Coconut Cream Cake

This recipe is made out of a very special request from one of my dear friends mother-in-law. She wanted to know if I knew a great recipe for a coconut cake, because it was Christina’s favorite. I told her I’d look for one and get back to her. And then it hit me, why don’t I create a recipe for this cake as a gift for my friend and a great recipe to surprise her with on her birthday. So, this recipe is Christina’s. Happy Birthday Christina! 

I want to give you a couple of options/ substitutions with this recipe:

1. If you don’t want to make an entire cake, you can make the cake in a 9×13 pan and make 1/2 of the frosting to frost it

2. If you are completely sugar-free, then take out the honey and add 1 1/2 teaspoons more stevia and an extra 1/4 cup liquid, for example coconut milk, almond milk or water to replace the honey

3. If you are dairy free, you can make coconut cream instead of whipped cream with heavy cream

4. If you don’t have sunflower seeds, you can add 1/2 cup of almond flour in place of it

 

Ingredients

4 egg whites

1 cup (2 sticks) organic grass-fed butter, softened

2 eggs

1 can coconut milk

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract or 1 teaspoon coconut extract or a mixture of the two (depending if you want more of a coconut or almond flavoring)

2 teasooon Stevita stevia

1/3 cup honey

2.5 cups almond flour

1 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup sunflower seeds, finely ground in a coffee grinder to make a flour

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted in a pan over medium heat

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon himalayan salt

 

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter 2 nine inch cake pans and line the bottom with parchment paper
• In a medium bowl separate eggs and beat egg whites until stiff peaks and set aside
• In a large bowl or a stand mixer add the butter and two eggs and beat until combined. Add the coconut milk, vanilla, stevia and honey on low speed mix them all together. They may not mix completely together and that’s fine. Everything will combine once the dry ingredients are added
• In a small bowl combine the dry ingredients: almond flour, coconut flour, sunflower seed flour, toasted coconut, baking powder and salt and lightly stir to combine
• Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together
• With a spatula, add the egg whites into the cake batter 1/3 at a time gently incorporating them together
• Fill the cake pans with 1/2 of the batter so they are evenly distributed
• Bake for 30-35 minutes until lightly brown. Cool the cake before taking them out of the cake pan
• Be very careful taking the cake out of the pan because they are fragile. First, cut around the outside of the cake pan and put a cutting board on top of the pan and tip it so it is now on the cutting board. Gently slide the cake on a cake stand or large plate. Do the same for the second layer and set aside until you are ready to frost the cake
• Directions for frosting and assembling the cake are below in the whipped coconut frosting recipe

Whipped Coconut Frosting

Ingredients

2 cups organic whipped cream

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup coconut butter

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 teaspoons Stevita stevia (or two teaspoons stevia + 1 Tablespoon Xylitol)

1-2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes, to coat the outside of the cake

 

Directions

• Using a hand mixer, Make whipped cream. You whip the heavy cream until it forms medium peaks (recipe here)
• In a medium sized bowl add the butter, coconut butter and cream cheese and cream together with the same hand mixer and beaters you used for whipping the cream
• Add the whipped cream to the butter mixture and mix together until they are completely combined
• Add 1/4 of the frosting to the top of the base layer in the cake and evenly spread across the cake and sprinkle 1/4 cup of coconut flakes on the top of the frosting
• Very carefully lay the top layer of the cake on top of the freshly frosted bottom layer
• Use the rest of the frosting and frost the rest of the cake
• Cover the frosting with coconut flakes until all of the frosting is covered up

Refrigerate the cake until it’s time to serve