Coconut Layer Cake with Fresh Lemon Curd & Fluffy Piped Coconut Butter Cream Frosting
I realised that I don’t post enough cakes on here, especially when making cakes is what I used to do to earn a buck or two!
This is one I wanted to share with you, mainly because it tastes wonderful.
The combination of the creamy, tart freshly made lemon curd and the slightly sweet coconut is truly a match made in tastebud heaven, and has a texture that makes me think of sunshine.
It’s an easy recipe to have in your cook book and once you’ve made the lemon curd, it’s quick enough to make it in the morning to be eaten later that day.
I always think that cake is best eaten on the day it’s made, don’t you?
To make life even more stress free, don’t make the lemon curd, buy it!
But honestly, this is the simplest lemon curd recipe I’ve ever used, and it’s not over poweringly sweet either.
Just the right tart to sweet ratio.
I want to mention cake batter!
There are couple of ways this can go wrong, but pretty easy to avoid too.
The most annoying thing is a cake that is tough or dry, usually from over working the flour when adding to the eggs.
The second is over baking.
To avoid activating the gluten in the flour too soon, add it by hand and fold it into the egg mixture.
A common mistake is to keep mixing the batter until every grain has disappeared.
don’t try to get every grain of flour incorporated.
It’s perfectly fine to still be able to see a little flour here and there, in fact, I’d recommend it.
Over cooking the cake is pretty simple to solve too, just don’t do it!
Usually over cooking a cake is down to a little bit of panic, or in my case, a really bad memory.
Set a timer for a few minutes before the end of the recommended cooking time, give it a check and if it needs a few more minutes, set the timer again.
You can find lots more tips to make sure your cakes work out perfect every time in this top ten tips piece.
Go on, give it a go and enjoy your sweet life!
Layers of tart and creamy lemon curd with light coconut buttercream frosting between airy coconut cake.
What You Need
200g Margarine – Room Temperature
200g Castor Sugar
200g Self Raising Flour
50g Desiccated Coconut
3 Large Eggs
½ Tsp Baking Powder
Cake batter, ready for the prepared tins.
Vanilla Coconut Butter Cream Frosting
250g Salted Butter – Room Temperature
400g Icing Sugar
1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
25g Desiccated Coconut
½ Tsp Coconut Extract
Split the batter between the prepared tins
Lemon Curd
Juice of 7 Lemons
160g Castor Sugar
115g Butter – Cut into pieces
3 Large Eggs
2 Large Eggs Yolks
Out of the oven, golden brown.
How It’s Done
Lemon Curd
Whisk the eggs and egg yolks together to loosen them up – set aside until needed
Juice the lemons and strain the juice to remove the pulp and the seeds -set aside until needed
Place the butter and sugar into a heavy bottomed medium sized saucepan.
Over a medium heat, let the butter melt.
When melted add the lemon juice and mix
Add the eggs and mix really well
Keep the mixture over a low to medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture begins to bubble and thicken
Once thick and creamy, pour the lemon curd into a sterilised jar
Let it cool completely before using
Once opened, store in the fridge.
Thick and creamy lemon curd
Cake
Heat the oven to 180c
Prepare either 2 x deep 6” cake tins or 4 x thin 6” cake tins
Prepare the tins – Coat the tins with margarine, dust them with flour and then cut out circles of non-stick baking parchment and pace them in the bottom of each tin.
Beat the margarine and sugar until it becomes pale, light and fluffy – See Tip Box
One at a time, add the eggs. - Before adding the next egg, make sure the previous is all incorporated.
Beat for another couple of minutes
Add the coconut and let it all mix in.
By hand, fold in the flour and baking powder – See Tip Box
Pour the cake mix between the prepared cake tins and gently smooth the top.
Place the filled tins into the hot oven and bake until the cake has risen, is a light golden brown and a tooth pick is dry when dipped in the middle – around 25-30 minutes – See Tip Box
Once baked, remove the cakes from the oven and cool in the tin for around 15 minutes.
After this time, run a sharp knife around the inside edge of the cake tins and remove to a cooking rack to cool completely.
If using 2 thick 6” cake tins, once cooled, slice them in half to be left with 4 thin cakes.
While the cakes are cooling, prepare the buttercream frosting.
Place the softened butter into a mixing bowl and beat until it becomes light and fluffy.
Once this happens keep beating and scraping down the edges for at least another 10 minutes.
Add half of the icing sugar and beat again for another 5 minutes.
Add the remaining icing sugar and beat and scrap down the sizes of the mixing bowl for another 10 minutes.
Add the vanilla and coconut extracts and beat until incorporated
Now add the coconut, mix again until all mixed in.
When the curd is ready, decant into a sterilised jar.
Assembly
Place a little of the frosting onto the plate you’re using for the cake and peeling the paper off the cooled cake layers, place on of them onto the display plate.
Spoon a thin layer of lemon curd onto the cake followed by some of the frosting – See Tip Box
Place the next layer of cake on top of the frosting and repeat until all the layers of cake are used.
Once assembled, dust some icing sugar over the top layer
Best served the same day
Moist and ready to eat!
Tip Box
Beating the margarine – I used my Kitchen Aid electric mixer when I made this cake, but use a hand-held beater or some good old elbow grease to get it light and fluffy.
Fold in the flour – Folding in the flour stops the cake from getting tough.
Baking – Over baking a cake can make it dry and pretty horrible
Every oven is different so adjust the cooking time accordingly
Assembly – I placed my frosting into a piping bag and piped small dollops on top of the lemon curd on each layer. If you don’t want to do that, just spoon some frosting on the cake and use a palette knife to smooth out.
