This simple Coconut Cake recipe has a fresh and delicious pineapple filling inside layers of coconut cake and frosted with a creamy coconut cream cheese frosting. It's one of my absolute favorite cakes!
Trust me, you'll fall hard for this Coconut Cake.
Trust me, you'll fall hard for this Coconut Cake.Everyone does! We can't make this for an event without everyone asking for the recipe. The secret to greatness is how we cut each cake layer in half, to create four thin layers of cake, add some pineapple filling between each, and coconut cream cheese frosting to frost the cake. It's to die for; on the same level as my Mom's incredible German Chocolate Cake!
The original recipe was from Utah State Fair Winner, Lisa Blodget (and was shared by Si from A Bountiful Kitchen). I adapted Lisa's version to add my cream cheese buttercream frosting with a splash of coconut milk for extra creaminess and the perfect hint of coconut flavor. This is the best coconut cake recipe, perfect for Easter, birthdays, or any occasion.
How to make Coconut Cake:
Make Cake Batter: Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add sugar and mix well. Add coconut extract and 1 ¼ cups of coconut milk. Add flour mixture. Whip egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form then fold into batter.
Bake: Line 8″ cake pans with parchment and spray with cooking spray. Divide cake batter between pans and bake at 350°F (180°C) for 25-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. After they have cooled use a sharp serrated knife to cut each cake round in half horizontally, so you have 4 thin cake rounds.
Assemble and Frost: Place one cake layer on a serving plate and spread with half of the pineapple filling. Top with second cake layer and then some frosting. Add third cake layer and the rest of the pineapple filling. Finally, add the last cake layer and frost the sides and top of the cake. Sprinkle with shredded coconut flakes, if desired. Refrigerate for a few hours before serving.
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: Follow the instructions to make and frost the cake and refrigerate for 1-2 days. The pineapple filling and coconut frosting can be made up to a week in advance, stored separately in the fridge. Allow frosting to come to room temperature before using.
To Freeze: Slice cake rounds in half horizontally as indicated in recipe, then wrap each layer in plastic wrap, place in a freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. The pineapple filling and coconut frosting can also be frozen in separate freezer safe containers.
More Cake Recipes:
- Meringue Roulade
- Carrot Cake
- Lemon Tiramisu
- Biscoff Cake
- Hershey's Chocolate Cake
- Mini Pavlova
- Cinnamon Roll Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Orange Olive Oil Cake
- Berry Cake
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Recipe
Coconut Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Coconut Cake:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder (12g)
- 1 teaspoon salt (6g)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (113g), room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar (400g)
- 13.5 ounces canned unsweetened coconut milk , divided (400 ml)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons coconut extract (7.5 ml)
- 5 large egg whites
Pineapple Filling:
- 20 ounce can crushed pineapple (567 g)
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar (134g)
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (16 g)
For the Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1/2 cup butter (113g), room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese , room temperature (226g)
- 4-5 cups powdered sugar (480g-600g)
- 1 – 2 Tablespoons leftover coconut milk , regular milk (15-30 ml)
- 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut (85g)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of two 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper and spray the bottom and sides of the pan lightly with cooking spray.
- Mix dry ingredients In a mixing bowl; flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt
- In a separate mixing bowl beat the butter on medium speed with an electric hand mixer or stand mixer for 1 minute, until light and fluffy. Add sugar and mix until well creamed together. Add 1 ¼ cups canned coconut milk and coconut extract and mix.½ cup unsalted butter, 2 cups granulated sugar, 13.5 ounces canned unsweetened coconut milk, 1 ½ teaspoons coconut extract
- Gradually add flour mixture and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.
- Beat egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the batter until incorporated.5 large egg whites
- Bake: Divide cake batter evenly between prepared cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, or with few moist crumbs. Remove the pans from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before inverting them onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Torte Cakes: Once cakes have cooled, use a sharp serrated knife to torte/cut each cake round in half horizontally, so that you end up with four thin cake rounds.
- Pineapple Filling: Add all ingredients to medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir well to combine. Cook, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens and looks "glossy", about 5-8 minutes. Pour filling into a container and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the filling. Once cooled, cover container and refrigerate until ready to use, up to one week.20 ounce can crushed pineapple, 2/3 cup granulated sugar, 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting: Beat butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add powdered sugar and a splash of remaining coconut milk and mix until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add a little more milk, to thin, or powdered sugar to stiffen, if needed, until you reach your desired frosting consistency. Stir in coconut flakes, saving some for sprinkling on the sides and top of the cake, if desired.½ cup butter, 8 ounces cream cheese, 4-5 cups powdered sugar, 1 – 2 Tablespoons leftover coconut milk, 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
- Assemble: Place one cake layer on serving plate. Spread half of the pineapple filling over it. Top with another cake layer, and smooth a layer of cream cheese frosting over it. Top with third cake layer. Spread remaining half of the pineapple filling over it. Top with last (4th) cake layer. Frost the sides and top of the cake with coconut cream cheese frosting. Sprinkle outsides of cake with shredded coconut, if desired.
