Flower Hill's Secret Coconut Cake Recipe (not so secret anymore!)

Chef Gordon makes all of the dishes for our guests from scratch everyday from local, fresh ingredients. And in Jamaica you can't get any more local in cuisine than using coconuts. Coconuts have become a well established part of Jamaican life, and are used in many traditional recipes.

Our guests have many beloved Jamaican recipes that contain coconut, but today, we are so excited because we are sharing our absolute favourite in-house Coconut Cake recipe with you! A previously secret recipe that we are sharing only with you!

This recipe is one of our guests’ favorites. It is requested again and again, showing how absolutely delicious it is.

Ingredients

• 1 and 3/4 cup sugar
  
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
  
• 4 eggs, separated
  
• 2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  
• 1 tsp baking powder
  
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 1 cup coconut milk
  
• 1 cup buttermilk
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  
• a pinch of salt
  
• 1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
  

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 2 cups cream cheese
  
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
  
• 2 cups powdered sugar
  
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 3 tsp Appleton rum
  
• a pinch of salt
  

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Cream butter and sugar, add 4 egg yolks, one at a time, then add coconut with vanilla extract. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Add it to the creamed mixture with buttermilk. In a bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until it forms a stiff peak then fold it into the wet mixture. Then fold in the sweetened coconut flakes.

Line 2 ten inch baking pans with parchment paper. Share the mixture in both pans evenly. Put to bake on the lowest rack in the oven for 20 minutes.

While the cake is baking using a mixer with a paddle, add cream cheese and butter and mix till smooth. Then add sifted powdered sugar, salt, vanilla and rum. When the cake is cooled, put it on the turntable and cover it with the cream cheese frosting, with a layer of cream cheese frosting in the middle of the cake.

Recipe serves 12 persons.