This beautiful Blackberry Coconut Cake is moist and dense, has plenty of coconut flavor, and pops of tart blackberries. The taste and texture is amazing, and the color added by the blackberries gives it that special touch.
A cake for any occasion: Blackberry Coconut Cake
A few weeks ago, I celebrated the big 3-0 by throwing a backyard birthday party for myself and a few of my closest friends. As with any birthday, the grand finale is always the birthday cake, which I began thinking about a few weeks in advance of the party.
I knew I wanted a coconut cake, but I wanted it to have a little more umph (in flavor and color) than just a cake with monochromatic coconut, so I looked around my kitchen for some inspiration. I ended up finding half a clamshell of blackberries and thought they would pair perfectly with the coconut. And so it was decided, I was going to segue into my third decade with a blackberry coconut cake!
I began recipe testing a few weeks before the party and continued until I found just the right ratio of ingredients to make a cake that was moist, had a dense crumb, and full of coconut flavor. I wanted the coconut flavor to be infused into the cake itself and not just imparted by the shredded coconut. So, I added as much coconut flavor as I could, using coconut extract and coconut milk.
Three batches later, the cake came out perfectly and was everything I wanted it to be. It was moist and dense, had plenty of coconut flavor, and pops of tart blackberries. I was very pleased with not only the taste and texture, but also the color added by the blackberries. Once the cake was finalized, the easy part was deciding on the filling and the frosting. I filled the cake with a rich coconut buttercream and frosted the cake with a tangy and luscious cream cheese frosting. Oh yeah!
If you have never baked and decorated a cake before, here are a few tips to help make your first time successful. If it doesn’t turn out perfectly, don’t fret. Just embrace it and enjoy! I know it took me quite a few tries.
Tip #1: Grease the bottoms and side of your cake pans. Grease them well! Then, line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper and grease the paper. TRUST me, this will save you a lot of agonizing effort when it comes time for you to remove the cake from the pan.
Tip #2: Completely cool the cake layers before attempting to fill, assemble, and frost. If the cakes have even the slightest bit of warmth, any frosting on them will melt. I learned this the hard way in my earlier years of baking.
Tip #3: Invest in a turntable. Once cooled, fill and assemble the cake on a cake turntable. The turntable will help ease the frosting process.
Tip #4: Crumb coat the cake before fully frosting the cake. Crumb coating is simply applying a thin layer of frosting onto the entire cake so that it secures all of the crumbs into place. Otherwise, you could end up with crumbs on the frosting’s surface.
Tip #5: After crumb coating, pop the cake into the freezer for about an hour to set. Once set, you can frost to your heart’s content and decorate any way you’d like.
- 3 cups (300 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted
- 6 tablespoons corn starch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup coconut milk*, room temperature
- ½ cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 1½ cups (3 sticks) salted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100 grams) light brown sugar
- 5 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
- 5 ounces sweetened shredded coconut
- 1 clamshell (6 ounces) fresh blackberries
- Coconut buttercream (recipe below)
- Cream cheese frosting (recipe below)
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease the bottoms and sides of three 9-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper and grease the paper.
- In a large bowl, sift the flour. Remove 6 tablespoons of the flour and whisk in the corn starch, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a glass measuring cup or small bowl, whisk together the coconut milk and buttermilk. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add the sugars and continue beating until creamy, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the extracts and beat until combined.
- On low speed, alternate the flour and milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary between each addition and only mix until just combined.
- Fold in the coconut and blackberries by hand. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, rotating the pans 180° halfway through baking (at about 12-13 minutes).
- Allow the cakes to cool in the pans on a cooling rack for 15 minutes. Remove the cakes by running an offset spatula along the side of the cake pan and invert the cake onto the cooling rack. Remove the parchment paper and allow to cool completely.
- To assemble, place one cake layer onto a cardboard cake round or plate and center onto a cake turntable. Evenly spread half of the coconut buttercream onto the cake, leaving about ½-inch rim around the edge of the cake. Top with another cake layer and evenly spread the remaining coconut buttercream onto the cake, leaving about ½-inch rim around the edge.
- Top with the last cake layer. Crumb coat the entire cake by spreading a thin layer of cream cheese frosting over the entire cake. Freeze for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Frost and decorate the cake with the remaining cream cheese frosting.
- ¾ cup (1½ sticks) salted butter, room temperature
- 1¾ cup (210 grams) confectioners' sugar, sifted
- ½ teaspoon coconut extract
- ½ tablespoon coconut milk*
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until pale and creamy (5-8 minutes).
- Slowly add the sugar, scraping down the sides as necessary.
- Add the extract and milk until combined**.
**I found this was the perfect consistency for spreading as a filling, but if it needs to be thinner, add in the milk 1 teaspoon at at time until the desired consistency is reached. Similarly, if it needs to be thickened, add the sugar in ⅛ cup at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
- 12 ounces (1½ bricks) cream cheese, room temperature*
- ¾ cup (1½ sticks) salted butter, room temperature
- 4½ (540 grams) cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
- 1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons coconut milk**
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy.
- Slowly add the sugar, scraping down the sides as necessary.
- Add the extract and milk until combined***.
**Found in the same area as the dairy free milks
*** I found this was the perfect consistency for frosting, but if it needs to be thinner, add in the milk 1 tablespoon at at time until the desired consistency is reached. Similarly, if it needs to be thickened, add the sugar in ¼ cup at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
We hope you love this Blackberry Coconut Cake from SoFabFood Contributor, Patty from The PKP Way, as much as we do. If you like this recipe, be sure to stop by our desserts section for even more like it. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter so that you never miss a single recipe, and be sure to like us on Facebook and find us on Pinterest for even more fabulous dessert recipes. Enjoy!
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