I first posted this Coconut Cream Cake recipe 6 years ago and have made it several times since. It is always a crowd pleaser, partly because of the meringue topping, all done up like curls that remind me of Phyllis Diller and because it is just delicious.
Decadent pastry cream full of coconut layered between coconut cream cake. It just seems to have the right balance of whimsy and sophistication. Liz Banfield is a photographer I have long admired on Instagram and she came over to capture the making and baking of the coconut cream cake. I have the honor of using Liz’s gorgeous photos for this post. I first became familiar with her work when I did a wedding cake she photographed for Martha Stewart. Her work is stunning and she is a delight.
How to Make Coconut Cream Cake with Toasted Meringue Frosting
You can see me make the coconut pastry cream, Swiss meringue and assemble the cake below and find the recipe at the end of the blog post. The updated recipe is from my book, Zoë Bakes Cakes.
To Make the Coconut Pastry Cream
Heat the coconut milk, sugar, salt and vanilla bean in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.
In a bowl whisk together the egg yolks and corn starch.
Once the cream is hot, remove the vanilla bean, scraping out any remaining seeds and returning them to the cream. Add a 1/2 cup of the hot cream slowing to the yolks, whisking as you add.
Pour the yolk mixture into the pot of hot cream and whisk. Continue to whisk with heat on medium-high for 3 more minutes. The mixture will turn thick and bubble. You need to continue to whisk for the full 3 minutes or the pastry cream will separate once it is cool. After the 3 minutes whisk in the butter. Add the coconut flakes.
Pour into a shallow dish to cool. Cover with plastic wrap pressed right against the pastry cream. This will prevent a thick skin from forming on the surface. Refrigerate for at least an hour or freeze for 30 minutes.
Once it is cool. Stir the pastry cream to loosen. Whip the 1/2 cup cream to medium peaks.
Stir in 1/3 to the pastry cream to lighten. Fold in the remaining cream until the pastry cream is nice and light.
Spread some of the pastry cream over the first layer.
and repeat with another layer and then top with the third. You may have extra pastry cream, which you can eat with a spoon. Make sure the layers are straight before you cover with the meringue.
To make the Swiss Meringue
Whisk together the egg whites, sugar and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer. Rest the bowl over a pot of simmering water to form a double boiler. Scrape down the sides of the bowl so that all the sugar is off the sides of the bowl. Continue to stir the mixture until all the sugar is melted into the eggs and you no longer feel any graininess when rubbed between your fingers, about 3-5 minutes.
Place the bowl onto your mixer and whisk on high speed until the meringue is thick and glossy and the bowl is just warmer than room temperature, about 8 minutes.
Using a Spatula spread a nice thick layer of the meringue over the cake, make sure you have at least a cup of meringue left. Don’t worry about how it looks, you will be making spikes over the surface in a minute.
Take a glob, yes glob, of the meringue in your hand and press it against the meringue on the cake. (see my hand in the upper right hand corner of this picture.)
Pull that glob away from the cake…and it will break off in a wispy curl. The more of a glob you lay down as a foundation on the cake, the bigger your curls will be. This may take a few times to get the hang of it, but then you’ll be off and running.
Once you have the coconut cream cake fully set with curls you will need a Torch 
The burnt tips are lovely contrast and add a wonderful flavor.
This coconut cream cake is amazing all on its own or served with coffee ice cream.
Thank you Liz for the beautiful photos and a lovely afternoon of baking!
Ingredients
Coconut Cake
- 2 cups 200g loosely packed sweetened shredded coconut
- 8 Tablespoons 112g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 1/4 cups 450g granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup 80ml mild-flavored oil (such as vegetable oil)
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoons coconut extract
- 4 eggs room temperature
- 5 egg yolks at room temperature
- 2 1/3 cups 280g all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup 240ml unsweetened coconut milk, at room temperature
Coconut Pastry Cream
- 1 cup 100g loosely packed sweetened coconut flakes
- One 13.5-oz. 400ml can unsweetened coconut milk
- 1/2 cup 100g granulated sugar, divided
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- Seeds scraped from 1/2 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon coconut or almond extract
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 egg yolks at room temperature
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup 80ml heavy whipping cream, whipped to stiff peaks
Fluffy Swiss Meringue Topping
- 1 1/2 cups 360ml egg whites (about 7 eggs), at room temperature
- 3 cups 600g granulated sugar
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F / 175 degrees C. Generously grease three 8-inch / 20cm cake pans, then line them with greased parchment paper.
