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    Home » Recipes » Dessert » Cakes

    The Best Ever Coconut Bundt Cake

    Published by Melissa on December 8, 2019 | Updated June 10, 2022 | 15 Comments

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    This Best Ever Coconut Bundt Cake is moist and tender and loaded with coconut flavor. It’s quick and easy to make and perfect for a weeknight. 

    Coconut Bundt Cake on a blue cake stand

    This from-scratch cake is a pound cake and a bundt cake. If you prefer, you can make it in two 6 cup loaf pans, but I love using my 6 cup bundt pans. 

    A 6 cup bundt pan is a half size bundt pan and this recipe will make two little bundt cakes. If you prefer, you could make it in a full size 12 cup bundt pan, but you’ll need to increase the cook time to 60-65 minutes.

    Cover of The Weeknight Dessert Cookbook by Mary Younkin

    The recipe is from a delicious new cookbook, The Weeknight Dessert Cookbook, written by Mary, Barefeet In The Kitchen. I like her description of the cookbook:

    There is something here for every craving, from cakes to crisps, cookies to cobblers, bars to ice cream, and beyond. With this cookbook, a made-from-scratch dessert is achievable even when you only have a few minutes to spare.

    Mary notes that she’s not an advocate for buying a slew of specialty ingredients, but the coconut extract is key to the lovely flavor in this cake. Coconut extract is usually easy to find at the grocery store in the spice aisle.

    Step by step photo collage of making the coconut pound cake batter.

    Baking a Coconut Bundt Cake

    The original recipe in the cookbook made one pound cake. I doubled the recipe so I could have two little bundt cakes. One to eat now and one to tuck away in the freezer for another day, or giveaway to a friend or neighbor.

    I also changed up the directions just a little bit to suit the way I like to bake. The batter is thick and creamy. I like to use a scoop to portion out an even amount of batter into two pans. Be sure to grease and flour our pans well, or use non-stick cooking spray with flour. 

    Collage of how to remove a bundt cake from bundt pan

    Bake the cake until it’s golden brown, starting to pull away from the sides of the pan, and a toothpick inserted should come out with just a few moist crumbs. You can also use an instant-read thermomter to see if the center is about 210°F. 

    Removing the Bundt Cake From The Pan

    I like to use a small icing spatula to loosen the cake from the edges and center of the bundt pan, but you can also use a small sharp knife. 

    collage showing Icing and decorating Coconut Bundt Cake

    If your cake does stick a little bit to the bundt pan, don’t fret. Turn the bundt pan upside down on the cooling tray for a few minutes and sometimes the steam from the cake will help loosen it from the pan.

    Also, the icing and toasted coconut can cover any little problems. If you look closely at the picture on the left above, you can see the cake stuck in a couple of places because I was in a hurry to get the cake out of the pan. But once the coconut is on top, no one will ever notice it. 

    You can fill a piping bag with icing to make a pretty design on the cake, but I’ll often use a gallon size Ziploc bag instead. I put the bag inside a small pitcher, so the bag is easy to fill with icing.

    Coconut Bundt Cake on a blue cake stand with plates and forks

    Toasting Coconut

    You don’t have to toast the coconut when you make this cake. The picture of the cake in the cookbook uses coconut that isn’t toasted and the recipe says toasting the coconut is optional.

    I love toasted coconut so I toasted the coconut in a 350°F oven on a baking sheet lined with a Silpat for about 5 minutes. But you can also toast coconut in a pan on the stove or even in the microwave. 

    The Weeknight Dessert Cookbook

    My family loved this Coconut Bundt Cake from The Weeknight Dessert Cookbook. There are so many fun, easy to make, weeknight desserts that I want to try.

    My daughter bookmarked about a dozen that she would like me to bake. Some of her favorites were the Coconut-Lime Oatmeal Cookies, Monster Cookie Bars and a Pineapple-Coconut Crisp that uses frozen pineapple so it would be super easy to make any time of year. I can’t wait to try them. 

