Easy Coconut Cake

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This Easy Coconut Cake is moist and light with wonderful coconut flavor- it starts with a box of white cake mix!

Easy Coconut Cake, sliced, on a cake pedestal.

Keep this recipe in mind the next time you need a great birthday cake recipe, potluck cake, holiday cake, or other special occasion. You will love the soft, moist cake layers and creamy coconut cream cheese frosting!

Ingredients

Here's a quick look at our ingredients for today's cake! Find the full, printable recipe at the bottom of this post.

  • White Cake Mix (15.25oz)- We used Duncan Hines Perfectly Moist. Ignore the directions on the back of the box.
  • All Purpose Flour
  • Sugar
  • Salt
  • Sour Cream- Adds richness and enhances the texture. We use "full fat".
  • Melted Butter- Adds richness and flavor. We use unsalted. If using salted butter, you can omit the salt in the recipe.
  • Milk
  • Large eggs
  • Coconut Extract and Vanilla Extract
  • Sweetened, flaked coconut

*We used coconut cream cheese frosting for today's filling and frosting. Find the ingredients below!

How to Make Easy Coconut Cake

You can find the full recipe at the bottom of this post. Here is a quick look at our steps!

  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
  • Grease and flour three 8x2 round cake pans. We also like to line ours with circles of parchment paper (optional).
  • In the bowl of your mixer, combined all ingredients except for the flaked coconut (which we will add at the end).
  • Mix the ingredients on low speed for about 15 seconds to incorporate, then mix on medium speed for two minutes. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
  • Gently fold in the cup of flaked coconut.
Batter for Easy Coconut Cake
  • Pour into prepared pans and bake at 325 degrees for 22-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. (If you don't have a toothpick, you can insert a thin, sharp knife.)
easy coconut cake layers.
  • Cool the baked layers in their pans on a wire rack for ten minutes before turning out.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

We love this delicious coconut cream cheese frosting recipe. It is so quick and easy, and is based on our classic cream cheese frosting recipe.

It combines softened cream cheese and butter, coconut extract, powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, and vanilla.

Coconut cream cheese frosting.

Decorating the Cake

Once the coconut cake layers have cooled completely, place the first cake layer on the cake pedestal or cake plate. Spread the top with a layer of cream cheese frosting. Repeat steps for the next layer. Then top with the third cake layer.

Frosting the Easy Coconut Cake.

Frost the sides and top of the cake with frosting, then press flaked into the frosted cake to cover the top and around the sides.

Easy Coconut Cake, sliced, on a cake plate.

More Coconut Cakes

We hope that you enjoy this recipe! Make sure to check out our other doctored cake mix recipes!

We've also made lots more coconut cake recipes for you over the years. Some of our favorites are carrot cake, coconut cream cake, Italian Cream Cake, and Pineapple Coconut Pound Cake.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! We hope that you enjoy the recipe. We'd love for you to scroll through our collection of favorite cake recipes and cake decorating tutorials!

Easy Coconut Cake, sliced on a cake plate.

Easy Coconut Cake

This moist, Easy Coconut Cake is so flavorful and perfect for birthdays and other special occasions! This is a cake mix recipe with add-ins to make it rich and flavorful.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Course: Dessert
Servings: 15 servings
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Ingredients

  • 1 box white cake mix, sifted (15.25 oz) (We used Duncan Hines White Cake Mix- Perfectly Moist)
  • 1 cup all purpose flour (121g)
  • 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
  • ½ teaspoon generous dash of salt
  • 1 cup sour cream (242g) (We used "full fat")
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, melted (113g) (This is ½ cup butter)
  • cup milk (300g) (we use 2 percent or whole milk)
  • 3 whole large eggs
  • teaspoons coconut extract (10g)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup sweetened, flaked coconut (We use Bakers Angel Flake)

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
  • 16 oz cream cheese 452g (We used two 8 oz packages of full fat cream cheese.)
  • 1-1 ½ teaspoons 4g-6g coconut extract (adjust to your liking)
  • 1 teaspoon 4g vanilla extract
  • 6 to 6 ½ cups powdered sugar (747g)
  • pinch salt

Decoration

  • Additional sweetened coconut to press into the frosted cake .

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
  • Grease and flour three 8x2 round cake pans. We also like to line ours with circles of parchment paper (optional).
  • In the bowl of your mixer, combined all ingredients except for the flaked coconut (which we will add at the end).
  • Mix the ingredients on low speed for about 15 seconds to incorporate, then mix on medium speed for two minutes. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
  • Gently fold in the cup of flaked coconut.
  • Pour into prepared pans and bake at 325 degrees for 22-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. (If you don't have a toothpick, you can insert a thin, sharp knife.)
  • Cool the baked layers in their pans on a wire rack for ten minutes before turning out.

Frosting and Decorating

  • Once the cake layers have cooled completely, place the first cake layer on the cake pedestal. Spread with the top a layer of cream cheese. Repeat for the next cake layer. Then, top with the last cake layer.
  • Frost the cake around the sides and on top with frosting. Press sweetened, flaked coconut into the top and sides of the frosted cake.

Notes

Freezing: These coconut cake layers can be made ahead and frozen. When freezing, we like to wrap each layer individually with plastic wrap and then foil. (You can place each layer on a foil-wrapped cake cardboard before wrapping for extra stability).
Freeze up to 3 months. To thaw, place on the kitchen counter, still wrapped for 25-30 minutes. Then, unwrap and continue thawing to desired amount. Some bakers prefer to decorate their cakes while still partially frozen, as they are less fragile and easier to handle.

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