How to Bake Layered Coconut Cake
Makes: one cake
Preparation time: 40 mins
Cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients needed to make Layered Coconut Cake:
For the cake:
- 8 egg whites
- 3 ½ cups all purpose flour, sifted
- 1 cup milk
- 16 tbsp unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
For the filling:
- 1 cup coconut, grated
- 1 cup pecans, chopped
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup sugar
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter, diced
- ½ cup brandy
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 8 egg yolks
For the icing:
- 4 egg whites
- 2 tbsp light corn syrup
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
Cooking instructions for Layered Coconut Cake:
- To make the cake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Butter two 9’’ round cake pans and dust them lightly with flour; set aside until necessary.
- Stir the baking powder and a dash of salt into the flour, in a medium bowl and keep it aside.
- Add the butter into the bowl, attached to the stand mixer and whisk it with the paddle attachment at moderate speed, along with 1 2/3 cups of sugar and a splash of vanilla extract.
- Once the turn pale and creamy, fold in the dry mixture gradually in 3 batches, alternating with milk until all them are incorporated into the mixture to form uniform batter, free of lumps.
- Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar in a separate bowl until they form soft peaks and beat in rest of the sugar while continuing to beat, until they form firm peaks.
- Fold it into the batter and blend into a uniform mixture.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pans and level the surface with a spatula.
- Bake the cakes for about 40 minutes or until they are baked through and turn golden brown.
- Leave them on top of wire racks, outside the oven, for half an hour to cool slightly.
- Remove from the pans and cool them to room temperature.
- Slice each cake horizontally into two equal halves and keep it aside.
- For the filling, beat the eggs and sugar in a 4 quart saucepan, until well combined and stir in the butter and a bout of brandy, until they blend thoroughly.
- Cook the mixture over moderate heat until it simmers, while stirring it continuously, for a couple of minutes or until it thickens to attain the consistency of a somewhat runny pudding.
- Turn off the heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.
- Fold in rest of the filling ingredients until well distributed throughout the mixture and set aside.
- To make the icing, whisk a mixture of egg whites, corn syrup, sugar and a dash of salt together, using a stand mixer and pour the uniform mixture into the upper vessel of a double boiler.
- Cook the mixture, while agitating it frequently, until the sugar dissolves and temperature of the egg whites reaches 140 degrees.
- Turn off the heat and whisk the mixture with an electric mixer, at medium high speed until it fluffs up thrice its original volume and form stiff peaks.
- Place one of the cake halves on your cake stand and spread 1/3 of the filling on top.
- Repeat the layers until all of the filling is used up and leave the topmost layer without the filling.
- Spread the icing across the sides and surface of the cake until it is evenly coated and refrigerate to chill.
- Slice and serve cold.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
