Coconut Cheesecake Cake – two layers of sweet coconut cake with a cheesecake in the middle. Covered with light cream cheese frosting for a gorgeous and lazy “naked cake” look. This cake is perfect for Spring and Easter.
Today feels like the perfect day for another Easter inspired cake.
These are less than 2 weeks until Easter. Time flies! I have no plans on cooking for the holiday, but I’d like to make a dessert and color eggs.
What are you doing?
Easter desserts that I love are this Carrot Cake [1], Carrot Cake Roll [2], Easter Bread [3] and Lemon Bars [4]. I’ve never baked a Coconut Cake for Easter, but I know it a dessert a lot of people like this time of the year.
Do you remember the Vanilla Bean Cake [5] that I made a few weeks ago? I decides to make another cake with spring flavors.
This time it is a Coconut Cheesecake Cake. Hope you don’t get confused by the look of these two cakes, I know they look similar on the outside – both naked and with pastel decorations. But they are pretty different on the outside.
Most coconut cakes are made with meringue or cream cheese frosting and this is totally fine!
But I decided to try something different. I added a cheesecake layer in between, (just like in this Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake [6]). The result was pretty delicious. Coconut cake is not the moistest kind of cake, so the addition of creamy cheesecake layer was just perfect! Feel free to cover the cake with regular butter cream if you’d like, but I used cream cheese frosting in mine (between the layers and on the outside).
I also added unsweetened shredded coconut to the top and sides on the cake.
Sweetened coconut could be used instead, but you know me, even though I’ve been baking a lot of cakes lately, I always try to reduce the amount of sugar in my recipes.
I aslo used unsweetened shredded coconut in the cake layers, but sweetened could be substituted. As I mentioned, I don’t think coconut cake is the moistest kind of cake, so in this Coconut Cheesecake Cake I used some coconut oil and some butter. I’ve found that coconut oil helps produce moist and crumby cakes.
The decoration is simple – mini chocolate eggs candy and baby’s breath.
Here are some tips for you, if you decide to make this Coconut Cheesecake Cake:
- You can bake your cake layers 1 day in advance, but make sure you wrap them in plastic wrap and wrap in aluminum foil over the plastic wrap.
- Bake your cheesecake layer 1-2 days in advance and freeze it for at least 4 hours. This will help you assemble the cake and the cheesecake won’t crack.
- I used cream cheese frosting between the layers and to cover the cake, but I made it lighter, with less powdered sugar, which I think is better for a cake like this and also the coconut on the outside will stick to it easily.
- This is not necessarily a tip, but recently I started baking my cheesecakes in a non springform pans. I’m tired with the whole water bath thing and my springform pans leaking! So for this 9-inch cheesecake layer, I used a 9-inch round cake pan, lined with parchment paper and sprayed with oil. After the cheesecake was baked and cooled to room temperature, I cooled it in the fridge for 1 hour, transferred to a parchment paper lined tray and then froze it for 4 hours.
- No need for fancy decorations, shredded coconut is enough.
COCONUT CHEESECAKE CAKE
Ingredients
FOR THE COCONUT CAKE LAYERS:
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder [11]
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, , cut into small pieces
- 1/4 cup coconut oil [12], , melted, not hot
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 5 egg whites
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp coconut extract
- 1 cup canned coconut milk
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
FOR THE CHEESECAKE LAYER:
- 2 (8oz) packages cream cheese at room temperature
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp coconut extract, (optional)
FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
- 2 cups powdered sugar, (sifted)
- 2 (8 oz) packages softened cream cheese
- 1 (8 oz) pack softened butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract [13]
OTHER:
- 1 1/2 unsweetened cups shredded coconut for decoration
- mini pastel chocolate eggs
- baby's breath
Instructions
FOR THE COCONUT CAKE LAYERS:
- Preheat oven to 325 F.
- Line two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Spray with oil.
- Place dry ingredients in the bowl of a mixer. Add sugar.
- Add butter and beat for 1 minute.
- In a separate bowl combine egg, egg whites, coconut milk, coconut oil (should not be hot!), shredded coconut, vanilla and coconut extract.
- Add 1/3 of the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat until just combined.
- Repeat adding another 1/3 of the wet ingredients and beating until combined. Add the remaining wet ingredients.
- Divide mixture between the two pans and bake for 35-40 minutes or more, if needed, until the cake is cooked and tops are golden.
- Transfer pans to a wire rack and cool completely. Refrigerate for up to 2 days if needed, making sure cakes are wrapped in plastic and aluminum foil.
- When ready to assemble, cut off domes (if any).
FOR THE CHEESECAKE LAYER:
- Preheat oven to 325 F.
- Prepare a 9" round cake pan (springform pan could be used), line parchment paper on the bottom, and spray it with oil. With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth.
- Add sugar and mix for 3-4 minutes, until combined. Scrape gown the sides of bowl, to make sure all cream cheese is incorporated. Add eggs, one at a time. Then add sour cream, heavy cream, vanilla and coconut extract (optional).
- Mix until combined. Pour batter into the pan. Place pan on the upper rack of the oven and bake for 45 minutes, until the top is set. Transfer cheesecake to a cooling rack and let it cool down completely. When completely cool, transfer to a parchment paper lined plate (tray), carefully cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 2 hours or overnight.
FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
- Beat butter in your mixer on medium for 2 minutes. Add powdered sugar and beat on medium for 3 minutes, scraping the bowl if necessary.
- Cut cream cheese into pieces and slowly add it to the mixer, beating on medium until smooth. Scrape the bowl if needed.
TO ASSEMBLE:
- Place one of the coconut layers on a cake platter. Cover with a thin layer of frosting.
- Carefully add the cheesecake layer over it. If the cheesecake layer is sticking out, cut off the parts that are sticking out. If it appears too small, you can either cut off the cake layers, to make the cake even, or fill the uneven parts with cream cheese frosting.
- Top the cheesecake layer with some cream cheese frosting and add the second coconut layer over it. Cover the top and sides of the cake with frosting. Using a spatula scrape the extra frosting from the sides and top of the cake.
- Add shredded coconut to the top and sides of the cake. I just use my hands and carefully stick it to the frosting.
- Add decoration.
- Cheesecake layer could be baked in a water bath
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
More Easter Treats
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
[22]
[23]