What Makes a Great Coconut Frosting?

Hello, all. I bake the birthday cakes at work. I have a request for Monday's cake to be that wonderful lemon cake. That I can handle. However, the birthday boy has specified coconut frosting. I'm going to look through my various books and see if I can find a likely recipe, but I wondered if anyone can point me towards a favorite, or can tell me what she or he considers makes a good coconut frosting.
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The combination with lemon seems odd to me, but maybe not? I don't have coconut frosting in my repertoire because my husband cannot eat coconut. I, however, love it.
posted by: bakeraunt on April 20, 2016 at 2:38 pm in Q & A

reply by: swirth on April 20, 2016 at 2:48 pm
I'd use LorAnn Coconut Oil..it is so wonderful!

reply by: Livingwell on April 20, 2016 at 2:52 pm
To me, coconut frosting means white frosting with sweetened shredded coconut on the top and sides, like so: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/coconut-cake-recipe

reply by: JennC13 on April 20, 2016 at 3:59 pm
I would add coconut milk powder. If you don't have time to get some from KAF, you can often find it in Asian grocery stores. It usually comes in a can like tuna fish (which I find bizarre)!

reply by: swirth on April 20, 2016 at 4:45 pm
Here is what I meant in my first post:

http://www.lorannoils.com/

reply by: KAF Customer Support on April 20, 2016 at 5:35 pm
This recipe uses coconut milk and coconut flavor for just the right frosting to complement the birthday cake! bit.ly/1IyEPek Happy Baking! Irene@KAF

reply by: cwcdesign on April 20, 2016 at 5:37 pm
bakeraunt, my Michael's favorite cake was coconut and he especially liked the one from Susan Branch's Summer cookbook that had lemon filling and this Marshmallow-like frosting that was then coated in shredded coconut, either sweetened or unsweetened.

1/3 cup water
1 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch salt
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine water, sugar, cream of tartar & salt in small, heavy pan. She recommends using a candy thermometer while you boil the ingredients without stirring until it reaches 240. Best egg whites til stiff. Then pour syrup in a thin stream over the egg whites, beating constantly until thick and glossy. Stir in vanilla.

I have tried to change up the directions as best I can, but I have also given credit to the author.

reply by: BakerIrene on April 20, 2016 at 5:46 pm
It would be a good idea to ask what he means by coconut frosting. The combo sounds OK to me.
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The LorAnn coconut candy emulsion is a really good flavour to add to any icing recipe (also omit vanilla) but add it one drop at a time because it really is that strong. I think a seven-minute recipe is a good base.

reply by: frick on April 20, 2016 at 6:06 pm
I vote for the recipe cwcdesign offers you. To me, the quintessential southern cake, made by my Granny every holiday for us, was a white cake with lemon filling and coconut frosting which was slathered with shredded FRESH coconut. Buy a coconut. Pierce the eyes and drain the milk; use it in the cake. Peel the coconut and shred it. Make a great lemon filling, either a lightened curd or a good lemon pie filling. Perfect flavor combination. The birthday boy has good taste.

reply by: bakeraunt on April 20, 2016 at 6:42 pm
Fresh Coconut is not going to happen.

reply by: cwcdesign on April 20, 2016 at 9:00 pm
Ha!

reply by: bakeraunt on April 20, 2016 at 11:23 pm
The KAF recipe to which Livingwell posted the link is identical to the coconut cake recipe in the first issue of Sift, except that the frosting is less complicated in the version in Sift. I'm leaning toward making this one because I have some KAF cake flour blend to use up, and I also have some powdered coconut milk. (I must have had something in mind when I bought it....). I need to see if I can locate canned coconut milk locally, and I need to check what kind of coconut flavoring I have, since it is too late to order.
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The birthday boy is ok with a full coconut cake rather than a lemon cake with coconut frosting--a flavor combination that just does not seem right to me. I suppose that I think of lemon with cream cheese frosting, and that is that. Curiously, Susan Purdy uses cream cheese in her frosting for a coconut cake. She says it cuts the sweetness.

reply by: frick on April 21, 2016 at 2:05 am
So sorry a fresh coconut isn't in the cards, but I probably wouldn't either. I was talking 'best case scenario'. At any rate, lemon filling, white cake, coconut frosting -- heaven. I always glaze lemon cake with more lemon. Cream cheese frosting is for carrot cake, chocolate cake, pumpkin cake, etc. But cream cheese filling with chocolate chips in chocolate cupcakes, I'm talking wow.