    Coconut Bundt Cake on a blue cake stand
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate this Recipe
    4.43 from 104 votes

    The Best Ever Coconut Bundt Cake

    Prep Time10 mins
    Cook Time50 mins
    Total Time1 hr
    Author: Barbara Bakes LLC
    Prevent your screen from going to sleep

    Ingredients

    For the Cake

    • 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
    • 1 teaspoon baking powder
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • 1 cup butter softened
    • 2 ½ cups sugar
    • 4 eggs
    • 2 teaspoons coconut extract
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • ½ cup milk
    • 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

    For the glaze

    • 2 tablespoons butter melted
    • 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
    • 2 tablespoons milk
    • 1 teaspoon coconut extract

    For the topping

    • ⅔ cup shredded sweetened coconut toasted, optional

    Instructions

    • Preheat the oven to 325°F. Arrange an oven rack in the center of the oven. Thoroughly grease and lightly flour two 6-cup bundt pans.
    • In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
    • In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugars together, on medium speed, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla, and coconut extract beat until smooth. Add the milk, beat on low speed to combine. Add the flour mixture and beat just until combined. Stir in the coconut.
    • Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for 50-55 minutes, until golden on top and light brown on the edges. A toothpick inserted should come out with moist crumbs. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
    • After 15 minutes, place the cooling rack on top of the cake, hold the sides firmly and invert the pan over the rack. The cake should drop smoothly out of the pan. Tap firmly on the pan with a wooden spoon, if necessary to free the cake from the pan. Let the cake cool completely before glazing.
    • To make the glaze, melt the butter in a small glass bowl. Add the powdered sugar, milk, and coconut extract. Whisk together until smooth. The glaze should pour off the spoon in a white stream. Add a teaspoon more milk to thin it, or 1-2 tablespoons more powdered sugar to thicken it, if necessary.
    • Drizzle the glaze over the cake. Sprinkle generously with coconut. Store at room temperature, loosely covered, preferably not airtight. This cake will keep nicely and stay very moist for 3-4 days.

    Notes

    You can also bake this cake in a 12-cup bundt pan for 60 - 65 minutes.
    If you like this coconut cake, I’m sure you’ll love my Coconut Lime Cake, Key Lime Pound Cake, and my Lemon Bliss Bundt Cake too. 

    Pin It:

    Best Ever Coconut Bundt Cake Pinterest Image

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    about us

    About Melissa & Barbara

    As of June 2022 Melissa Griffiths now is the one adding recipes. So think of it as Barbara Bakes, and Melissa too! Melissa and Barbara have been blogging friends for over 10 years and when Barbara was ready to retire and spend more time with her family, Melissa took over the site. Read more...

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      Recipe Rating




    1. Tanya Edwards

      December 21, 2022 at 5:39 pm

      Unsalted butter

      Reply
    2. javia Bell

      December 15, 2022 at 8:06 am

      Salted or unsalted butter

      Reply
      • Tanya Edwards

        December 21, 2022 at 5:38 pm

        5 stars
        I used your recipe but tweet it to be my own! I always add sour cream to my cakes! Thanks for sharing!

        Reply
    3. Elise Manning

      November 21, 2022 at 10:17 am

      I love this cake, I’ve made it a few times! We are going to a dinner party and need to do gluten free. Would GF flour work with this?

      Reply
      • Melissa Griffiths

        November 21, 2022 at 1:56 pm

        It’ll lend to a more crumbly cake but you could definitely try it and see what you think. I’d try using a 1:1 gluten free baking flour if you do.

        Reply
    4. Jr

      January 17, 2022 at 6:40 pm

      Wow! What an amazing cake! Tasty, tasty flavor. Crispy outside, but dense, tender and moist on the inside. Bonus is that it’s very easy to make. Will add this one to the recipe rotation. Thank you for sharing. 

      Reply
      • Barbara Schieving

        January 17, 2022 at 11:09 pm

        Thanks for the rave review!

        Reply
    5. Robert J. Stone Jr.

      January 06, 2020 at 8:04 am

      What does the asterisk mean next to the suger??

      Reply
      • Barbara Schieving

        January 06, 2020 at 8:42 am

        Just a mistake. I’ve removed it – thanks. Enjoy!

        Reply
    6. Mary

      December 10, 2019 at 12:47 pm

      I love this cake so very much, Barbara! I am thrilled that you’re enjoying the new cookbook.

      Reply
      • Barbara Schieving

        December 10, 2019 at 3:05 pm

        It really is a great cookbook – thanks Mary!

        Reply
      • Javia Bell

        October 02, 2022 at 3:49 pm

        5 stars
        Cake is awesome

        Reply
    7. Kathy

      December 09, 2019 at 3:13 pm

      Are all your recipes high altitude?

      Reply
    8. Kathy

      December 09, 2019 at 3:12 pm

      This coconut cake. Is it high altitude?

      Reply
      • Barbara Schieving

        December 09, 2019 at 3:18 pm

        Hi Kathy – with dense cakes like this pound cake, I haven’t found it’s necessary to adjust for my altitude, which is now 5,000 ft. If I’ve adjusted a recipe for altitude, I always make a note of it on the recipe.

        Reply

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