Orange Coconut Cake
This orange coconut cake is a moist, light orange flavored cake with a brown butter and cream cheese frosting and bit of orange zest and toasted coconut. It's so soft and tender with a perfect orange and coconut flavor.
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 box yellow cake mix
- 1 small box vanilla instant pudding mix not Sugar Free
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 1 cup (236.59 ml) orange juice
- 1-2 tablespoon (1 tablespoon) orange zest a whole large orange
- ½ cup (109 g) coconut oil can use any neutral oil
- 1 cup (90 g) sweetened shredded coconut
Frosting:
- ½ cup (113.5 g) butter browned
- 12 oz (340.2 g) cream cheese softened
- 4 cups (480 g) powdered sugar
- zest of an orange
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ⅛ teaspoon (0.13 teaspoon) salt
- 1½ cup (120 g) shredded toasted coconut
Instructions
To make the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line the bottom of 2 eight or nine inch round cake pans with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, mix cake mix and instant pudding together. Add eggs, orange juice and zest, and oil and mix again for about 2 minutes on medium speed. Fold coconut in.
- Divide and evenly pour between 2 cake pans and smooth the top with a spatula. This becomes about 600g in each pan.
- Bake for about 28-34 minutes,or until the cake no longer jiggles and the middle bounces back when very lightly pressed. It should be a light golden brown along the top and sides. Cool for about 15-30 minutes in the pans before putting on a cooling rack.
- I like to wrap cake layers in saran wrap and freeze before frosting. When ready to make frosting pull the cakes out and let them start to defrost.
To make the frosting:
- Start by browning the butter. You'll take ½ cup of butter and melt in a medium saucepan, and then continue to cook past the point of boiling. You will do this over medium heat, past the point of the butter foaming, until it turns a nice golden brown, and has a nutty smell. Make sure you are stirring and watching it, because it will turn from perfectly brown to burnt fairly quickly. Once finished browning, pour into a bowl and put back in the fridge to solidify again. You will want it to become a soft solid, like room temperature butter.
- Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until smooth.
- Add powdered sugar, vanilla, orange zest and a pinch of salt. Beat just until combined and fluffy. Make sure not to over mix.
To toast coconut:
- Melt a teaspoon of butter in a large frying pan. Once melted add coconut and stir over low-medium heat until starting to turn light brown. Be careful not to burn. When finished toasting pour onto a piece of wax paper or paper towel to cool. Once cooled, mix ⅔ of the coconut into the frosting, leaving ⅓ for topping the cake.
To assemble cake:
- Place one of the cake layers, top side up, on a cake plate or serving stand. Spread a small amount of frosting over the first layer.
- Place the other cake layer, top side down.
- Frost the entire cake, top and sides, with a thin crumb coat layer of the cream cheese frosting. Place in the fridge or freezer for about 10-15 minutes to chill.
- Pull the chilled cake out, and frost the cake with the remaining frosting. Top the cake with extra toasted coconut.
Notes
I used dried orange slices that I got from trader joes to decorate mine.
Someone messaged and told me that they used leftover cranberry orange sauce from thanksgiving in between layers of my coconut cake and everyone loved it. That is what inspired this cake, and I think adding cranberry sauce to this to serve during the holidays is brilliant!
Cakes will have the best results if made with room temperature ingredients. I like to pull my eggs, cream cheese, and butter out of the fridge an hour or two before I start baking.
Make Ahead Instructions: The frosting can easily be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge in a sealed container. Remove frosting from the fridge an hour before you’re ready to frost the cake, to give it time to come to room temperature.
Freezing Instructions: After baking the cake layers, allow them to cool completely, then wrap them well in plastic wrap and stick each layer in a ziplock freezer bag. They can be frozen for a few months. I usually just pull them out of the freezer once I am starting to make my frosting, or an hour or two before I want to assemble.
I have given both cups and grams as measurements. Grams will be more precise, especially when measuring flour. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, no problem! Just lightly spoon flour into your measuring cup to insure its not packed in there. Light and fluffy is the key.
Nutrition
Serving: 1servingCalories: 440kcalCarbohydrates: 60gProtein: 4gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 14gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 74mgSodium: 389mgPotassium: 102mgFiber: 1gSugar: 47gVitamin A: 500IUVitamin C: 7mgCalcium: 90mgIron: 1mg
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