Coconut Almond Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
21
Jun 14, 2024, Updated Jun 24, 2024
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you click on the link and make a purchase.
This Coconut Almond Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is a delightfully moist and flavorful cake perfect for spring or Easter! It has a wonderful taste and texture thanks to toasted and crushed coconut flakes and slivered almonds mixed right into the batter. And the cream cheese frosting is tangy and smooth and super easy to whip together. Decorate with buttercream roses or serve it simply alongside Spinach Enchiladas or Lamb Bolognese for dinner.
Springtime but especially Easter is my favorite season to cook and bake. There’s just something about the perfect weather that makes me want to cook everything from these Naturally Dyed Deviled Eggs, and Lamb Kofta, to this beautiful Speckled Egg Cake or this incredible Mini Carrot Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting.
Ingredients You’ll Need for Coconut Almond Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Coconut flakes and almonds – They are toasted, pulsed then folded into the cake batter. I find that it adds nice texture to the cake and a delicious flavor.
- Butter and oil – I love the taste of all-butter cakes but I find that the combination of butter and oil makes it even more moist, soft and delicious.
- Coconut extract – Enhances the coconut flavors in the cake.
- Cream cheese frosting – Tastes so good with the moist and flavorful cake. It’s made with butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar.
- Heavy cream – I love adding heavy cream to the frosting because it makes it light and extra fluffy.
For the rest of the ingredients, please refer to the recipe index card below!
How to Make Coconut Almond Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Toast coconut and almonds. Toast coconut flakes and slivered almonds on a baking sheet at 350 degrees for 10 – 12 minutes or until lightly brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes then pulse in a food processor until it have a fine texture.
- For the coconut almond cake. Mix together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl then set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter, oil, coconut extract and sugar until light and fluffy. Into a measuring cup measure out milk then whisk with egg whites. Next, alternate adding in the dry ingredients and the egg white mixture to the sugar/butter mixture until you have a smooth batter. Lastly gently fold in crushed coconut and almonds.
- Bake. Pour cake batter into a prepared cake pan. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool inverted on a cooling rack.
- For the cream cheese frosting. In the bowl of a stand mix, cream together butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add in sifted powdered sugar, vanilla, salt and heavy cream until its super light and fluffy.
- Decorate. Frost and decorate the cake as you like and serve.
Tips and Tricks
- Use room temperature ingredients. It’s important that the butter and especially the cream cheese has been softened to room temperature so you don’t end up with butter or cream cheese chunks in your frosting.
- Cream butter and cream cheese first. Before adding anything else to the frosting, I like to beat the cream cheese and butter together really well to make sure it has a super smooth consistency.
- Decoration ideas. I piped buttercream roses onto separate pieces of parchment paper to decorate the top of the cake. Freeze them until you’re ready to use them. To make the rose-colored frosting, I mixed a little bit of the plain frosting with red and brown food coloring gel to get a mauve color. Once the cake is frosted, swirl and swoop the rose frosting on top.
Recipe FAQs
Can I use almond meal instead?
You totally can! I love how much flavor toasting the almonds with the coconut gives this cake but if you are in a hurry you can just toast the coconut or simply toss it right in with almond meal instead!
Is cake better with butter or oil?
This cake is my favorite combination: part oil, part butter. Oil adds a moistness and softness that canโt really be achieved by all butter. And butter really adds a rich delicious flavor. The two work seamlessly together in cakes.
More Cake Recipes
If you tried this Coconut Almond Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Coconut Almond Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
This Coconut Almond Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is a delightfully moist and flavorful cake perfect for spring or Easter! It has a wonderful taste and texture thanks to toasted and crushed coconut flakes and slivered almonds mixed right into the batter. And the cream cheese frosting is tangy and smooth and super easy to whip together. Decorate with buttercream roses or serve it simply alongsideย Spinach Enchiladasย orย Lamb Bologneseย for dinner.
