Coconut Meringue Cake
This coconut meringue cake is a decadent, buttery, coconut cake topped with a sweet and light meringue frosting covered in sweetened coconut.
Equipment
- 3 6" round cake pans
- kitchen scale
Ingredients
For the cake
- ¾ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- ¾ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 7 ounces shredded, sweetened coconut
For the frosting
- 3 large egg whites
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup coconut water
- ½ tsp cream of tarter
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2-3 cups shredded coconut
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325F. Line 3 6" round cake pans with parchment and butter. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large bowl using a hand mixer, add the butter and sugar and beat for five minutes on high until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well in between each addition. Add the vanilla and mix well.
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Turn the mixer to low speed and alternate adding the flour mixture with the buttermilk. Start and end with the dry ingredients. Fold in the coconut until all well combined.
- Divide the cake batter evenly between the three pans, using a kitchen scale if you have one to ensure that each round gets the same amount of batter.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing, and let continue cooling on a cooling rack. Wait to frost until completely cooled. Once cool, level the cake layers using a serrated knife.
- When the cake has cooled, make the frosting. Bring about 2 inches of water to a boil in a 4-quart saucepan over high heat. Decrease heat to medium-low to until simmering. Place the egg whites, sugar, coconut water, cream of tartar, and salt into a mixing bowl, making sure that the mixture has room to grow. Place the bowl over the simmering water, making a double boiler, and using a hand mixer set to low speed, beat for 1 minute. Increase the speed to high and keep beating five minutes until it has stiffed and has quadrupled in size. ,Remove from the heat and add the vanilla, and beat for another 1 minute. Let the frosting sit before frosting the cake.
- Frost the cake by putting 1/3 cup of frosting on the cake and sprinkle with about 1/4 cup coconut. Repeat with the remaining layers. Using all remaining frosting to cover the cake entirely, and cover with remaining sweetened coconut. Put in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to allow frosting to set.
- Before serving, bring to room temperature. Enjoy!
Notes
Recipes adapted from Ina Garten and Alton Brown.