I have a bride who has requested a naked cake, but wants one later to have coconut flavor cake. I have never baked a cake with coconut in the batter (which is what she is requesting). I am assuming this will change the texture of the baked cake and present a problem because of the lack of outer icing. Anyone have any ideas or recipes for coconut flavored cake? Thanks!
This is very timely because I just spent the past 3 days developing the perfect coconut cake (and gained 5 pounds!). It is for a dear friends birthday and I wanted to do one tier of it pina colada. I have become vegan and now am developing vegan recipes to replace my old favorites trying to use relatively "normal" ingredients. I want to stick to my convictions and gently show the skeptics that being vegan is totally doable and delicious (good for the planet too!) and continue to bake wonderful things. The results have been truly amazing. So far I have chocolate, vanilla, banana bread, and now coconut that I like even better than the originals. if anyone is vegan and is interested, pm me. But back to the coconut. If you want the full vegan recipe, pm me, but I think the following substitutions will work well with any basic good white cake recipe - just watch that the fat and liquid equivalents remain the same. And always do trial runs and find what works. The vegan version I developed is light, fluffy, with a fine grain, no holes and a nice coconut taste with no chunks. I couldn't stop eating it. My whole vegan and non vegan family loved it. (The base recipe for the white cake was good to begin with). I will also brush the final version with a coconut rum simple syrup and layer it with alternating pineapple and coconut fillings and finish with a coconut rum buttercream. Many people just add coconut flakes and extract, to make coconut cake so I started there. Adding sweetened shredded coconut (Baker's) was good, but made the cake denser and a bit chewy. I tried adding Bob's finely shredded unsweetened coconut in various amounts which was better than the flakes, but still affected the texture adversely and didn't add a lot of flavor when in the range of better texture. I tried with and without coconut rum (the alcohol bakes off) and it really does enhance the flavor and was a keeper. The real breakthrough was discovering accidentally coconut paste at the store. Never heard of it. One was in the wrong spot with the coconut oil. That was the key - it replaces fat along with adding real coconut so finely ground it does not affect the texture. Think peanut butter compared to peanut oil. Not cheap, but so worth it, and I will be trying all sorts of things with it.
Suggestions for making a coconut cake from your own basic white cake recipe. Try any or all of these!
Replace the milk in the recipe with 75% lite coconut milk and 25% coconut rum (or milk or water). Adjust to keep the volume and fat the same as the original recipe.
Replace half of the butter with coconut butter (NOT cocoa butter). it is pureed coconut as opposed to pressed coconut oil and has the fat but also real finely ground coconut without the chunky flakes. I found it at my local grocery store and would not be surprised if it is also available at TJs or whole foods. I will try replacing higher percentages of the butter (or vegan equivalent) with the coconut butter over time but it is not really necessary taste wise, and I have to go on a diet for now.
Add vanilla as usual. Omit almond or other flavors, and add coconut extract paste about 1 Tbsp per recipe for 2 8" layers (I use Taylor and Colledge) or any good extract. I get the paste at my local store, but have ordered it on Amazon as well. All of the Taylor and Colledge paste extracts are great BTW.
Just some ideas - hope something works for you.
i think that's great yortma!! i would ask for the recipes in a heartbeat but i am egg and gluten and sugar free too so my sweets are much different -- but i am so happy for all that you are doing -- way cool -- hats off -- you rock!! yes i use coconut butter though 
it was hard to find -- i expected it to be in the refrigerated section -- y'know 'butter' -- but it was just on a shelf -- and yes it certainly is pricey!
anyway -- this is a wonderful thing you're doing
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