Coconut Layer Cake Filled with Lemon Curd

I’ve been loving layer cakes recently. In the past I always felt like I needed a special occasion to make a layer cake. But I got some 6″ cake pans for Christmas this year. When you make a 6″ cake, it serves 8, which is perfect for a dinner party.

I also have the opinion that when making a layer cake, you might as well go all out and make it into 4 layers. I mean, seriously, who wants just two layers of cake when you can have four! What that really means is that you’ll have more layers of the good stuff – the filling!

We had friends M&M over for dinner and I served this cake for dessert. We all enjoyed the lightness of the cake. It was the perfect ending to the meal and would be great for any of the upcoming Spring holidays.

I used my go-to white cake recipe except used coconut extract in the cake. Then I filled the cake with some lemon curd and added toasted coconut to the outside of the cake. I love adding some garnish to the sides of a cake. Then it doesn’t matter how good or bad you are at frosting the sides of a cake.

In case you were wondering, a 6″ cake uses a half batch necessary for a 9″ cake. I always use my cupcake scoop to portion out batter. Nine inch cakes are equivalent to 12 cupcakes per layer and six inch cakes are equivalent to 6 cupcakes per layer. Note the recipe below is for a full sized 9″ two-layer cake. Cut in half for a 6″ double-layer cake.

I filled the cake with this lemon curd and used this vanilla buttercream frosting recipe.

One Year Ago: White Cupcakes and Spring M&M Pretzel Treats
Two Years Ago: Sugar Cookie Bars, Goat Cheese and Sundried Tomato Appetizers, and Fauxstess Cupcakes
Three Years Ago: Summer Squash

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Coconut Cake

Yield: 8

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 cup + 2 tablespoons whole milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites (3/4 cup), at room temperature
2 tsp coconut extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp table salt
12 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened but still cool

Directions:

Set oven rack in middle position. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 9" cake pans with parchment and butter.

Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended.

Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining.

Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed (or high speed if using handheld mixer) for 1½ minutes. Add remaining ½ cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed and beat 20 seconds longer.

Divide batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes.

Cool completely prior to frosting.

Recipe adapted from The Way the Cookie Crumbles

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12 Responses to “Homemade “Instant” Pancake Mix and Blueberry Pancakes”

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    1
    Sara — April 2, 2010 at 4:20 pm

    These pancakes look perfect! I don’t make pancakes that often, but this mix would be an easy throw together to keep in the freezer. Yum!

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    2
    Amy Kingman — April 2, 2010 at 4:28 pm

    Great idea to freeze the mix. I have been making our pancake batter from scratch for a while now, and it’s nearly impossible to go back to the boxed stuff! They just taste flavorless and cardboard-y. I had been reluctant to make mix ahead of time because I didn’t want it to go bad. Thanks for the idea!

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    3
    Lauren — April 2, 2010 at 5:15 pm

    What a great idea to have a homemade pancake mix on hand!

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    4
    Nancy — April 2, 2010 at 5:22 pm

    A good substitute for buttermilk – since most of us don’t keep it on hand, but do have milk in the fridge:

    1 TBS white vinegar with enough milk added to make 1 cup. Allowed to sit for at least ten minutes, this mixture will clot up and mimic buttermilk sufficiently for most recipes.

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    5
    Memória — April 2, 2010 at 9:44 pm

    Those pancakes look amazing!! Oh my goodness.

    i think it is a great idea about freezing milk, too. I buy whole milk for baking only so I need to do that.

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    SimplySweeter — April 2, 2010 at 9:54 pm

    Wow. Those look so good I might have to whip some up…..like…NOW.

    http://www.simplysweeter.blogspot.com

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    7
    Jen — April 2, 2010 at 10:28 pm

    You can also use lemon juice instead of vinegar in the substitute for buttermilk provided by Nancy.

    One thing to note about this recipe though. Not only is the buttermilk needed for the chemical reaction, but it also provides a great flavor to the pancakes that I don’t think you get from using the substitute. Also, buttermilk will keep for a very long time in the fridge since it’s acidic.

    AB mentioned in his cookbook that there are only four thinks he will not make without buttermilk: cornbread, biscuits, waffles, and pancakes. I tend to agree with him.

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    8
    Kelly — April 3, 2010 at 1:24 am

    What a great idea to make your own pancake mix and then when you want quick pancakes, you can have a healthy mix 🙂

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    9
    Kerstin — April 3, 2010 at 3:33 am

    Mmm, these look way better than a mix! Great tip to store the mix in the freezer too!

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    Sugar Bananas — April 6, 2010 at 1:04 am

    Yum! I love blueberry ‘anything’. Alton Brown recipes are always winners. If you’re looking for an even healthier pancake recipe, check out my ‘fluffy whole wheat pancakes’ on my blog. I mix batches of the dry ingredients and keep them in the freezer. Thanks for posting – I’m off to buy some blueberries! Oh, and I’m a new follower 🙂

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    11
    Memória — April 9, 2010 at 8:20 am

    These pancakes look amazing!! Bookmarked!

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    Ashley — July 7, 2010 at 4:04 pm

    Hey Jen I am eating these pancakes at this very moment. They are so fluffy and filling! May I borrow this recipe for my blog and link it back to you??

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