Equipment
- Food processor
- 1 (9×9)-inch cake pan lined with parchment paper
- 1 Medium-mixing bowl
- Stand up mixer fitted with a paddle attachment
Ingredients
To Toast
- 1 cup Bakerโs Corner Coconut Flakesย
- 1/2 cup Southern Grove Slivered Almondsย
Coconut Sheet Cake:
- 1 3/4 cups Bakerโs Corner All-Purpose Flourย
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup Countryside Creamery Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons neutral oil (such as vegetable or Simply Nature 100% Pure Avocado Oil)ย
- 2 teaspoons coconut extract
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup milk
- 4 large Simply Nature Grade A Organic Cage Free Brown Egg Whites , (egg whites only)
Frosting:
- 1 cup Countryside Creamery Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
- 4 ounces Happy Farms Cream Cheese, at room temperature
- 4 cups Bakerโs Corner Powdered Sugarย
- 1 teaspoon Stonemill Pure Vanilla Extractย
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- Food coloring gel, optionalย
Instructions
To Toast:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. To a baking sheet, add the coconut flakes and slivered almonds. Transfer to the oven to bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly brown. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes and then transfer to a food processor. Pulse for about a minute, until the mixture resembles a meal of sorts.
To Make the Coconut Sheet Cake:ย ย
- Keep the oven at 350 degrees F (as it was for roasting the coconut and almonds). Grease a 9×9-inch cake pan. I also like to line it with a sheet of parchment, leaving strips up the sides for easy removal. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk until combined. Set aside.
- To the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment, add the butter, oil, coconut extract and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. In a measuring cup, pour in the milk, egg whites and whisk until combined.
- Turn the mixer to low speed and, alternating between the dry ingredients and the liquid ingredients (the egg white mixture), add them to the butter/sugar mixture until the batter is relatively smooth. Add the reserved crushed up coconut flakes and almonds and gently fold into the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and transfer to the oven to bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes and then invert onto a cooling rack and cool to room temperature. Itโll probably take a good hour.
To Make the Frosting:
- To the bowl of a stand-up mixer, with the paddle attachment (or you could use a bowl with an electric hand mixer), add the butter and softened cream cheese. Beat until smooth. I like to do this step first, before adding anything else to ensure a super smooth consistency.
- Sift in the powdered sugar, add the vanilla extract, salt and heavy cream. Beat the frosting for about 3 minutes. The fluffiness from the heavy cream really lightens up this frosting so be sure to beat it for the full 3 minutes. If the frosting is too loose, feel free to transfer it to the fridge to chill for about 10 minutes. Then beat it one last time.
- Decorate the cake however you like. I reserved about 1/4 cup of frosting to the side and added 1 drop of red and a teeny drop of brown food coloring gel to make this mauve color. I added all of the frosting to the top of the cake, smoothed on and created swoops. I then added little dollops of the dyed frosting to create a marble effect. I added buttercream flowers on top as additional decoration. That part is totally optional!
Notes
Tips and Tricks
- Use room temperature ingredients.ย Itโs important that the butter and especially the cream cheese has been softened to room temperature so you donโt end up with butter or cream cheese chunks in your frosting.
- Cream butter and cream cheese first.ย Before adding anything else to the frosting, I like to beat the cream cheese and butter together really well to make sure it has a super smooth consistency.
- Decoration ideas.ย I pipedย buttercream rosesย onto separate pieces of parchment paper to decorate the top of the cake. Freeze them until youโre ready to use them. To make theย rose-colored frosting,ย I mixed a little bit of the plain frosting with red and brown food coloring gel to get a mauve color. Once the cake is frosted, swirl and swoop the rose frosting on top.
Nutrition
Calories: 893kcal | Carbohydrates: 100g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 53g | Saturated Fat: 30g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 183mg | Sodium: 393mg | Potassium: 279mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 77g | Vitamin A: 1313IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 110mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this Recipe? Please Rate & comment below!
This sounds absolutely delicious! I look forward to making it for my fiancรฉโs birthday in October. This just sounds so heavenly!
Let me know how it goes! ๐
Does this use sweetened or unsweetened coconut flakes? Thanks!
it uses sweetened but you’re free to use unsweetened. ๐