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, before serving. (Tastes even better the next day!)
Notes
Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe February 2018. Updated March 2021, April 2023, and April 2025.
Some process photos by Nikole from The Travel Palate
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OMG, LET ME TELL YOU, this recipe is amazing!! Im a new hobby/cake baker, and i made this cake exactly as is (i did only put 3 cups powdered sugar in the icing) and everyone who ate this almost died. and then came back for a second piece. Melts in your mouth and wonderful flavor. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe.
Having years of experience in the culinary arts, both professionally and at home, I had no issue following your recipe to the letter and each individual aspect of this cake came out very well. HOWEVER, you failed to specifically state that this cake will in fact fall apart when assembling IF YOU DO NOT FREEZE! Instead you gave the impression that one had the choice between freezing or assembling fresh by the words you chose to use in your “directions” which is EXTREMELY MISLEADING! There is no proper way to assemble this cake for the desired results WITHOUT FREEZING prior to filling and frosting. I am now stuck with a hidious partially broken cake that I wasted valuable time on and no product to present someone of great importance on their birthday. I have no more time to make another one so I am essentially f*@#ed. Not having product to serve that is expected is the ultimate sin in the culinary world and I am personally quite livid about this unforseen blunder. I urge you to correct your recipe and very clearly state that there is NO ASSEMBLING WITHOUT FREEZING EACH LAYER AND SIGNIFICANTLY COOLING THE FROSTING as yours in NOT thick. Flavor profile for this recipe is very promising and the cake itself is very moist but I am still shaking my head as to how one could massively overlook such a pinnacle detail!?!
Hi Cara, I’m really sorry your cake broke when assembling. I do include, both in the post, and in step 14 of the recipe directions, my advice about freezing the cake. Although I do agree that frozen cakes are easier to work with, I do not think it is essential, as I have done it both ways with success.
If you have professional experience you should know how soft and moist a white cake can be so you should cool it completely. Or should have known to freeze it you cannot ice gently.
I am a homemaker that learned this from experience baking different white cakes. When I had failures I would crumble cake in a pretty individual ice cream dish. Layer with filling and icing then top with icing. A candle can be placed on top for a birthday celebration. My family loves this! I found your comment quite rude to Lauren!
This cake was absolutely wonderful, so much coconut flavor! My cake didn’t seem dense at all until after assembly. What do you think happened? I was able to whip the eggs to a very stiff peak. It was really wonderful!
Delicious and a winner! Everyone loved it. Making it again today by special request!
Was wondering how you might tweak this for high altitude? I am native to East coast and we are stationed on west in the mountains. Every time i make a cake i muck it up (when i made perfect cakes back home ?). Really wanna make this soon it looks DIVINE!
Hi Amy, here’s a great resource for baking cakes at high altitude. When I lived at high altitude I always added 1-2 tablespoons of flour to the batter. https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html Hope it helps, and I’d love to hear if you try this cake!
Made this cake and my friends and family loved it. So easy to make too. This is a recipe keeper!!
It’s great to hear everyone loved it! Thanks for taking the time to comment and share! I hope you get to try more of my cake recipes soon!
This cake is SO GOOD! I was really surprised at how good it was and at what a light, delicate crumb it has – and the coconut flavor comes through quite well.
I used store-bought egg whites (because I didn’t want to throw away so many egg yolks… going to make this recipe several times over for a wedding cake). The egg whites didn’t whip stiff, but the cake came out great, anyway.
I used fresh pineapple for the filling and cooked it almost as if I was making jam.
Thanks Melissa! I’m so thrilled you liked it and even happier that you’ll make it often in the future 🙂 Thanks for your great comment and tips.
Hi I am making this cake for my mother’s birthday and I was wondering about how long the cakes take to defrost?
So fun, I hope she loves it! The cakes defrost pretty quickly (especially since they are so thin), probably within about an hour.
Hi Lauren, This is probably a dumb question but for the frosting, do you use salted or unsalted butter? Also, I’m assuming you beat the egg whites first, until they form peaks before you fold them in? This cake looks amazing and I’m super excited to try it. Thanks! Jennifer
Hi Jennifer, It honestly wont make a difference if you use salted or unsalted butter. I usually use salted just because it’s what I typically have on hand. If you use unsalted and feel like it needs a pinch of salt to boost flavor, you could a little 🙂
And yes, you do want to beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, in step 8, before folding them into the batter. I’d love to hear if you make it!
Hello, I only have one 8 and 9 inch pan. Can I fit all the batter into one pan and adjust the bsking time? Thank you for your time and help.
Hi there, the volume of the cake is to much to fit in just one pan. My best suggestion would be to pour half the batter into the pan and bake it (refrigerate the extra batter while it bakes), remove the cake and allow it to cool, and then add the rest of the batter to the pan and bake it. Hope you get a chance to try it!
Or buy or borrow another pan.
This was a hit! Easy to make and was delicious. My kids devoured it!
I’m thrilled you liked it! Thanks Tara. Hope you get to try my other cake recipes soon 🙂