The Best Ever Coconut Bundt Cake

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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The Best Ever Coconut Bundt Cake

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

For the Cake

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

For the glaze

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

For the topping

• 2/3 cup shredded sweetened coconut, toasted, optional

Instructions

1. 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.
2. In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.

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