Oh how I love cake! And, of course so does my husband and family. His favorite cake is coconut. In my past life I was a cake decorator. I made hundreds of cakes and cupcakes for every occasion. My home usually had the aroma of a bakery, especially on Friday when everyone came to pick up their special occasion cake.
What a great dessert for Valentine's Day or any day. This cake is definitely a keeper! This one has a layer of raspberry filling that is so delicious. You could also use any jam (seeds removed of course). It doesn't matter which one you use they all are wonderful. A real winner for the whole family, holidays, birthdays or just any day...
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This cake uses few ingredients and also uses a boxed cake with a few ingredients added to make it really moist and tasty. The frosting is made of either instant coconut or vanilla pudding mix with the addition of Cool Whip, or whipping cream makes the frosting so dang good! All in all, this recipe is not only good, but is cost efficient. In these days when everything is so expensive in the grocery store, this one "takes the cake" for being really good and inexpensive to make.
If you like a lighter cake, use the box cake instructions below. If you like a denser cake, use the instructions that adds a few more ingredients to the cake mix. I personally like the denser cake, but either method works well. The denser cake tastes more like a wedding cake texture and holds together very well.
Time to Make a Raspberry Coconut Layered Cake...
Let's start with the raspberry filling. Combine fresh raspberries, water, sugar and lemon juice to a small saucepan and cook until the raspberries have broken down.
Place the raspberry mixture into a mesh strainer. Push as much of the raspberry flesh that you can through the strainer. Dispose of the seeds.
Return the mixture to the saucepan and bring back up to a boil. Then add the cornstarch mixture to the raspberry mixture and cook until it is thick and bubbly. The color will get darker as you cook it. Cool completely before spreading on the cake.
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Follow the instructions for either cake. Once your layers are baked, cool completely. I place both layers in the refrigerator. It makes spreading the raspberry filling easier.
Now it's time to assemble. Make sure that your cake is cooled. Level your cakes by cutting any domed area on the layers. Place your first layer on your cake plate that you plan on using. I use a cake turntable to decorate. You can purchase one at Walmart or any craft store that has cake decorating supplies. They are very inexpensive. It is not necessary, but it sure makes frosting a cake a lot easier.
First spread the raspberry filling on the first layer. Then spread your whipped pudding frosting on top of the raspberry layer. Top with the second layer. Fill the seam between both layers with frosting. This will seal in the raspberry filling so it doesn't show through the final frosting layer.
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Now frost the whole cake and top with coconut. This cake does need to be refrigerated. You can remove from refrigerator shortly before you serve.
Coconut Cake with Pudding and Whipped Topping Frosting Recipe...
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Ingredients:
Cake:
- 1 pkg. white cake mix (plus ingredients to make cake) - follow cake mix instructions
- 1 tsp almond extract or coconut extract
Directions for Cake Mix only:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray cooking spray on 2 10" round cake pans. Flour the pans for a quick release of cake. You can also use parchment paper to line the bottom of the pans, but be sure to spray sides of pans with cooking spray.
- Prepare cake mix according to package directions, adding almond or coconut extract.
- Pour batter into pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Cool 10 minutes. Run knife around edge of cake pans. Cool cake completely. Remove cakes from pans; discard parchment paper.
- Place one cake on cake plate. Top with frosting, then with preserves. Place second cake on top of frosting and frost completely. Sprinkle with coconut
For a denser Cake add the Following:
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 3 large eggs = room temperature
- 1 1/3 cup water or milk (room temperature
- 2 T. vegetable oil
- 1 cup sour cream or yogurt
- 2 tsps. vanilla
Directions for a dense Cake:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Grease and flour two 8" cake rounds, line with parchment.
- Combine all dry ingredients and whisk together.
- Add wet ingredients and mix until combined.
- Divide batter between the pans and bake for approximately 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn onto wire racks to cool completely.
Raspberry Cake Filling
Ingredents:
- 12 oz. unsweetened raspberries
- 2/3 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 T. lemon juice
- 3 T. cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup of water
- 2 tsp. raspberry extract or 2 T. raspberry liquor
Directions for Raspberry Cake Filling:
- Combine raspberries, water, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Once it has started boiling, turn down the heat and let the mixture simmer until the raspberries have completely broken down
- Remove from heat and pour the mixture through a mesh strainer to remove seeds.
- Dissolve cornstarch into 1/4 cup water.
- Pour mixture back into the pan and whisk in the cornstarch mixture.
- Bring the mixture back up to a boil and simmer until it is thick and bubbly, whisking as needed.
- Pour mixture into a bowl and allow it to cool completely. *Original recipe from the Cake Central website.
Frosting Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 cup cold milk
- 1 large pkg. white chocolate or vanilla instant pudding and pie filling
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 container (8 oz. ) frozen whipped topping, thawed or 8 oz. of whipped cream whipped (or you can add both to make a creamier frosting
- 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
Frosting:
- Combine milk, pudding mix and powdered sugar. Whisk 1-2 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken. Fold in whipped topping.
- Spread jam over bottom half of cake. Spread 1 cup (250 mL) of the frosting over jam. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread sides and top of cake with remaining frosting. Sprinkle with coconut. Refrigerate 1 hour.
One Final Thought...
Well that's it for one of my favorite foods...CAKE! So many kinds to choose from and so little time to make all of them. But, most of these I have tried and they are great. The one I love the best, besides the Coconut Cake is the Lemon Blueberry cake. It is so moist and so good...if you are going to try any of these, try the Lemon Blueberry cake first. You won't be disappointed!
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