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Coconut Sheet Cake with the sweetest whipped white chocolate frosting. Light and fluffy, lemony vanilla cake made with a mix of almond flour, vanilla, lemon, and creamy coconut milk. Then all mixed with sweet flakes of shredded coconut. Once baked, generously frost this simple sheet cake with everyone’s favorite frosting. A whipped vanilla made with melted white chocolate to make it even more special (and delicious). Then simply decorate with additional coconut, and if you can, add edible flowers to create the perfect cake for spring and summer!
How about one last Easter recipe for you all? I know we’re down to the wire, but I had to share my recipe for coconut cake with you all ahead of this weekend! The second I decided I wanted to create a coconut sheet cake, I knew exactly how I wanted it to be.
The cake itself needed to be sweet, light, and moist—so moist. I’ve found many vanilla-based cakes to be on the drier side, which is no good.
The cake itself had to be the main focus. It had to have a subtle sweet coconut flavor—not too overpowering, but just right! Then there’s the frosting—something that would complement the delicate flavors of the cake—and something whipped!
In my head it all sounded so yummy!
This cake was inspired, oddly, by the bunny cake my Nonnie used to make over Easter. Her cake was a boxed vanilla cake baked in a bunny cake mold. She frosted it with the classic Betty Crocker vanilla frosting and then piled on sweetened, shredded coconut. Then she gave the bunny some eyes and called it a day.
I am sure many of you are familiar with “The Bunny Cake.” My Nonnie did it well, and we all loved it every year she made it.
I remember loving the mass amount of shredded coconut on top. Her cake reminded me that I’ve never shared a simple coconut-focused sheet cake!
Here Are All The Details
Step 1: the cake batter
To make this cake, you’ll need coconut oil, plain Greek yogurt, eggs, honey, brown sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, and canned coconut milk.
For the dry ingredients, I used a mix of all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and shredded coconut. You first mix the wet ingredients, then stir in the dry.
Some Cake Batter Notes:
Almond flour is used for added moisture and flavor. If you do not regularly use this ingredient, you can use the same amount of all-purpose flour.
Now the coconut. I prefer to use shredded, unsweetened coconut. This is more a personal preference than anything else. If you already know you like your treats on the sweeter side, I recommend using sweetened coconut.
Step 2: bake
Now, pour the batter into a rectangular baking dish and place it in the oven. You’ll smell the coconut and lemon as the cake bakes; it’s wonderful. It will take about 30 minutes.
Step 3: make the frosting
When the cake comes out of the oven, start making the frosting. You’ll need butter, sugar, lots of vanilla, melted white chocolate, and additional coconut milk. Beat that all together and you’ll have one of my favorite cake frostings.
No one ever knows there’s white chocolate in the frosting. But it’s what makes this buttercream extra special and leaves everyone wanting more.
Step 4: frost and decorate
What I love so much about sheet cakes is just how easy they are to frost and decorate. I slathered the frosting all over the cooled coconut cake. Then I piled on yummy shredded coconut.
The beauty of a sheet cake is that you don’t have to cut or layer anything. Just bake, frost, and enjoy!
Add a few edible flowers to make this so cute for spring, summer, Easter, and Mother’s Day!
Looking for other sweet cake recipes? Here are some favorites:
Swirled Blueberry Lemon Thyme Cake
Retro-Style Chocolate Sheet Cake
Swirled Blackberry Lavender Sheet Cake
Lastly, if you make this Coconut Sheet Cake, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And, of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Coconut Sheet Cake
Servings: 18
Calories Per Serving: 437 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup canned coconut milk
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour (or additional flour)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup shredded unsweetened or sweetened coconut
White Chocolate Frosting
- 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) salted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 3.5 ounces white chocolate, melted and cooled
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups shredded unsweetened or sweetened coconut
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a 9×13 inch baking dish with parchment paper.2. In a large bowl, beat together the coconut oil, yogurt, eggs, honey, brown sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla. Add the flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined, then slowly beat in the coconut milk until fully combined. Stir in the shredded coconut. 3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 30-35 minutes, until the top is just set and no longer wiggly in the center. Remove and let cool.4. To make the frosting. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add the melted white chocolate and vanilla. Beat until combined.5. Frost the cake all over. Top with shredded coconut. Slice, eat and enjoy!
