Bake up the taste of summer with a cake from a city that knows a thing or two about heat. This Savannah Coconut Cake is a classic elevated southern trophy. Coconut is added in several parts of the baking to create a full and developed coconut flavor.

Slice of Savannah Coconut Cake on glass plate with fork

Over a hundred fifty years ago, as the evening settled into the city, the lanterns of the shrimp fishermen—going out in their boats and setting their traps—lit the water horizon with a soft yellow hue. In Savannah these bobbing lanterns were more of a vista than the actual night sky. It is the image, romantic, that makes you travel to the southern port city. You can still find some of that history, wedged between the brick buildings or sprawling in one of the many town squares. The weeping gone-with-the-wind Spanish moss is countered by the tropical palms. These semi-tropical features hint at the Caribbean waters, which lay south and beyond the Atlantic coastline. The days, laced with heat, break around the same time that those boats would’ve headed out to gather. Like ghostly apparitions on the memory, you think those same fishermen wade in the night, harvesting and re-trapping even beyond the grave. Take your time. Stay glued to the porch swing during the afternoon. Go to a tea parlor or dinner party. Receive calling cards. Keep only the one from a the horse breeder whose face wrinkles with a sun aged smile and smells of cedar wood. Eat dishes filled with she-crab and rice. But you will surly, and always, end the meals with something sweet.

Tall slice of Savannah Coconut Cake on white plate with spoon

Savannah Coconut Cake. It is the cake that needs no frivolous adornment, takes no embarrassment by its seemingly monotone appearance. The elegance of this Savannah Coconut Cake comes from an absence, not from hurried ad hoc adornment. Just as there are statement gowns, there is something evocative from a well edited, well tailored linen dress. Elegance comes in many forms.

Savannah Coconut Cake slice on glass plate with dessert fork

Baking Coconut flavor is incorporated into multiple steps of the baking process. Coconut oil is one of the fats used to moisten the cake. The slightest drop of coconut extract is used bolster the flavor of the coconut milk in the batter and frosting. Ala southern tradition this cake uses shortening in the batter to give it—in tandem with the floral coconut oil—a richness only found in classic southern cakes.

Savannah Coconut Cake

Ingredients

For the Coconut Cake:

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour (360g)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon fine salt
  • 1 cup unsweetened full-fat coconut milk
  • ½ cup sour cream, room temperature (120g)
  • 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon coconut extract
  • ½ teaspoon almond extract
  • 2 cups granulated sugar (400g)
  • ¾ cup vegetable shortening (145g)
  • ⅓ cup coconut oil, room temperature (100g)
  • 6 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 cup shredded coconut

For the Coconut Buttercream:

  • 1 pound unsalted butter, very soft (454g)
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, very soft (225g)
  • 2 pounds powdered sugar (907g)
  • 1/3 to ½ cup unsweetened full-fat coconut milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ¼ teaspoon coconut extract

Instructions

To make the Savannah Coconut Cake:

  1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray three 8-inch cake pans with baking spray.
  2. Mix dry ingredients: sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, then whisk together.
  3. Whisk milk, sour cream, vanilla, coconut extract, and other wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
  4. In a stand mixer, beat shortening and coconut oil until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
  5. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each, scrape bowl periodically.
  6. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with wet mixture in 2 parts, beginning and ending with dry.
  7. Fold in shredded coconut.
  8. Divide batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake for 30-38 minutes, rotating halfway. Cake is done when a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs.
  9. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then invert onto wire racks to cool completely.
  10. Wrap cakes in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to assemble.

To make the Coconut Buttercream:

  1. Beat butter and cream cheese until soft and lump-free, about 5 minutes.
  2. Gradually add powdered sugar, alternating with coconut milk to achieve desired consistency.
  3. Add vanilla, coconut extract, and salt. Mix until smooth.