Coconut Cake

This past week was week #3 of having a house of sickos.  It started with me, then my son, then my husband, and now me again.  AGAIN!  It's just lingering for all of us.  My son is almost better now though - finally after 2 weeks of being so sick, loosing 8 lbs and going to the doctors twice.  Now he's on medication for an ear infection and finally feeling much better.

My birthday was Friday, and since Monday is a holiday I decided to take my birthday off also so I could enjoy a nice long weekend.  Too bad both my husband and myself were too sick to do anything for Valentine's Day or on my birthday.  It was still nice though staying in and snuggling.  I did manage to muster up enough energy to make one of my favorite cakes for my birthday though - coconut cake. 

This cake is just so good.  It has the perfect amount of coconut, and it's not overly sweet.  It's delicious.  My sister called on my birthday and asked me what I was doing, so I told her I was making coconut cake.  Her response was "Ewww, yuck."  I guess not everyone likes coconut!  She got all the chocolate genes, which is fine by me!  I'd take coconut over chocolate any day.....although, a combination of the two does sound yummy! ☺

Coconut Cake

5 egg yolks, at room temp
5 egg whites, at room temp
2 cups sugar
3 sticks butter, unsalted & softened
3 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 ts salt
3 cups flour
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup shredded coconut, sweetened

Frosting:
12 oz cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter, unsalted
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar  

1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 350, and butter & flour 2, 9" cake pans and set aside.  In medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together and set aside.  In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy (about 6 minutes).  Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.  Mix the buttermilk and coconut milk together and add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk/coconut milk mixture, beating after each addition until smooth.  

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form.  Gently fold egg whites into batter until combined.  Add the 3/4 shredded coconut and gently stir to combine.  Pour batter into your cake pans, and bake for about 30 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.  Run a spatula between cakes and side of pan, and set aside to cool.  It doesn't have to cool completely before removing from the pan, but I'd wait at least a half hour.  After removing from pans, place on wire rack until cooled completely.

*Note*  Sometimes I will use 8" cake pans and make 6 cupcakes with the left over batter.  Just watch the cooking time because cupcakes only need about 15-20 minutes in the oven.  I will then freeze the cupcakes to enjoy at a later date ☺

Frosting:  Cream together the butter, cream cheese and the two extracts until combined well.  Add the powdered sugar and mix until nice and smooth.  Frost cake once it is completely cooled.