This coconut cake was actually in dedication to someone I worked with named Jan. While we only worked together for a little over a year, it was like work love at first sight – we both worked with a lot of the same people and even in some of the same hotels(at different points in time), so we were basically in lock step from the jump. I was super sad to hear that she was moving to Vegas and that we would no longer be working together anymore, but to commemorate the time we had together, I wanted to make her a cake. Jan specifically said her favorite was white coconut cake, so I had to make a version of that to the best of my ability. And that was this recipe was. When I think of white coconut cake, I think light, airy layers of cake, layers of coconut cream, and coconut flakes to garnish. So I wanted to do a play on that, with a coconut chiffon cake with coconut milk soak, a coconut custard, coconut milk-tonka bean ermine buttercream, and the coconut flakes to finish. The idea here was to jam-pack coconut into every component, but also using tonka to provide a more elegant accent to the coconut, in honor of Jan being an elegant person. Tonka bean itself has notes similar to vanilla, almond, chocolate, and cherry, all things that play off of coconut nicely, especially since a lot of coconut recipes do call for almond extract of some kind anyways! While I normally would toast my coconut flakes, Jan specified a white coconut cake, so I wanted to keep the color of the cake super monotone instead. That being said, it did look quite gorgeous:

For the components, we are using a decent chunk of eggs here, since the chiffon cake needs egg whites for a fluffy crumb and yolks to prevent it from drying out, while the custard filling uses egg yolks as well. I debated back and forth about the frosting, but I went with ermine, since it is made by thickening milk with flour, then whipping butter into that. In this case, I could use a LOT more coconut milk in an ermine buttercream than an Italian or French one, so that’s why I opted for that route instead. That being said, ermine buttercream is relatively easy to make, you just need patience with the flour mixture cooling down before you whisk the butter into it, otherwise you have a greasy dough ball on your hands. I would say that the cake sponge itself is the most challenging, since it is a chiffon cake, which is notoriously hard since a lot of whipped egg whites need to be folded into the batter, it is super easy to overmix the batter, and if you do so, you end up with short, tough, rubbery cake instead of light, soft, and tender cake. I would just fold with a slightly lighter touch if you have never made chiffon batter before, and with more practice and time, you will get used to fold it more efficiently! The custard itself is also tricky if you have never made custard before. Just be quick when you’re whisking it over the stove, since more movement prevents curdling or scrambling, and if a tiny bit of that happens, not the end of the world, just pass it through a sieve and get the chunkier bits out!

Makes a 3-layer, 6-inch cake:
For the chiffon cake:
4 egg whites
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 tbsp coconut flour
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons coconut milk
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a bowl, whip the egg whites with baking powder and granulated sugar into stiff peaks. In another bowl, whip the egg yolks with coconut flour, and slowly stream in the coconut oil, then the coconut milk. Sift into that the flour. Fold the egg whites into that to form your batter. Spread the batter into a lined quarter sheet tray in an even layer. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. Allow the cake to cool before cutting out three 6-inch rounds and forming a third from the scraps.

For the coconut soak:
3.5oz coconut milk
a pinch of salt

Mix the ingredients together to form your soak.

For the coconut custard:
6oz coconut milk
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
.1g grated tonka bean

In a pot, heat up the coconut milk until it comes up to a simmer. In another bowl, whisk everything else together until combined. Pour half of the milk into the egg yolk mixture. Then transfer everything back into the pot with the rest of the coconut milk and whisk everything on medium-high heat until it begins to thicken and cling to the sides of your whisk as you stir. Pass everything through a sieve to remove lumps, and allow the custard to cool down.

For initial assembly:
Line a 6-inch ring mold with acetate. Start by placing down the scrap layer of your cake, then adding to that 1/3 of the soak. Then spread onto that half of your custard. Then add on one of your cake rounds, then another round of soak and custard. Then finally, the last layer, and the remainder of the soak. Freeze the cake for at least 2 hours before attempting to unmold and frost it – ideally you want the cake frozen solid for the frosting part anyways.

For the coconut-tonka ermine buttercream:
4oz coconut milk
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
.1g grated tonka bean
2 sticks unsalted butter

In a pot, whisk the coconut milk, flour, and sugar on medium-high heat until the sugar fully dissolves into the liquid and the milk thickens into a paste-like consistency. Allow the paste to fully cool to room temperature before whipping into that the tonka bean and butter until a soft, spreadable butercream forms.

For garnish:
Coconut flakes

Using an offset spatula, frosting the sides and top of the cake with the buttercream. With leftovers, using a piping bag to pipe a border around the top of the cake. Garnish with coconut flakes to finish.