- In a food processor, break up the long strands of shredded coconut by pulsing for about 30 seconds.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium-high speed until creamy and smooth, about 1 minute.
- Turn the mixer speed to medium; add the sugar, oil, vanilla, and coconut extract; and beat for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is light in color and about double in volume.
- Turn the speed to medium-low and add the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, mixing each until incorporated before adding the next. Scrape the bowl after each addition.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined.
- Add one-third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix just until combined. Add half of the coconut milk, mixing until incorporated. Repeat with another one-third flour, the remaining coconut milk, and then finish with the final one-third flour, scraping the bowl and paddle after each addition. Fold in shredded coconut.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pans and spread evening using a small offset spatula. Gently tap the pans on the counter several times to release excess air bubbles.
- Bake until a tester comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Let the cakes cool completely before removing from the pans. Remove the parchment paper and place one cake layer on a serving plate.
For the Coconut Pastry Cream
- In a food processor, pulse the coconut flakes 10 times to slightly break up the strands. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the coconut milk, 1/4 cup (50g) of the sugar, salt, vanilla, and coconut extract and cook, stirring, nutil it simmers.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and remaining 1/4 cup (50g) sugar. Add the egg yolks and whisk into a smooth paste.
- Whisk enough of the hot milk, a little at a time, into the egg mixture until it is warm to the touch. Once the eggs are tempered, pour the mixture back into the remaining milk in the pan.
- Return the saucepan to medium-high heat and bring the mixture to a boil; continuously whisk for 3 minutes more or the pastry cream will separate once it cools. After 3 minutes, whisk in the butter and coconut flakes.
- Pour the pastry cream into a shallow container and cover with plastic wrap, pressed directly onto the surface, to prevent a skin from forming.
- In a large bowl, add enough ince cubes and cold water to create a bath for the container to sit in without the water breaching the sides.
- Set the container in the ice bath or place in the freezer until chilled, about 15 minutes before using. Or transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Stir the pastry cream to loosen, then mix in one-third of the whipped cream to lighten. Fold in the remaining whipped cream.
- Using an offset spatula, spread half of the pastry cream over the cake; making sure not to go quite to the edge. Top with the next cake layer. Gently press down on the cake to make sure it is sitting snugly on the pastry cream. Spread with the remaining pastry cream and top with the final cake layer. If the pastry cream goes beyond the edge, clean it up with a metal decorating spatula. Make sure the layers are straight. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 1 hour to to set the pastry cream.
For the Fluffy Swiss Meringue Topping
- In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, bring 1 inch / 2.5 cm of water to a simmer.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the egg whites, sugar and salt; place over the simmering water; and stir with a rubber spatula until the mixture is hot and all of the sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes.
- Remove the bowl from the heat and place onto the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, then beat on high speed until very thick and glossy and stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. If the meringue is not stiff enough, your spikes will slouch and lose the drama. Add the vanilla and mix well. Use immediately.
Assemble the Rest of the Cake
- Reserve 1 cup / 60g of the meringue topping. Use a metal spatula to spread a thick layer of the remaining meringue evenly over the cake.
- Take a blob—yes, a blob—of the reserved meringue between your fingers and press it against the meringue on the cake. Pull the blob away from the cake, it will break off in a wispy curl. The thicker the blob you lay down as a foundation on the cake, the bigger the curls will be. It may take a few times to get the hang of it, but then you’ll be off and running. Plus, it’s fun.
- Once you have the cake fully set with the curls, hold a kitchen blowtorch about 3 inches / 7.5cm from the cake, so just the tip of the flame is hovering over the cake. Keep the torch moving so it doesn’t burn the meringue. The tip of the curls will set fire, blow them out as you go. The burnt tips are a lovely contrast and add a wonderful flavor.
- Serve the cake immediately or store in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 48 hours.
Hi Shirls,
Yes, it will hold up beautifully for a day or so. You can refrigerate it, not covered and just let it get to room temp before serving. make sure there are not cut onions or fish sharing space in the fridge! 😉
Enjoy, Zoë
I made this smashing cake yesterday and it came out picture perfect. Two comments: (1) recipe made a full bowl of Swiss meringue and after applying a very heavy coat there was still half a bowl of remaining meringue and all was needed for the spikes. Recipe said reserve 1 cup of meringue for the spikes which surely isn’t enough to create all the spikes.
(2) recipe in the cookbook said to store in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 2 days. Above you state to store uncovered. I stored the cake overnight in a large covered cake carrier in the refrigerator
and transported it by car for 90 minutes. Upon arrival a third of the meringue on side of cake had detached…am thinking a combo of storing cake covered, not allowing meringue to “cure” and contrasting temperature inside car, though it was stored in the rear of an SUV. Any insight is appreciated.
