Coconut Cream Gooey Butter Cake
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
This is a coconut lover's dream: a super easy gooey butter cake with a ton of fluffy coconut cream in the middle! If you don’t have a skillet, I believe you can bake this in a greased 9-inch square baking dish (I’d use a glass one if you have it, and check it early and often. Remove when there’s some jiggle left.) Let us know how it goes if you try it this way for all the other skilletless people!
Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
Crust Ingredients:
  • 1 cup cake flour
  • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup butter, cold
  • pinch of salt
Filling Ingredients:
  • 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup evaporated milk
  • 1/4 cup light corn syrup
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon coconut extract
  • powdered sugar for dusting
Coconut Cream Ingredients:
  • 1/2 of a 14-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk (about 3/4 cup)
  • 6 tablespoons sugar
  • pinch kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 1 tablespoon corn starch
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
  • 1/4 cup whipping cream
  • coconut for topping
Instructions
  1. Make the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together cake flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or two knives until the mixture resembles fine crumbs and starts to cling together. (Alternatively, you can pulse the mixture in the food processor 6 times or so — this is how I usually cut fat into a flour mixture.) Press the mixture into the bottom (this step is a lot harder than it sounds, but be patient and use the back of a spoon to help spread/press the mixture down. I also stuck mine in the fridge for a bit to make the butter less sticky) and up the sides of a 10-inch cast iron skillet.
  2. Make the filling and bake: Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy and pale yellow (about 2-3 minutes). Mix in the egg until just combined. Alternate adding the flour and evaporated milk, mixing after each addition. Mix in the corn syrup, vanilla extract, and coconut extract. Pour the filling into the crust and sprinkle the top with icing sugar. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until cake is nearly set (mine was probably ready around 30). Some jiggle is fine — do not overcook! It’ll finish setting up as it cools. Sprinkle some more powdered sugar on top. Let the cake cool in the skillet for 2 hours.
  3. Make coconut cream: While the cake bakes and cools, make the coconut cream. Heat the coconut milk, sugar, salt and vanilla in a medium saucepan over medium heat. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and corn starch. Add 1/4 cup of the hot cream slowly to the yolks, whisking as you add. Then pour the yolk mixture into the pot of hot cream and whisk. Continue to whisk with heat on medium-high for 3 more minutes. The mixture will turn thick and bubble. You need to continue to whisk for the full 3 minutes or the pastry cream will separate once it is cool. After the 3 minutes, whisk in the butter. Add the coconut flakes. Pour into a shallow dish to cool.
  4. Cover with plastic wrap pressed right against the pastry cream. This will prevent a thick skin from forming on the surface. Refrigerate for at least an hour or freeze for 30 minutes. Once it is cold, stir the pastry cream to loosen. Whip the 1/4 cup cream to medium peaks. Stir in a third of the whipped cream to the pastry cream to lighten. Fold in the remaining cream until the pastry cream is nice and light. Chill until ready to use.
  5. Assemble the cake: Pile coconut cream into the center of your cake, top with extra shredded coconut, and serve.
Recipe by Willow Bird Baking at http://willowbirdbaking.com/2015/03/30/coconut-cream-gooey-butter-cake/