Coconut Poke Cake

I just love the name of this cake. And the taste. And the way it made my house smell when I baked it. And how incredibly easy it was to make.

At the beginning of the January I had asked my Facebook readers if they had a good recipe for a coconut cake. It was my son’s 14th birthday and he requested a coconut cake. Around here friends and family can have their pick of birthday cakes. I am not really that much of a baker, but I have been able to do some pretty fantastic cakes making up my own recipes.

One of my readers from the good ole’ state of Indiana, Brooke H., sent me this recipe. Though I ended up making another cake from scratch for the birthday party, I made this cake the following week and we all loved it! Thank you so much Brooke for sharing this with me, it will be going into the cake rotation around here, for sure! I only changed the recipe from what she sent slightly, and that was by adding vanilla and coconut extract to the liquid portion of the cake, and I added toasted coconut to the top.

I am not much for buying and eating much that comes out of a box when it comes to desserts, however, this was so easy and so good, that I just had to make an exception! You could easily make your own white cake and substitute for the box mix. I just loved how easy and quickly this came together and thought it would be a perfect accompaniment to any dinner party. You could use your effort for the meal and just make everyone think you slaved over the dessert!

I used whipping cream to top this one, but you could really use any of your favorite icing recipes. I liked the lightness of the whipped cream topping, it really complimented the light and airy feel of the cake. I think a nice cream cheese frosting would go well too, so I may try that on the next one.

Coconut Poke Cake – Brooke H.

1 package of white cake mix (or you can use your favorite recipe)
1 can of cream of coconut
1 can of sweetened condensed milk

I added these three ingredients when I made it.

1 tsp of coconut extract
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup shredded coconut, toasted (I forgot to get a picture of this ahead of time)

Bake your cake according to the package directions. For this I used a 13×9 glass pan.

While your cake is baking, mix everything but the toasted coconut, with a whisk, in a medium size bowl. Make sure to whisk it until everything is well blended and smooth.

Then put your coconut on a single layer on a sheet pan. I used my Pampered Chef Small Bar Pan in my toaster oven to do this. We use our toaster oven every day and this stoneware piece is the perfect size for it.

You set the temperature on about 400 degrees and bake it for just a few minutes. You will want to stand right there and watch it, because it can burn very quickly. You just want it to look like this.