
Summary: Traditional coconut cakes originated in the American South. The base is a white or angel food cake (no egg yolks) and the real thing uses fresh coconut. If you’re curious, Alton Brown devoted a whole episode of Good Eats to the Coconut Cake (you’ll find the recipe here). As delicious as that sounds, it sounds very, very complicated! I wanted something easier, something good to bring to a BBQ or party. Something that could be made out of stuff I had on hand, in case of a cake emergency! A slab cake is another US inspired concept, a cake that can be easily brought to a pot luck or that event you have to bring something to but didn’t shop for! I think the best things about this cake (other than how delicious it is) is that it’s made from stuff you have on hand and is kept in its baking tray in the fridge. It can be so hard to store cakes in the heat of an Aussie summer and some just don’t like to be put the fridge. As long as your plastic wrap is tight, the coconut cream keeps this nice moist, even after it is cut. Plus it will survive a few hours at room temperature (or a hot car journey) too. Baking it in a Pyrex and pre slicing it, makes for easy transport to events and share with everyone. You can even bake it and frost it a day a ahead. Perfect for any emergency that calls for cake and everyone likes a coconut cake! Also, am I the only one who thinks of the Simpsons clip below whenever coconut cake is mentioned?
Ingredients
- 1 pkt plain cake mix & whatever that needs to bake (vanilla or butter cake, tricked up if desired)
- 1 (400g) can coconut cream
- 250g butter, softened
- 500g icing sugar
- 1-2 tblsp lime (or lemon) juice
- 1/2 tsp coconut essence (optional)
- 1 1/2 cups coconut flakes
- Make the cake to the packet directions (or with my hack) and pour into a greased 23 cm x 33cm or 9″ x 13″ pan. Bake as per package directions.
- While the cake is baking, pour the coconut cream into a bowl and whisk with a fork until the texture becomes uniform. Set aside.
- Remove the cake from the oven when done and leave in the baking pan. Use the fork from step 2 to pierce the entire cake, going right to the botom. The idea is to make lots of little holes for the coconut cream to sink into. Once the cake is uniformly pierced, pour the whole can of coconut cream over the cake and allow cake to cool. Also, take the butter for the icing out of the fridge now, so it has time to soften.
- Once the cake is cooled or after 1 hour or so, we can get to icing. If the cake still warm on the bottom after 1 hour, throw it into the fridge uncovered, to finish cooling while you make the icing.
- Add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer (or use electric beaters) to beat the butter a little. Continue to beat, adding the icing sugar in batches. Add in the he coconut essence (if using) and 1 tblsp of lime juice and beat. If the icing is not coming together and is too dry, add another tablespoon of lime juice. Beat until light, fluffy and any gritty texture has disappeared, about 10 mins.
- Use a spatula to drop globs of icing over the cake, this helps with spreading it out. Then use a spatula to smooth the icing evenly over the cake and sprinkle generously with the coconut.
- For best results, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before cutting but allow the cake to sit at room temperature for 10 mins or so before serving. I made 12 generous squares from mine but you can certainly cut whatever size suits.

2 Comments
Despair of my hips wth each recipe you share. This reads as a MUST
Haha! I’ll try and make the next one healthy for you!