This is a beautiful white coconut cake cake recipe from the Southern flour company, White Lily. They call their original version Coconut Celebration Cake. It’s a round three layer cake with a unique frosting made of sour cream, granulated sugar, coconut and whipped cream. Since it’s called Celebration Cake, I first made it to celebrate getting the brakes fixed on my car. There’s always an excuse to celebrate, right? But these minor celebrations don’t always call for a large cake, so I made mine smaller.
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An Easy Coconut Cake From White Lily Flour
One thing you should know is you don’t actually have to use White Lily. White Lily is a soft flour made with soft wheat. It used to be a little lighter cup per cup compared to regular all-purpose, but for some reason it seems a little heavier these days. The important thing is to use 170 grams of whatever flour you are using. If using White Lily that’s probably 1 ½ cups. If using another brand such as King Arthur, it will be more like 1 ⅓ cups. The cake is definitely softer with the White Lily, though. Another option would be to use 170 grams of cake flour, but I haven't tested that.
6-Inch Cake Pan Version
I used to make the Coconut Celebration Cake with two 8-inch pans for two thin layers. I’ve since tested with two 6x2 inch size cake pans. The 6x2 inch size cake pans are so much easier to find now, so I recommend using 6-inch if you have them. The cakes will be thicker, and you can then split each 6x2 each layer to make a 4 layer cake! Six inch cake pans look small, but this cake actually came out pretty tall and stately.
Fluffy Sour Cream Frosting
The frosting is a good one.The original White Lily version is slightly sweeter than the one in the card because I used more whip cream. This makes just enough to fill the one layer and cover the entire cake with frosting. Also, don't be discouraged if it seems a little runny at first. Be sure to whip the cream really well and add the coconut and it should be thick enough to spread. Just don't attempt to use light sour cream or it won't be.
9-Inch Cake Pan Version
For the full version 9-inch 3 layer version of the recipe, check the White Lily website. Links get moved around. Right now it's here, but they may move it again in which case you can just use their recipe index. The recipe in the card is my 8-inch.
Recipe
White Lily Celebration Coconut Cake -- Small
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 ½ cups White Lily Flour (weigh or sift before measuring) (6 oz weight or 170 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon plus a pinch salt omit if using salted butter
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened (114 grams)
- 1 cup sugar (200 grams)
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ½ cup whole milk room temperature
- ½ to 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Filling/Frosting
- ¾ cup sugar (150 grams)
- ½ cup sour cream, regular thick (don't use light) (120 grams)
- 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut loosely packed
- ¾ cup heavy cream, measure then whip
- More about ½ cup sweetened flaked coconut for garnish.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease and flour 2 8-inch round cake pans.
- Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
- Beat the softened butter with an electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar, and continue mixing until very light. Add eggs, one at a time, beating one minute after each addition.
- Stir ⅓ of flour mixture into egg mixture until blended. Stir in ¼ cup of milk until blended and repeat, ending with the remaining flour. Stir in vanilla extract.
- Divide batter evenly between pans. Bake 20 to 25 minutes (mine took the full 25), or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes before removing from pans. Let cool for 10 minutes, then turn from pans and let cool completely.
- Filling: Stir sugar, sour cream and 1 cup of coconut together. Spread some of this mixture on the cake, leaving behind about a cup – I just eyeballed it.
- Frosting: Fold the reserved cup (or so) of sour cream mixture into the whipped cream. Spread all over the cake and put it in the refrigerator.
- Lay the remaining coconut on a foil lined baking sheet and bake at 350 for about 6 minutes or until edges are browned. Toss it all together so that the coconut is tan and white. Let it cool, then slap it all over the cake.
- Chill the cake for at least one hour or until ready to use.
Anna says
Hi Marcia,
Did you try just adding more stiff whipped cream to make it thick enough to slap onto the sides? The frosting IS a little runny, but it should have been thick enough to stick to the sides and coat the cake. Whenever I run into issues like this, I just fold in a little more whipping cream and (if needed) add a bit of confectioners' sugar.
Also, I usually use heavy whipping cream, too. Heavy whipping cream, as opposed to heavy cream, has a stabilizer added which helps it stay whipped longer. Your heavy whipping cream probably wasn't the problem unless you just didn't whip it quite stiff enough.
Did you happen to whip the cream before measuring and use 3/4 cup whipped cream? Because the way it is written indicates that you are supposed to measure out 3/4 cup heavy cream and then whip it. You start with the 3/4 cup cream and then whip it so you end up with over 1 1/2 cups whipped cream. If you used all that cream and it was STILL too runny to put over the sides, then that means your whipped cream wasn't stiff enough OR your original mixture of sugar, sour cream and coconut was too runny to begin with. Did you happen to use light sour cream? Using light sour cream could have caused the problem.
Marcia says
I made this cake last night and the frosting was very runny. I realized today that I used heavy whipping cream cream not heavy cream, whipped. Did I do something wrong?
Anna says
Granulated
marcia says
did u use granulated sugar or confectioner's sugar for the frosting?
Anna says
Hi Eve, I'm not obsessed with it -- a little fixated. But to answer your question, it's made with a softer wheat and has less protein than other flour so the result is a tender, flakier, product. Sometimes cookies are too tender when made with White Lily (in my opinion), but it's great in things like cake, biscuits and breads. I made a pound cake this afternoon with White Lily and it was definitely the best pound cake I've ever made. Cake flour is good too, though. You can get by without White Lily, but it's kind of fun to experiment and see who it (and other flours) work in various items.
Eve says
I have to ask what your obsession with White Lily is? Im just wondering! I didn't know anyone "actually" used White Lily anything! LOL! Is it better than Gold Medal or Pillsbury? I have used store brand flours and they have always been a disappointment. I really am not trying to sound rude! I'm just asking.....
Jennie says
Anna, This sounds WONDERFUL!! I will be trying it soon!
KAnn says
That cake looks simply stunning! Unfortunately, I would be able to eat most of the cake in one sitting!
Martha in KS says
I finally got my oil changed & celebrated with a bag of candy orange slices from Walgreens. It's the simple things in life. "-)
Anna says
Cynna, it's made with a softer wheat so the cakes will be softer.
d says
This is making my mouth water!!
Cynna says
This sounds delicious! What makes White Lily flour different in cakes?
Thanks!
Jan Harris says
I looked at their website, I'm going to check out their cookie recipes. I loooovvvveeee coconut, this looks so yummy.
Holiday Baker Man says
No such thing as rogue when it comes to frosting!