Triple Coconut Cake with Passion Fruit Caramel
Calling all my tropical and coconut lovers – this Triple Coconut Cake is sure to knock your socks off! This single layer triple coconut cake features, as the name suggests, coconut in 3 different forms: coconut milk, coconut extract, and shredded coconut! The result is a soft, tender, and ultra fluffy cake that is seriously bursting with coconut flavor from head to toe! The cake is optionally topped with a coconut buttercream and then optionally (but highly recommended) topped with the pièce de résistance – the passion fruit caramel sauce! This caramel sauce sees the combination of passion fruit puree with classic salted caramel to create a caramel sauce that is deeply sweet with a major tropical flavor punch! This passion fruit caramel is the perfect tropical accompaniment to the Triple Coconut Cake!
How to Make the Triple Coconut Cake
1. Beat eggs and sugar: Add the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and coconut extract, to your stand mixer, then beat them together for about 3-4 minutes. By the end, it should be fluffy, and be tripled in volume.
2. Add oil: Turn the stand mixer down to medium speed, then slowly drizzle the oil into the stand mixer while it continues to beat. After all the oil has been added, beat the mixture for another 30 seconds.
3. Whisk together the dry ingredients: In a separate mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, and salt, then whisk them together to combine.
4. Combine milk and coconut milk: In a measuring cup, whisk together the whole milk and the canned coconut milk until they are smooth and well-combined together.
5. Alternate add the dry & wet to stand mixer: First add the 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then beat until just combined. Add ½ of the coconut milk mixture and beat until just combined. Continue adding the wet & dry in this order, until all of the ingredients have been added (you’ll finish with the dry).
6. Fold in shredded coconut: Add the chopped shredded coconut into the batter, then using a rubber spatula, fold the shredded coconut in.
6. Add to pan & bake: Pour the Triple Coconut Cake batter into a prepared cake pan, then place into the oven to bake! When done, allow the Coconut Cake to cool completely before frosting!
WHAT IS PASSION FRUIT?
Now, if you’ve never had passion fruit before, than boy are you in for a treat! The fruit is the embodiment of tropical flavors! The fruit itself looks like a dark purple little sphere, and about the size of a small-ish lime. The interior, however, is a much different story. The inside is filled with a bright yellow pulpy juice interior that is scattered with seeds. The flavor is slightly sweet, while also being quite tart.
How to make Passion Fruit Caramel
Although the Triple Coconut Cake is awesome on its own, the optional Passion Fruit Caramel is very highly recommend. To make the Passion Fruit Caramel, start by removing the pulps from the passion fruits and placing them inside a blender or small food processor. Process the pulp for about 20-30 seconds – when ready it should look liquidy. Now, simply strain the pulp juice using a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds!
Now onto the caramel! Start by throwing the sugar and water into a large-ish saucepan over medium heat. Allow the sugar to dissolve in the water, then increase the heat to medium-high and let the mixture turn amber. During this caramelization period, make sure you DO NOT stir it! Stirring the mixture can cause little sugar clumps/crystals to occur, leading to an unsmooth sauce. After the sugar mixture has turned amber in color, add the cubed butter in, whisking as you add it. The mixture will bubble up quite a bit, so using a big enough whisk is important. If the butter doesn’t seem to want to incorporate, just vigorously whisk it, off the heat, until it does! After the butter has been added and is well-incorporated, add the heavy cream, passion fruit juice, vanilla, and salt, then whisk until well-combined again. Now simply allow the passion fruit caramel to cool to at least room-temperature before using!
Get the Recipe: Triple Coconut Cake with Passion Fruit Caramel
Ingredients
Triple Coconut Cake
- 2 ¼ cups (270g) All Purpose Flour,, measured correctly †
- 1 ½ tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Table Salt
- 1 ½ cups (250g) White Sugar
- 3 Large Eggs
- 1 ¼ tsp Coconut Extract
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3/4 cup (168g) Vegetable Oil
- 3/4 cup (172g) Full-Fat Canned Coconut Milk,, shaken/stirred to be combined/smooth
- 1/4 cup (60g) Whole Milk
- 2/3 cup (66g) Sweetened Shredded Coconut,, roughly chopped
(Optional) Passion Fruit Caramel
- 1/4 cup (60g) Passion Fruit Pulp
- 1 cup (200g) White Sugar
- 1/4 cup (60g) Water
- 6 tbsp (85g) Unsalted Butter,, at room temperature and cubed
- 1/3 cup (75g) Heavy Cream
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
Coconut Frosting
- 1 ½ cups (340g) Unsalted Butter,, at room temperature
- 6 cups (720g) Confectioners Sugar
- 6 tbsp Full-Fat Canned Coconut Milk,, shaken/stirred to be combined/smooth
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 1/2 tsp Coconut Extract
Equipment
- Stand mixer
- Food Processor or Blender
Instructions
Triple Coconut Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F, and a 9” springform cake pan with parchment and cooking spray. In a large sized mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, and salt, whisk together to combine. In a separate bowl or measuring cup, combine the milk and coconut milk until smooth.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add eggs, sugar, coconut extract, and vanilla. Beat on high for around 5 minutes, the mixture should look thick, fluffy, and be tripled in volume. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then slowly drizzle in the oil. After all the oil has been added, beat for an additional minute.
