Recipe: Strawberry Coconut Cake

We all know the importance of adding fruit to our diets, so it’s with great excitement that we give you this delicious dessert. Fresh strawberries (yes, there’s your fruit for the day) are nestled between layers of moist, lemony (fruit!) vanilla cake, creamy vanilla frosting and all coated in shredded coconut (aha…another fruit!). Don’t thank us…we do what we can to help you maintain a balanced diet.

Ingredients

Vanilla Cake

2½ cups sifted cake flour
1 tbsp baking powder
¾ tsp kosher salt
1¾ cups sugar
¾ cups butter, room temperature
4 egg whites
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon zest
¾ cups buttermilk

Vanilla Icing

1 cup butter, room temperature
6 cups icing sugar
Pinch kosher salt
4 tbsp whole milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract

6 tbsp strawberry jam
2¼ cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
1½ cups shredded coconut, to garnish cake

Directions

1) For the cake, preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat two 8-inch round cake pans with non-stick cooking spray.

2) In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Using an electric mixer, cream sugar and butter on medium speed, until light and fluffy. Beat in egg whites a little at a time. Mix in vanilla extract and lemon zest. Alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk to the mixer, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix just until combined. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and bake 25-28 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool cakes completely before frosting.

3) For the frosting, in an electric mixer, beat butter, icing sugar, salt, milk and vanilla extract on low speed to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue to beat on medium speed, until it’s a smooth and creamy consistency.

4) To assemble the cake, slice each cake layer in half to make 4 layers. Place 1 layer on a serving plate and spread with 2 tablespoons of strawberry jam. Spread ½ cup frosting over the jam and arrange ¾ cup sliced strawberries in a single layer over frosting. Top with the second layer and repeat with the 2 tablespoons of jam, ½ cup of frosting and ¾ cup sliced strawberries. Top with the third cake layer and again repeat with the jam, frosting and sliced strawberries. Top with final cake layer and spread remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake. Coat the top and sides with the shredded coconut to garnish the cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serves 10-12