I finally got the brakes on my car fixed, so to celebrate I made White Lily’s Coconut Celebration Cake.
Well, maybe that wasn’t much of a celebratory occasion, but this was a terrific cake and a nice way to use some of the White Lily flour I bought a few weeks ago. The recipe is easy and has a great frosting/filling. It’s the kind where you just mix together sour cream, sugar and coconut, then fold in a little whipped cream.
Since I wasn’t making this for a group, I halved the recipe and baked it two 8 inch pans instead of three 9 inch pans. Also, because I wanted a slightly less-sweet frosting, I only halved the sour cream/sugar/coconut mixture and used the full amount of unsweetened whipped cream. This made just enough to fill the one layer and cover the entire cake with frosting.That’s pretty much all I have to say about this cake other than I’m glad I made half so we can eat this and move on to the next White Lily recipe.
Full version of the cake is on the link at the top. Below is my smaller version.
White Lily Celebration Coconut Cake -- Small
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 1/2 cups 6 ounces White Lily® Enriched Bleached All Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon plus a pinch salt omit if using salted butter
- 1/2 cup 4 oz unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1/2 cup whole milk room temperature
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon vanilla extract I used 1
Filling/Frosting
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut loosely packed
- 3/4 cup heavy cream whipped
- More about ½ cup sweetened flaked coconut for garnish.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Spray two 8 inch round metal pans with flour-added cooking spray.
- Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
- Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar, and continue mixing until very light. Add eggs, one at a time, beating one minute after each addition.
- Stir 1/3 of flour mixture into egg mixture until blended. Stir in 1/4 cup of milk until blended and repeat, ending with the remaining flour. Stir in vanilla extract.
- Divide batter evenly between pans. Bake 20 to 25 minutes (mine took the full 25), or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes before removing from pans. Let cool for 10 minutes, then turn from pans and let cool completely.
- Filling: Stir sugar, sour cream and 1 cup of coconut together. Spread some of this mixture on the cake, leaving behind about a cup – I just eyeballed it.
- Frosting: Fold the reserved cup (or so) of sour cream mixture into the whipped cream. Spread all over the cake and put it in the refrigerator.
- Lay the remaining coconut on a f oil lined baking sheet and bake at 350 for about 6 minutes or until edges are browned. Toss it all together so that the coconut is tan and white. Let it cool, then slap it all over the cake.
- Chill the cake for at least one hour or until ready to use.
Anna
Hi Marcia,
Did you try just adding more stiff whipped cream to make it thick enough to slap onto the sides? The frosting IS a little runny, but it should have been thick enough to stick to the sides and coat the cake. Whenever I run into issues like this, I just fold in a little more whipping cream and (if needed) add a bit of confectioners’ sugar.
Also, I usually use heavy whipping cream, too. Heavy whipping cream, as opposed to heavy cream, has a stabilizer added which helps it stay whipped longer. Your heavy whipping cream probably wasn’t the problem unless you just didn’t whip it quite stiff enough.
Did you happen to whip the cream before measuring and use 3/4 cup whipped cream? Because the way it is written indicates that you are supposed to measure out 3/4 cup heavy cream and then whip it. You start with the 3/4 cup cream and then whip it so you end up with over 1 1/2 cups whipped cream. If you used all that cream and it was STILL too runny to put over the sides, then that means your whipped cream wasn’t stiff enough OR your original mixture of sugar, sour cream and coconut was too runny to begin with. Did you happen to use light sour cream? Using light sour cream could have caused the problem.
Marcia
I made this cake last night and the frosting was very runny. I realized today that I used heavy whipping cream cream not heavy cream, whipped. Did I do something wrong?
Anna
Granulated
marcia
did u use granulated sugar or confectioner’s sugar for the frosting?
Anna
Hi Eve, I’m not obsessed with it — a little fixated. But to answer your question, it’s made with a softer wheat and has less protein than other flour so the result is a tender, flakier, product. Sometimes cookies are too tender when made with White Lily (in my opinion), but it’s great in things like cake, biscuits and breads. I made a pound cake this afternoon with White Lily and it was definitely the best pound cake I’ve ever made. Cake flour is good too, though. You can get by without White Lily, but it’s kind of fun to experiment and see who it (and other flours) work in various items.
Eve
I have to ask what your obsession with White Lily is? Im just wondering! I didn’t know anyone “actually” used White Lily anything! LOL! Is it better than Gold Medal or Pillsbury? I have used store brand flours and they have always been a disappointment. I really am not trying to sound rude! I’m just asking…..
Jennie
Anna, This sounds WONDERFUL!! I will be trying it soon!
KAnn
That cake looks simply stunning! Unfortunately, I would be able to eat most of the cake in one sitting!
Martha in KS
I finally got my oil changed & celebrated with a bag of candy orange slices from Walgreens. It’s the simple things in life. “-)
Anna
Cynna, it’s made with a softer wheat so the cakes will be softer.
d
This is making my mouth water!!
Cynna
This sounds delicious! What makes White Lily flour different in cakes?
Thanks!
Jan Harris
I looked at their website, I’m going to check out their cookie recipes. I loooovvvveeee coconut, this looks so yummy.
Holiday Baker Man
No such thing as rogue when it comes to frosting!