These fluffy little cloud-like coconut cakes are decorated with Coconut Maple Italian Meringue Buttercream for the most adorable single-serving mini cakes ever.
If you're looking for a regular size coconut cake recipe, rather than mini cakes, check out this Coconut Cream Cake.
It's just a couple of weeks before Christmas and you can find me happily submerged in a winter wonderland of tiny white coconut cakes. And really... who doesn't want to spend some time in a winter wonderland filled with cake?
I am totally in love with these mini coconut cakes. They remind me of tiny wedding cakes. Also, the coconut cake and coconut maple buttercream are scrumptious. Like, lick-your-plate-clean-mand-ask-for-another kind of delicious.
But, friends, let me level with you.
If you love being creative in the kitchen.... if you enjoy the idea of devoting the better part of an afternoon to playing with frosting... if you take total delight in serving others the kind of food that will illicit tons of oooh's and ahhhhh's and mmmmmmmm's... then you should ABSOLUTELY make these.
If you're looking for more of a instant gratification kind of Christmas treat, these mini almond cakes or mini cranberry cakes are going to be more your style. Because, if you're in a hurry or don't enjoy playing with frosting, covering tiny little coconut cakes with buttercream can really test your patience.
BUT - if decorating cakes is something you love to do, these are a blast. Especially if you can settle in to your kitchen for a couple of hours, unhurried and with nothing to do except unleash your creativity on tiny cakes.
The coconut cake itself is baked as a large sheet cake, which can then be cut out into whatever sized mini cakes you like. I used three sizes from this Double Sided Cutter Set to cut out small cakes, smaller cakes, and teeny tiny cakes.
Some I left as one layer, and some I stacked. Then I decorated each of them slightly differently. This is the fun part. Pull out your decorating supplies and have a blast.
What you need to know about frosting and decorating tiny cakes
The smaller the cakes, the more challenging they are to cover in buttercream. The trick is to use a small offset spatula and start with a lot of buttercream. If you try to frost a small cake with a small amount of buttercream, the buttercream will pull at the crumbs of the cake and you'll end up with kind of a mess.
When you've got a lot of buttercream to work with, you can gently move the spatula back and forth, almost patting it around the cake. Once the cake is covered in buttercream, it's easier to use the spatula to go around the cake and remove the excess.
Also - if you are planning to cover the cakes with toasted coconut, don't worry to much about getting the buttercream perfectly smooth and even on the cakes. The coconut will cover it up.
Make a lot or a few mini coconut cakes.
This coconut cake recipe makes enough batter to fill a large 21 x 15-inch sheet pan. This will allow you to cut out quite a few little cakes, depending on what size cutter you use. If you don't need quite so many, the recipe should cut in half pretty easily. The only measurement that can't be split evenly in half is 9 egg whites. I suggest using 5.
A quick note about Italian Meringue Buttercream
If you've been on this site from time to time over the years, you've likely heard me talk about Italian Meringue Buttercream on more than one occasion. But, if you're new to the stuff - it rocks. I feel like I've advocated for this amazing buttercream often enough to not overdo it here, most recently in this post about mini chai latte cupcakes. But I will say this: Make it once and you'll be a lifelong fan.
This coconut maple version is soooooo yummy. Maple syrup is a surprisingly delicious compliment to coconut. It's a flavor combination I'll be returning to again for sure.
Used in this Recipe:
- Large 21 x 15-inch sheet pan
- Small offset spatula
- Cake Decorating Set
- Kitchen Aid 6-quart Mixer
- Sliver sprinkles
More Holiday Recipes:
- Mini Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes
- Individual Almond Cakes with Cranberry Sauce
- Mini Ginger Snaps with Sorghum and Brown Sugar
- Perfect Profiteroles
- Wine Poached Pear and Almond Tart
- Lemon Ricotta Olive Oil Loaves
- Mini Butterscotch Eclairs
- Eggnog Pots de Creme
- Cranberry Pineapple Upside Down Cakes
- Mini Cranberry Bundt Cakes with Lemon Glaze
This recipe uses a lot of egg whites. So what should you do with all those leftover yolks? Save them for...
If you give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, or take a picture and tag it #ofbatteranddough on Instagram.
📖 Recipe
Mini Coconut Cakes with Coconut Maple Italian Meringue Buttercream
These fluffy little cloud-like coconut cakes are decorated with Coconut Maple Italian Meringue Buttercream for the most adorable single-serving mini cakes.
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 ½ tablespoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon table salt (2 teaspoon kosher salt)
- 2 large eggs + 9 large egg whites, at room temperature (See note for what to do with the egg yolks.)
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoon coconut cream, at room temperature
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoon coconut milk, at room temperature
- 3 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoon coconut extract
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 9 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
- 9 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1-2 cups sweetened shredded coconut, for sprinkling over the cakes
- 1 recipe Italian Meringue Buttercream, follow the instructions for the Coconut Maple Version in the list of flavoring options right above the recipe.
- Sliver sprinkles (optional), for decorating
Instructions
- Grease a large 21x15 inch sheet cake pan with coconut oil. Line the bottom of the pan with a sheet of parchment paper and grease the parchment paper with coconut oil. Lightly flour the whole pan.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Add the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt to a bowl and stir with a wire whisk to combine.
- In a separate bowl, add the whole eggs, egg whites, coconut cream, coconut milk, vanilla and coconut extracts and whisk vigorously to combine.
- Add the sugar, butter, and oil to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on high for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the flour and egg mixtures in alternating additions, beating just long enough to combine each new addition: flour, eggs, flour, eggs, flour. After each addition, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Line your oven's baking rack with a couple of sheets of aluminum foil. This is just in case any of the batter drips from the pan while the cake is baking. Scrape the batter into your prepared cake pan and bake for 25-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out without any evidence of batter.
- Remove the pan to a wire rack and allow the cake to cool completely in the pan.
- While the cake cools, make the Coconut Maple Italian Meringue Buttercream
- Toast the coconut: Add the coconut to a dry skillet set over medium high heat. Cook the coconut, stirring constantly, until about ⅓-1/2 of the coconut is golden brown. Scrape the coconut onto a plate and allow to cool completely.
- Use round cutters to cut out small cakes in whatever size(s) you like.
- Frost and decorate each mini cake with buttercream, and sprinkle with toasted coconut and silver sprinkles if desired.
Notes
- Save the yolks for Eggnog Pots de Creme, Chai Pots de Creme, or Crustless Custard Tart
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