This two-layer coconut cake is soft and moist, topped with fluffy 7 seven minute frosting and coconut flakes. It's a delicious, pretty dessert to add to your Easter table or other spring celebrations. (dairy-free option)
Coconut cake with 7 minute frosting was my grandpa's favorite cake. And since we share a birthday month, it usually ended up being my birthday cake, too. But I'm not complaining! Light and fluffy, with a meringue frosting coated in coconut flakes, this cake is simply delicious and will always remind me of my grandpa.
Why You'll Love This Coconut Cake
If you're a coconut lover, you'll love this cake recipe! The white, lightly flavored coconut cake is light, moist and tender. It's topped with a fluffy, marshmallow-like frosting and coconut flakes, and is so easy to make. It is so tasty and perfect for Easter and other spring gatherings!
How To Make Coconut Cake With 7 Minute Frosting
Make The Cake
- Cream the coconut oil and sugar until light and fluffy. It may take a little bit. If it clumps up, keep mixing, it will get fluffy.
- Add the eggs, vanilla and coconut extract and mix well.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Alternate adding flour and coconut milk to the batter, starting and ending with the flour. Mix until just combined.
- Scoop into a lined cupcake tin, filling cups ⅔ of the way full. Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes. Mine take 22 minutes.
- Cool completely before frosting.
Make The Frosting and Assemble The Cake
- Make the 7 minute frosting using these directions.
- Immediately after making the frosting, remove cake layers from pans. Place one layer on a cake stand and place a generous blog of frosting on top. Spread it evenly over the top. Add the second layer of cake and top with more frosting. Coat the edges and top with frosting.
- Gently press coconut over the entire cake. Allow to sit to firm up just a bit before serving.
Tips For Making The Best Coconut Cake
- Use room temperature ingredients for the most even mixing.
- After adding the flour, mix just until blended. You may need to stop and stir with a rubber spatula to make sure there are no pockets of flour at the bottom or around the edges.
- Cool cake completely before frosting, or the frosting may slide off.
- It's best to use the frosting right after it's made. It will be easiest to work with then.
- I've noticed that the sugar from the coconut flakes is what turns a little crunchy. If it bothers you, you can use unsweetened shredded coconut.
Ingredient Substitutions
- The cake flour is what makes these cupcakes super light and tender. It really makes a difference. But you can use all-purpose if you have to. Use 1 cup of all purpose flour and add ¼ tsp baking soda.
- Do not use full fat coconut milk. It's too much fat for the flour to hold together. (Don't ask me how I know.) You can substitute buttermilk in a pinch.
- For a dairy-free version, you can substitute the butter for coconut oil. You can also use coconut oil for the neutral flavored oil.
Can This Cake Be Made In Advance?
I don't recommend making this cake in advance, as the frosting tends to dry out and get crunchy on the outside as it sits, especially in the refrigerator. It's best served the day it is made. If you want to do anything in advance, you can bake the cake 1-2 days in advance, wrap tightly, and refrigerate until you're ready to make the frosting.
Can This Recipe Be Made Into Cupcakes?
Yes! Here is the cupcake recipe.
If you made this recipe, please leave a star rating in the comments!
PrintFluffy Coconut Cake with 7 Minute Frosting
This two-layer coconut cake is soft and moist, topped with fluffy 7 seven minute frosting and coconut flakes. It's a delicious, pretty dessert to add to your Easter table or other spring celebrations. (dairy-free option)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cooling Time: 60 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 120 minutes
- Yield: 1 layer cake 1x
- Category: dessert
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 stick (½ cup) salted butter, room temperature
- ¼ cup neutral-flavored oil, such as avocado or canola (you can also use coconut oil)
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp coconut extract
- 2 ¼ cups cake flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 1 cup canned light coconut milk (see notes)
- 1 recipe 7 Minute Frosting
- 2 cups coconut flakes
Instructions
- Grease and flour 2 round cake pans (8" or 9"). Place parchment in the bottom of the rounds. Heat oven to 350°F.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream the butter, oil and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add eggs, vanilla and coconut extract and mix well.
- Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together into a bowl.
- Alternate adding the flour and coconut milk, starting and ending with flour, in 3 additions. Mix until just combined.
- Divide batter evenly between prepared pans.
- Bake 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of cake comes out with just a couple of moist crumbs. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.
- Make the 7 minute frosting.
- Immediately after making the frosting, remove cake layers from pans. Place one layer on a cake stand and place a generous blog of frosting on top. Spread evenly over the top. Add second layer of cake and top with more frosting. Coat edges and top with frosting.
- Gently press coconut over the entire cake. Allow to sit to firm up just a bit before serving.
Notes
- The cake flour is what makes this cake super light and tender. It really makes a difference. But you can use all-purpose if you have to. Use 2 cups of all purpose flour and add ½ tsp baking soda.
- Do not use full fat coconut milk. It's too much fat for the flour to hold together. (Don't ask me how I know.) You can substitute buttermilk or regular milk in a pinch.
- For dairy-free, use coconut oil in place of butter.
- Use room temperature ingredients for the most even mixing. To bring eggs to room temperature quickly, you can place them in a cup of warm water for 5-10 minutes. To bring butter to room temperature, microwave on the defrost mode or half power for 5-10 seconds.
- After adding the flour, mix just until blended. You may need to stop and stir with a rubber spatula to make sure there are no pockets of flour at the bottom or around the edges.
- Cool cake completely before frosting, or the frosting may slide off. I like to wrap the unfrosted layers and leave them in the refrigerator overnight to chill.
- The frosting will firm up as it cools. It's best to frost the cupcakes right after making the frosting.
- I don't recommend making this cake in advance, as the frosting gets hard and crunchy on the outside as it sits. It is best served the day it is made.
- I've noticed that the sugar from the coconut flakes is what turns a little crunchy. If it bothers you, you can use unsweetened shredded coconut.
Keywords: fluffy coconut cake, coconut cake with 7 minute frosting
I subed the milk for coconut milk since I didn't have any extract. Came out super moist and tender!
★★★★
That sounds great, I'll have to try coconut milk next time!
Coconut cake w/ 7 minute icing is my hubby’s favorite too! I always sub plain water with coconut water in the 7 minute icing and add some coconut extract as well. It turns out SUPER yummy!!!
Thanks for sharing your tips, Beth!
I made this cake for a church dinner, I went exactly by the recipe. For some reason it turned out a little to dry... and the frosting seem sugary after it sat over night. Just bad luck with this cake I don't know, may try to make it again. I didn't really care for it... sorry.
Hi Debbie, The frosting is best the day it is made. It can be a little tricky since it doesn't use corn syrup like many recipes do. Thanks for taking the time to stop by with feedback!
I love coconut. This cake looks positively delicious. Thank you for the recipe.
Thanks Marie, enjoy!