Hi
I loved the sound of this recipe unfortunately I could just not get it to set/cook through
I tried the recipe twice (based in UK so did convert everything to grams/ we also use fan ovens and centigrade rather than Fahrenheit so I can only think that these caused some issues )
But it was really very underbaked and formed a crust and golden brown top but when I cut in to it it was raw cake mixture
I left to bake for longer on a low temp but just wouldn’t set
Have you had anyone else have problems? Do you recommend cutting out any of the coconut oil/milk/greek yoghurt? As I was wondering if that is contributing to the wetness of the cake not cooking
Any tips welcome! Thank you
Hi Ellie,
Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback, sorry to hear you had some issues with it. What temp did you bake at? I wouldn’t change anything in the recipe except baking it longer, I also wouldn’t lower the heat. I hope this helps! xx
Hi Tieghan,
I want to make this cake for my mom’s birthday, was wondering if you think the cake structure would be ok to make it a layered cake instead of a sheet cake?
Thanks!!
Hey Amina,
So sorry, I think the frosting on this cake is too soft to build as a layer cake. You might like one of these recipes:
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/coconut-carrot-cake/
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/coconut-pecan-caramel-butter-cake/
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/coconut-banana-cake-with-chocolate-frosting/
I hope this helps! xT
I love this cake so much. Perfect for Mother’s Day. Thanks! 🙂
Hey Ashvini,
Amazing!! So glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, I appreciate you making it! Happy Monday! xT
I made this cake (along with my toddler son who loves to bake!) for Easter and it was simple to make but INCREDIBLY delicious. I followed the recipe exactly and it was SO moist, with a strong coconut flavor, and the light lemon zest flavor came through just perfectly. We used unsweetened shredded coconut, as suggested, which helped it not be overly sweet.
Everyone loved it and I’m already making it again for another family gathering just a few weeks later. Thank you!
Hey Taylor,
Fantastic!! Thanks so much for making this recipe and your comment, so glad it was a winner:)
I made this yesterday. It was delicious but we found the cake to be too dense. I did not have almond flour so I used all purpose flour for it. Is that why??
Hi Laura,
Thanks so much for making this cake and sharing your feedback, I’m so glad it was enjoyed! The almond flour definitely provides a lighter texture here, let me know if you give that a try next time! xx
Hi! My dad loves coconut everything and I’d love to make this for his birthday. However, he doesn’t love white chocolate. Would it be possible to just swap the white chocolate for dark chocolate in the frosting or would I need to switch any other frosting ingredient? Sorry if this seems like a silly question! Thank you!
Hey Kristen,
Sure, you might also like this frosting as well, I think it would be yummy on this cake:
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/one-bowl-chocolate-sheet-cake-with-milk-chocolate-fudge-frosting/
I hope this helps! Happy Birthday to your dad! xT
I eat GF and adapt most HBH recipes, but rarely do the baking ones. For this one I did. I substituted gluten free all purpose for the flour, kept the almond flour and it turned out good. It was slightly dry, so maybe balancing with a bit more moisture if going GF. A 13 x 9 pan was a lot of cake though! I should have scaled down the recipe for my household.
Hi Elisabeth,
Thanks so much for trying this cake and sharing your notes, so glad to hear it was enjoyed! xT
I also live at high altitude. Do you make any adjustments to the recipe?
Hey Shelly,
No need to make any adjustments:) I hope you love this recipe, let me know if you give it a try! xT
Looks so yummy and I love your recipes! I want to make it for my son.
Can I make it with all almond flour or almond flour and coconut flour? My son can not have starch so no gluten free flours or rice flour work for him either.
Hi Shawn,
Thanks so much! I would try a combo of almond flour and gluten free flour, I think that would work best for you! I hope you love this recipe! xT
I made this for Easter and it was so good! And so beautifully white! I used Greek yogurt, a little more lemon zest, 2 tsp vanilla vs 1, and all of a 4 oz. Ghirardelli white chocolate bar to melt. Also, I found that 1.5 c of coconut flakes for the topping was too much for me so I reduced it to 1/2 cup which I felt was perfect. It baked beautifully. Next time I will take it out and off the parchment paper and onto/into something else maybe? It was easier to leave it be. I baked it Saturday and iced it Sunday. I was so impressed with how perfect the icing recipe was! Everyone loved it as did I! Thanks so much. I will make this again! Afterwards I thought maybe I could’ve made the flakes green and then placed some jelly beans on top! Would probably be fun for the littles, but we were all grown-ups!
Hey Karen,
Happy Sunday!! Thanks a lot for giving this recipe a try, I’m so glad to hear it was a hit! Thanks for sharing your notes on what worked best for you! xT