I got my Food and Wine February ’09 issue awhile ago and saw this yummy cake in the back. It was the Six-Layer Coconut Cake with Passion Fruit filling. Oh my gosh, it looked so good that I just had to make it. I need a reason to make it and since our Chinese New Year dinner was coming up, I figured I’d try it out. You really have to make this cake because it is so good! Everyone just loved it! The cake had a subtle coconut flavor and the filling was yummy! I couldn’t find passion fruit nectar so I just went with mango. The combination was awesome. The cake is more dense then other cakes that I’ve made. Since it was a six layer cake, I think the consistency of the cake was perfect or else it wouldn’t have held up. The frosting was light and just right for the cake, not too sweet. I couldn’t find coconut flakes so I just used shredded coconut. Mmmm…this cake was delicious, I will make this again for sure!
Six-Layer Coconut Cake with Mango Filling adapted from Food and Wine
Ingredients
CAKE
- 4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cups unsweetened coconut milk
- 3/4 cup water
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 6 egg whites
FILLING
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 cup passion fruit nectar or puree (Used Mango nectar)
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 vanilla bean—split, seeds scraped (Didn’t have any so omitted)
- 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
TOPPING
- 2 cups large, unsweetened dried coconut flakes (Used sweetened shredded coconut)
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
Directions
- Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°. Line the bottom of three 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt at low speed. Mix in the butter, coconut milk, water and vanilla until combined. Scrape down the bowl and beat at high speed until very smooth, 2 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, 2 minutes. Fold half of the egg whites into the batter until incorporated, then fold in the remaining whites until no streaks remain. Divide the batter among the cake pans. Bake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Cool the cakes in the pans on a rack for 15 minutes, then invert them and let cool completely, about 2 hours.
- Meanwhile, make the filling: In a saucepan, whisk the sugar and cornstarch. Whisk in the passion fruit nectar, egg yolks and vanilla seeds and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until thick, 6 minutes. Remove from the heat; whisk in the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, until incorporated. Scrape the filling into a glass bowl, press a sheet of plastic wrap on the surface and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.
- Using a serrated knife, cut each cake in half horizontally to create 6 layers. Set one layer on a cake plate. Spread with 6 tablespoons of the filling. Repeat with the remaining 5 cake layers and filling, ending with a layer of cake. Refrigerate until firm, 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, make the topping: Spread the coconut on a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 5 minutes, stirring once, until lightly toasted. Let cool. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the cream with the sugar until medium-firm peaks form.
- Frost the top and side of the cake with the whipped cream and coat with the coconut. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

A slice of heaven...
Great job layering – it looks so refreshing!
Oh my gosh, it’s beautiful! Sounds like it would be really tasty too.
WOW!!! That is amazing! You did an excellent job, it looks perfect!
Loooks amazing .. soo delicious … Love the photos… Laila . http://limeandlemon.wordpress.com
Wow, this is absoltely gogeous. The filling sounds delectable. You sure do make beautiful cakes!!
Beautiful!
What a cake! It looks amazing.
Your talents in the kitchen are extraordinary! This cake looks absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for sharing!
The layers of your cake look just perfect, and I love this flavor combination.
Gorgeous cake! It almost looks to pretty to eat.
That looks awesome! I love tropical flavors. I’ll have to try it out!
Beautiful job – beautifully even layers, and it looks delicious!
Wow, you did a beautiful job! Just perfect & sounds as if the taste did it justice!
~ingrid
That cake is enormous! It looks awesome!
wow. it is beautiful! I have about two tons of lemon curd sitting in my fridge with nothing to do. I think this may be what it’s going towards!!
I had to make that cake when I saw it, too. You’re so right about how delicious it was. Couldn’t find passion fruit, either so used mango. Pure heaven. Your layers turned out SO much better than mine. Nice work!
Hi Kaityln i tried your cake but it turned out very hard , is it because i added less baking powder, actually i halved all your ingredients to make a small cake and with the baking powder i added only 1/2 tsp, is that a problem?
Hi Rekha!
I’m sorry your cake turned out hard. Did you overbeat the egg whites? That can sometimes cause it to become hard when you bake it. If you cut the recipe in half, you really should use 2 1/4 tsp of baking powder, that gives it the rise that it needs. Hopefully that was the case here and remember to not overbake the cake either. Hope that helps!
Oooh I wouldn’t mind a very large slice of that :-). Thanks for a brilliant blog.
great recipe but my filling was way too runny and made the slices slide around…any suggestions? thanks
Did you make sure you chilled it long enough for the filling to set? Also, when you cook it, make sure that it actually thickens before you take if off the stove, that could be why your filling was a bit runny. It should be almost pudding like when you take it off the stove.
well done it really is amazing awsome
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Thanks for sharing this recipe! I found that my filling tasted more of vanilla than of mango (could be that my mango nectar (35% mango) wasn’t high enough concentration) so I pureed a can of mangos (not the liquid) I had in the cupboard and that made it PERFECTLY mango-rific!