Coconut Almond Cake with Blackberry Lime Curd
It is embarassing how long I’ve had this post started as a draft. To give you a hint, it was before I even started blogging for Yankee Magazine. You see, my good friend Aimee had started working at Yankee as an assistant editor. She sent me one of their latest recipe book-a-zines to take a look at. As usual, I was instantly drawn in by the layer cake in the issue.
This specific cake was served at cookbook author Amy Traverso’s wedding. In my mind a wedding cake is such a special treat. If this was served at Amy’s wedding, it had to be amazing.
Now I’m not going to lie, this cake was somewhat finicky to deal with. More so than the average layer cake. I blame myself for the majority of the issues I had with the cake though. For starters, I didn’t give myself enough time. When I make layer cakes, I try to bake the layers in advance so they’re nice and cool when I need to assemble the cake. Somehow, time got away from me that weekend, and I was rushing.
Second, the blackberry lime curd filling was a bit runny. Again, had I been planning better, I would have made it a day or two in advance so it would have had plenty of time to completely cool and set up. But I didn’t. Shame on me.
The other mistake I made was not using a frosting dam to hold the filling in. I usually pipe a thick line of frosting around the edge of the cake layer (like this) prior to spreading the filling. This will help prevent the filling from spreading out of the layers as you stack them. I was seriously off my game that day.
Because of these mistakes, as I started frosting the cake, even after applying a crumb coat, some of the dark pink filling started coming through the frosting. I proceeded to just keep slapping on more frosting, which I then covered with shredded coconut to hide any blemishes.
Now I have to admit, I’m being hard on myself. If you ask anyone who ate this cake, they never would have guessed that I had so many issues with it. The cake is very moist with a great texture from the ground up almonds and shredded coconut. And that filling? Out of control. The frosting and coconut on the outside of the cake tie everything together. It’s no wonder Amy Traverso served this cake at her wedding. If I were getting married again, I might do the same.
The next time you have a special occasion, whether it’s a wedding, Mother’s Day, Easter, or any other get together, make this cake. Your friends and family will thank you. But be sure to learn from my mistakes. Plan ahead and keep your head on straight. Following simple cake baking best practices will result in a less frustrating experience then I had with this cake…
One Year Ago: Pepperoni Pizza Puffs and Dulce De Leche Brownies
Two Years Ago: Roasted Broccoli and French Macarons – Chocolate with Espresso Buttercream
Three Years Ago: Rocky Ledge Bars and White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Bars
Four Years Ago: Crockpot Pulled Pork
Five Years Ago: Lemon Curd Cookies
Coconut Almond Cake with Blackberry Lime Curd
Yield: Serves 12-16
Ingredients:
For the Cake
1 1/2 cups slivered almonds
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for pans
3 cups flour, plus extra for pans
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 cups sugar
8 eggs, separated
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 cups sweetened coconut flakes
For the Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup vegetable shortening
5 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted to remove lumps
1/2 cup milk or light cream
2 tsp vanilla
Grated zest of 1 lemon
For Cake Assembly
Blackberry Lime Curd
2 cups shredded sweetened coconut flakes
Fresh blackberries
Directions:
For the Cake
In a food processor, chop almonds to the texture of coarse meal. Set aside.
Lightly grease and flour three 9-inch cake pans; set aside. Adjust oven rack to the center and preheat to 350°.
Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
With an electric mixer on medium speed, cream butter and sugar, scraping bowl and beaters occasionally, until there are no lumps and mixture is light and fluffy, 4-6 minutes.
Add egg yolks, two at a time, mixing well after each addition; blend in vanilla extract.
Add flour mixture 1 cup at a time, alternating with buttermilk.
Scrape the bowl; then blend in coconut and almonds.
In a clean bowl, whip egg whites to soft peaks; fold egg whites into batter in three stages.
Divide batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Remove cakes from oven and cool in pans 5 minutes. Flip cakes out onto a baking sheet lined with waxed paper and
cool completely. If making ahead, wrap each cake individually and refrigerate.
For the Frosting
In a bowl, cream together butter and shortening until light and fluffy. Scrape bowl and beaters.
Add confectioners' sugar in three stages; blend well and scrape bowl between additions.
Add milk or cream, vanilla extract, and lemon zest; blend well.
For Cake Assembly
To assemble cake, choose your prettiest layer for the top. Spread the tops of the other two layers with equal amounts of Blackberry Lime Curd; then stack the cake.
Frost generously all over with frosting; then sprinkle all over with coconut flakes and top with blackberries.
Recipe adapted from Yankee Magazine
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I’m like you and totally try out recipes based on photos! I think goat cheese and fruit are always a perfect combo. The goat cheesecake sounds intriguing!
Looks and sounds amazing! I’m totally with you about photos of food – they are typically what tempt me to make a recipe.
This cake looks DELICIOUS!
I’d never heard of using goat cheese in a cheesecake, but I’m intrigued.
I, too, much prefer pictures. Sometimes you just don’t put the ingredients together in your head the right way and it comes out looking totally different than you expected. I also flip through the book faster and I tend to not find recipes unless there are pics!
i think trying something new without any idea what it should look like it rough. i love pictures but most cookbooks dont seem to have enough. i think thats why i love this blog so much, you take TONS! 🙂
i am very intrigued by this recipe. but i dont eat blueberries or peaches. is it good by itself? or is the fruit greatly needed??
Beeb – It’s similar to any other cheesecake. It was good on it’s own, but the fruit really enhanced the flavor. Are there other fruits you like that you could top it with? Strawberries and blueberries would be great!
Oh yum! I totally want to try this. I love goat cheese (and fruit) and bet this would make an amazing cake!
I like photos too, but sometimes I get a little too into them. Like the other night when I forgot to add raisins to my cinnamon raisin bread because they weren’t in the photo 🙂
Sues
I definitely prefer recipes with pictures but if a description is really good (or intriguing) or if an author points it out as a favorite… or lastly if it’s a source I trust, I go for it. With that said, I’m glad you made it and posted pictures. This cake looks (and sounds) absolutely fantastic!!!
This looks really good. I agree that sometimes I eat with my eyes. I love photos, but not the ones that look almost fake since they are so perfect. That’s why I love food blogs – usually it is just the food as it will be served.
I cook from a lot of different sources, and will try recipes that are appealing without any pics either. Sometimes it is more difficult when I am completely unfamiliar with the dish, though.
Photos! I love yours…the “cake” looks so pretty with it’s white lip and fruit piled high.
~ingrid
Sounds wonderful. I can see how it would be more of a “cheesecake” than a “cheese cake” because there’s such a small amount of flour. As we move into fall, I bet it would be delicious with a topping of figs sauteed with honey… mmm… honey figs and goat cheese!
LOVE goat cheese cheesecake 🙂 peaches and blueberries seem like another good topper (i recently made one with figs and raspberries!)
i really have to bake that cake for my boyfriend who has a milk intolerance. thank you for posting this many recipes with goat cheese 🙂
best wishes, jay, my blog: artandloveandme.blogspot.com