- On low, add the dry mixture to the stand mixer in 3 additions, alternating with the coconut milk mixture in between. Beat only until the batter is completely combined and smooth. Add the shredded coconut to the batter, then fold it in using a rubber spatula.
- Add the batter to the prepared pan, then bake in the oven for around 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.
(Optional) Passion Fruit Caramel
- Add passion fruit pulp to a blender or food processor, process for 20-30 seconds. Pour the processed pulp over a fine mesh sieve, then discard the seeds and save the liquid. Add the liquid to a measuring cup with the heavy cream and stir to combine. Set aside for later.
- In a large saucepan over medium heat add sugar and water. Stir occasionally until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture begins to boil.
- Once the mixture begins to boil turn the heat up to medium-high and allow the mixture to boil, ensuring not to stir it, until it turns amber in color (stirring the mixture will cause crystallization, so refrain from stirring).
- Once the mixture has become amber in color (360°F on a candy thermometer), add the cubed butter and mix very vigorously to combine. (Be careful, however, because the mixture will bubble and rise up rapidly when you add the butter). If the butter seems to be separating from the caramel, remove it from the heat, then whisk vigorously until it comes together.
- Next, carefully and slowly add in the heavy cream/passion fruit liquid (it will bubble rapidly again), vanilla, and salt. Whisk until smooth and well-combined. Remove the caramel from the heat, allow to cool for 5 minutes, then cover tightly, and allow to cool to room temperature before using.
Coconut Frosting
- Add butter to a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high until butter is doubled in volume, and looks light and fluffy.
- Turn the stand mixer to low and slowly add the confectioners sugar. Beat until completely incorporated, then add in the coconut milk, vanilla, and coconut extract. Beat until well-combined and fully incorporated.
- Dollop on top of cooled cake and smooth out with a spatula. Drizzle cooled Passion Fruit Caramel over top to finish.
what size.cake does this recipe make? 10 inches?
It’s for a 9” Cake!
Thank you; the cake was delicious.
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it!
Any reason not to use coconut oil instead of vegetable oil in this cake?
You can definitely use coconut oil, however the coconut oil will need to be melted but not too hot that it accidentally cooks the eggs. That is the reason I didn’t use coconut oil in developing this recipe – more room for error due to the heat and extra steps with melting it.
Hi there, i’ve fallen in love with the flavors you’ve used just reading the recipe. ‘What kind of flowers have you used to decorate in the photo? I would like to try but not sure if those are real flowers from a flower shop or if they are edible / from a specialty store.
Hi, I’m not sure what exact flowers these are, I just picked them up at my grocery store in the flower section. They are NOT edible flowers – just purely decorative. To add flowers onto a cake you can wrap painters tape around the stem and place them into the cake. The flowers would have to be removed before consuming.
Hi! Can I use unsweetened shredded coconut and unsweetened coconut milk?
Hi! I have no tested it with unsweetened coconut – you may just have to add a little more sugar to the batter (maybe a tablespoon or so).
As for the coconut milk, this recipe requires the canned coconut milk. The coconut milk that is found in cartons usually does not have enough fat in it for this cake!
Hope that helps!
Yes, it has. Thank you so much for getting back to me. Appreciate it!
Made these as cupcakes. Absolutely delicious. They are light, flavorful, and moist. It’s the coconut cake recipe that I’ve been searching for, and will be my go to recipe. I doubled the recipe, and made 30 cupcakes. Baked for 25 minutes.
The coconut cake itself was very good! The batter did leak out of my springform pan, but just a little bit and not enough to ruin anything. I may use a high sided baking pan next time. The flavor was nice and the cake was moist. It is a touch on the sweet side and I may try to cut back the sugar slightly next time or leave out the chopped, sweetened shredded coconut from the cake. I don’t think it added much to the cake.
I did decide to switch up the topping and did a layer of coconut pudding topped with sweetened whipped cream and then topped with tropical fruit and toasted coconut. It made the cake a little less sweet overall but it worked for us.
Sounds so good!! Can I make this cake one or two days before? Or parts of it? Thanks!
Definitely! All the components can be made 1-2 days ahead of time, as long as they’re wrapped well to prevent anything from drying out. You can also assemble the cake in advance too, I would just recommend pouring on the caramel righr before serving.
The cake can be stored at room temperature, preferably covered. The caramel does need to be refrigerated, so if you’ve added the caramel on top, I’d recommend storing the cake in the fridge
Hello, thank you for this recipe. I’m hoping to try it for a friend’s bd on friday, as cupcakes but with all the fixings (if i can get my hand on a set of measuring cups as it is not used at all here in France).
For the forsting, is it 5 to 6 cups of confectionner’s sugar ? I’m not quite sure “5-6” means thta, may be lost in translation…
Thank you for any help you could give !
Hi! Yes it means 5 to 6! I’ll also update the recipe right now with gram measurements!