Toasted Coconut Almond Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

(This post is sponsored by ALDI. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep A Cozy Kitchen cozy.)

Spring has sprung and I am INTO IT. I am in full baking maniac-mode and it’s so fun. I love making things with spring flavors and spring produce. It makes me so happy. I especially am very into making things with Easter in mind, considering it’s one of my favorite holidays to cook/bake for. I’ve been wanting to make a coconut cake for a loooong time and figured adding toasted almonds to it would make it a million times better. I was right!

For this post, I teamed up with ALDI where I went and gathered all of my delicious, affordable Easter ingredients. If you’ve ever gone to ALDI you know that it is the best place to stock up on baking ingredients. I always go there and buy double, triple of everything. On this particular trip, I went and purchased organic brown eggs, flour, sugar, coconut flakes, almonds and cream cheese. It was a one-stop shop for all things cute. I also baked it in this 9×9-inch Crofton Speckled Bakeware square pan that was super cute.

Another amazing thing about ALDI is that it is on Instacart, which is a huge time-saver and easy convenience. (If you want, use code “ALDIACK” for $10 off your first three ALDI orders of $35 or more!)

The thing that takes this cake from good to great is toasting the coconut flakes and slivered almonds. Toasting anything always seems to bring out the best quality in the ingredient, and these are no exception.

This cake is my favorite combination: part oil, part butter. For a long time, I exclusively made all-butter cakes but I’ve since changed my tune. I think oil adds a moistness and softness that can’t really be achieved by all butter. And butter really adds a rich delicious flavor. The two work seamlessly together in cakes.

The thing that makes this cake super beautiful is obviously the buttercream flowers. They’re gorgeous but totally not necessary. If you’re strapped for time, or just feeling a little lazy, skip them and smother the frosting all over the top, make some swoops and serve it to your friends!

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe

Toasted Coconut Almond Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Author: Adrianna Adarme

Toasted coconut blitzed and then mixed into this delicious coconut cake batter. Topped with cream cheese frosting. 

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: buttercream flowers, coconut cake, cream cheese frosting, sheet cake

Prep Time: 30 mins

Cook Time: 25 mins

Total Time: 55 mins

Ingredients

To Toast

• 1 cup Baker’s Corner Coconut Flakes 
• 1/2 cup Southern Grove Slivered Almonds 

Coconut Sheet Cake:

• 1 3/4 cups Baker’s Corner All-Purpose Flour 
• 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) 
• 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 Baker’s Corner Powdered Sugar 
• 1 teaspoon Stonemill Pure Vanilla Extract 
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• Food coloring gel, optional 

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:  

• Keep the oven at 350 degrees F (as it was for roasting the coconut and almonds). Grease a 9x9-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. It’ll 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!  

Nutrition

Calories: 375kcal (19%) | Carbohydrates: 29.4g (10%) | Protein: 4.1g (8%) | Fat: 12.1g (19%) | Saturated Fat: 5.8g (36%) | Cholesterol: 71mg (24%) | Sodium: 78mg (3%) | Potassium: 49mg (1%) | Fiber: 0.5g (2%) | Sugar: 16.4g (18%)

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