Looking for a beautiful cake to grace your holiday table? The coconut almond cake, or Snow Day Cake is a 6-inch layer cake that is perfectly tender and flavored with the delicious combination of cardamom and almond. The cake is finished with creamy vanilla frosting and sprinkles of shredded coconut.
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line the bottom of two 6-inch cake pans with parchment paper.
Cake
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the 1/2 cup butter, cane sugar, and almond extract. Mix on low until combine and no chunks of butter remain. Add the eggs, milk, and coconut milk, and mix on low until combined.
½ cup salted butter, softened, ¾ cup organic cane sugar, 1 teaspoon almond extract, 2 large eggs, room temperature, ¼ cup milk, any kind, ¼ cup unsweetened carton vanilla coconut milk
In a separate bowl, add the cake flour, baking powder, cardamom, and sea salt and whisk together. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour to the butter mixture and continue to mix on low until combined into a smooth batter, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
1 cup + 3 tablespoons cake flour, ¾ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon ground cardamom, ½ teaspoon salt
Divide the batter evenly into the prepared cake pans, about 11 ounces (318 grams) each. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before removing from the cake pans. (Cool the pans on a wire cooling rack).
Frosting
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the 3/4 cup butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix on low until combined and then speed up the mixer to high for 1 minute more, or until light and fluffy.
¾ cup salted butter, softened, 2 ⅓ cups powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Assembling the Cake
Place the first cake layer on a cake stand or spinner, place a generous amount of frosting on the cake layer. Top with the second cake layer and frost the outside of the cake with the remaining frosting.
Immediately, completely cover the frosting with the fine shredded coconut; do this right away before the frosting starts to dry so it will stick.
½ cup unsweetened fine shredded coconut
Store the cake in an airtight container or a cake dome for up to 3 days.
Notes
Recipe Notes From Mimi (the author):
Gluten Free - Replace the cake flour with 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon gluten-free flour blend.
Sea Level - Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.