Hi Deanne, we’re so glad you enjoyed the recipe! If you had some meringue left over, the issue is likely that there wasn’t enough of a meringue foundation for it to hold the spikes. Zoë has stored hers both covered and uncovered, it’s just that with covered you would need to have a dome that doesn’t touch the meringue (sounds like you did). You can store it uncovered for some time, but then would need to cover it because of the pastry cream. I hope this helps for next time!
Almost too pretty to eat!! I would love to make a cake like this and bring it to work. How long will a cake like this keep for? Would I be able to make it a day ahead?
OMG if this cake doesn’t kick ass I don’t know what does! Just amazing! And oooh I love the Devil’s version. Gorgeous!
You are right! This sure marks the occasion with a bang!!
Beautiful!! looks delicious!!but i have always had a problem with meringue..i could never prepare it properly .. 🙁
Truly a sight to behold! Love what you did with the meringue.
WOW!!! That is absolutely STUNNING!!!
Hi Lorna,
The folks that tried this with the lemon meringue pie had problems with it “weeping” and deflating. It may also do odd things to the cake and pastry cream?
You may want to put some of the meringue on a cookie sheet and try toasting it under your broiler.
Thanks, Zoë
Hi Zoe. Beautiful cake and amazing meringue! One question since I don’t have a torch; could I toast the meringue in the oven? My mother does this, but I’m not sure exactly how. Thanks!
Hi Sharon,
I never use cream of tartar in a Swiss meringue, but many people do claiming that it will prolong the life of the meringue. I’ve never had this difficulty of my Swiss meringue separating, but if you have then add 1/4 teaspoon to the recipe.
Great question!
Thanks, Zoë
That cake looks like a wild sea creature… so beautiful… I must get a torch!
One more doubt Zoe, must we add cream of Tartar to the Swiss Meringue?
Will it dry out or something…does it add to the mouthfeel or softness of the meringue to add the cream of Tartar? Thanks again.
Hi Lori,
You can use the little creme brulee torch, but I think it takes too long!
I LOVE the beater blade, it is right up there with the silpat and micro-zester as great must have new inventions!
Cheers, Zoë
Hi Sharon,
The Swiss meringue holds up really well, about 2 days or 3-4 in the refrigerator. Both Swiss and Italian meringue will last that long, but French is only good for a few hours.
Toasting the meringue creates a crust on it that may also extend the life?
Enjoy! Zoë
That’s it, my creme brulee torch isn’t big enough… I need the real deal!! And I definitely need to order that beater blade too!
I was drawn to this cake in FC too, just couldn’t think of an occasion to make it for!
I love your pictoral lesson on globbing the meringue on. It sounds like it’s fun to make!
That was again a brillaint tutorial…
Just a doubt Zoe, how long will the Swiss Meringue decorated on the cake last in room temperature(if you are not using a blow torch)..just want to know if it will rum out on standing, thanks.
Beautiful. Who could resist?
This looks so delicious. I’ll take a piece.
Hi Linda,
So great to hear from you and I am so looking forward to seeing you, next weekend!
Thanks, Zoë
Wow, thank you for the wonderful comments about the cake!
Hi Emilie,
I do tend to use the 3″ cake pans a lot. I find they are more versatile (I like a high sided cake, as apposed to a flat wide one.) The only cakes I have not risked it with are genoise, they have to fight to rise.
Thanks, Zoë
This is the most AWESOME cake I have ever seen! Please, if it’s not there already, get this on foodgawker for the world to enjoy. Can you do this with bread? 😉
Hi Zoe. Great cake! (Of course, all your cakes are great! Your devil’s food with the mocha buttercream frosting gets rave reviews every time I make it.) I’m wondering about the pan size on this one, though. Do you use the 3″ tall pans for many other things? I have lots of cake pans of different diameters but they’re all 2″ high. Don’t mind buying another set — was just wondering how much use I’ll get out of them. Thanks!
so beautiful! i love cake and i love coconut even more! i could never get my swiss meringue to look as wonderful as yours – mine always ends up too floppy.
I’ve been looking for an improved coco pastry cream because mine has been a bit gritty – can’t wait to try yours! Terrific looking cake, Zoe!
Zoe, this is the most wonderful cake I’ve seen in my entire life! I even dreamt about it last night, really! I will be making it this weekend and can’t wait to see you and Jeff at Les Gourmettes on February 2nd… until then….yum!