat until you reach the top layer.

Frost the top and sides of the cake. I toasted some coconut flakes in the toaster oven for 5 minutes for decoration.

This was added to the top of the cake and then refrigerated for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Ta-da! The pineapple and pudding were a good addition to the cake. I made another version this week for our work's Halloween party using the L'Angolo Cafe's strawberry-coconut layer cake recipe but the cake did not hold up to Alton's cake texture, flavor and fluffiness. Will definitely stick to Alton's recipe for now.