reply by: cwcdesign on April 21, 2016 at 5:59 am
Not sure I'd use cream cheese icing on coconut cake, but that's just me. Having made the coconut cake, lemon filling, & the frosting I posted many times, I can attest to its deliciousness.

reply by: bakeraunt on April 21, 2016 at 9:16 am
Come to think of it, I don't use cream cheese frosting on my lemon cake. I use a simple buttercream with some lemon juice and zest.
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From what people are saying here, lemon and coconut are a perfectly good combination. However, the person at work for whom I baked the first lemon birthday cake (I've now done three) also thought that lemon and coconut was an odd combination. I suppose that I could try it and see how it comes out, but I'm not sure that I'd do the lemon curd filling until I tried milder lemon and coconut together.
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Oh, decisions, decisions.

reply by: dachshundlady on April 21, 2016 at 10:44 am
I agree that WHITE cake, lemon filling and Carol's marshmallowy frosting and loads of coconut sprinkled on would be great.

reply by: frick on April 21, 2016 at 2:02 pm
That's it exactly. White cake, lemon filling, frosting with loads of coconut sprinkled on top. Classic.

reply by: cwcdesign on April 21, 2016 at 4:46 pm
So I went to see if I could find her recipe online - found it on food.com

http://www.food.com/recipe/coconut-layer-cake-with-lemon-filling-and-marshmallow-like-frost-179632

The lemon filling is more filling, less curd-like in that it has way less butter. That may be why it works well. Be interested to hear what you decide
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And you should be able to find canned coconut milk in the Asian section of any supermarket - the Thai brand is one and Harris Teeter has a decent store brand

reply by: bakeraunt on April 22, 2016 at 7:36 pm
Thank you all for your thoughts on coconut cake. If I had time, I would try all recommendations. I have decided to go with the coconut cake in the first issue of Sift. As Cwcdesign helpfully told me, there was coconut milk in the Asian section.

The secretaries at work were relieved when I told them it would be an all coconut cake. It seems I was not the only one uncertain about that particular lemon cake recipe with coconut. I may put a KAF lemon wafer on the birthday boy's slice.

Since the cake calls for six egg whites, I'll be baking Kid Pizza's Challah.

I will also need to find a recipe that will use up the rest of the coconut milk, since the recipe only uses about 1/2 a cup.

reply by: frick on April 23, 2016 at 1:30 pm
I made a coconut pull apart bread last year when my family visited. It wowed everyone. If you want the recipe, I'll post it. And if you don't find anything to your liking right away, you can freeze the coconut milk.
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Since we have a plethora of Asian markets in our area, and you can even buy it at TJ's, I had a choice of brands. For what it's worth, one in particular stood out, Chaokoh, from Thailand, for it's ingredient list: only coconut extract, water, citric acid and sodium metasbisulfite as preservatives. I also chose it because it was higher in calories and fat (saturated, of course). I know that seems antithetical due to the unhealthy aspects, but it was going to be used rarely, and I thought it would give more flavor punch.
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Since it's another example of combining lemon and coconut, I'm going to post it here anyway. Feel free to curse from afar. It's very sweet. I may have used sweetened coconut even though I have unsweetened in the freezer. Also, if you want to use unsweetened coconut and that isn't available. I'll bet you could rinse the excess sugar from supermarket shredded coconut, spreading it on paper towels to dry.
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Helpful hint: Stacking slices of slippery, sticky dough in a bread pan is easy if you stand the pan on end first. I also mix simple doughs like this in the bread machine.
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Lemon Coconut Pull-Apart Bread
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Dough
400g (3 + 1/3 cups) strong white bread flour
7g (2 tsp) fast action yeast
50g (1/4 cup) sugar
1 tsp salt
50g (scant 1/4 cup) butter
120ml (1/2 cup) coconut milk (or whole milk)
2 eggs
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
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Filling
.40g (3 tbsp) butter, melted
125g (2/3 cup) sugar
finely grated zest of 3 lemons and 1 orange
60g (packed 1/4 cup) desiccated coconut
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Glaze
150g (1 + 1/2 cups) icing (powdered) sugar
2 tbsp coconut milk (or whole milk)
1 tbsp lemon juice
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Instructions
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1. 
Place the flour in a large bowl, add the yeast to one side and the sugar and salt to the other. Melt the butter in a small pan, remove from the heat and stir in the coconut milk. Add the butter mixture to the flour along with the eggs and lemon zest.
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2. 
Mix until it forms a rough dough, turn out on to an un-floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic (use a stand mixer if you have one), the dough will be sticky at first but will become smooth after a few minutes of kneading.
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3. 
Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with greased clingfilm, either place in the fridge to rise overnight or in a warm place for an hour or so until doubled in size.
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4. 
If you let it rise in the fridge overnight, let it sit out at room temperature for half an hour to warm up before continuing.
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5
Line an approx. 22x11.5cm (9x4.5in) loaf tin with greaseproof paper.
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6. 
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into an approx. 30x50cm (12x20in) rectangle. Brush the melted butter all over the dough. Mix together the sugar, zest and coconut and scatter it evenly over the dough, press it down gently.
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7. 
Slice the dough into 5 even strips (roughly 10x30 cm) (a pizza cutter is the ideal tool), lay the strips on top of each other then slice in to 4 pieces.
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8. 
Stack the dough pieces upright in the tin and loosen them slightly. Cover, and leave to rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes until puffy.
9. 
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5.
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10. 
Bake for about 45 minutes until the temperature in the centre registers as 94C/200F, or a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
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11. 
Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tin on a wire rack.
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. Meanwhile, make the glaze; sift the icing sugar into a small bowl and stir in the coconut milk and lemon juice. It should be pourable but not runny, add a little more lemon juice if it is too thick or a little more icing sugar if it is too thin.
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13. 
Turn the bread out onto a serving dish and pour over the glaze. Serve warm.
domestic gothess http://domesticgothess.com/

reply by: bakeraunt on April 25, 2016 at 12:35 am
Note to all: Kid Pizza has noted that the 4 tsp. of baking powder in the coconut cake from Sift is excessive. He suggests 3 1/2 tsp. He said that is likely why I had a crack on one of the layers.
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That frosting (the one in Sift) is wonderful--both in taste and in ease of frosting. I didn't even have to do a crumb coat. It obligingly went on a split cake layers that had been refrigerated for 30 minutes before I started the frosting. I didn't have the coconut oil, and it was too late to order what Swirth and Baker Irene recommended. I did have some Organic Coconut Extract made by Flavororganics that I had bought a month or so ago at T.J. Maxx. I used 1/4 tsp in place of the coconut oil in the cake and the frosting. I did find it a little hard to stick the coconut on the sides of the cake, but I managed to do it and not make too big of a mess. The cake is now in the refrigerator. I'm looking forward to how the cake itself tastes.

reply by: Livingwell on April 25, 2016 at 7:38 am
Bakeraunt, the cake sounds super yummy and I hope the birthday boy loves it!

reply by: bakeraunt on April 26, 2016 at 12:26 am
The cake was definitely a hit. It is moist, and the combination of cake and frosting is perfect. Both have definite coconut flavor. If you love coconut cake, this is the one to try.

[Note: Here I have included a second thread on using up leftover coconut milk.]

Substituting Coconut Milk for Eggnog

I have leftover coconut milk from making that stunning and delicious coconut cake. I am wondering about using it in the following recipe in place of eggnog:
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http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/eggnog-mini-cakes-recipe
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The original recipe just used cream and eggnog flavoring, so I have already made a change by using low-fat eggnog. This would be full fat coconut milk. If needed, I could up the flavor with some coconut flavoring.
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Do you think it would work? If I try it, I will post the result before the Baking Circle is shut down.

posted by: bakeraunt on April 27, 2016 at 11:33 pm in Q & A
reply by: KAF_MaryJane on April 28, 2016 at 9:45 am
I think it would work out just fine. The natural sweetness of coconut milk would play very nicely with the recipe, and a bit of extra coconut flavor can give it a boost if you need it.
~ Maryjane

reply by: bakeraunt on April 28, 2016 at 10:08 am
Thanks, Mary Jane. I will give it a try, maybe this weekend.

reply by: bakeraunt on May 06, 2016 at 7:41 pm
I baked these cakes yesterday in my new Nordic Ware quartet pan. I deleted the nutmeg and added 1/4 tsp. coconut extract. It's a lovely cake with wonderful light texture. It does not taste that strongly of coconut. Still, it's a great way to use leftover coconut milk.

reply by: cwcdesign on May 06, 2016 at 8:22 pm
Bakeraunt when I was saving my recipes this evening I found I had saved a coconut cake recipe from naughtysquirrel. Haven't tried it yet because I forgot I had it, but I can share it with you if you like

reply by: bakeraunt on May 07, 2016 at 9:39 pm
Thanks, Carol. I did go to her recipe page and look at it. I'm sure it is delicious. However, my husband does not eat coconut (I had to eat the remainder of the cake I baked by myself), so I will stick to the recipe from Sift if I ever need a coconut cake again.
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I'm just glad to have found a way to use up the leftover coconut milk.

• This topic was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This topic was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This topic was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by BakerAunt.