Daddy’s Coconut Cake
This is my Dad’s favorite cake at Christmas time and Easter and its just divine beyond compare. Another great refrigerator cake, it can be made three days ahead of time and then left to sit in the fridge as it just grows moister with every passing minute.
Coconut around the Holidays is a tradition in the south, especially coconut cakes! Back in the old days that was the only time of year you could get such an exotic thing as coconut in these parts (well, in Alabama anyway!). Stay tuned later today when I am going to post a Christmas menu that will let you entertain a house full of guests with no virtually cooking and no takeout!
Y’all, this tutorial is what my photos look like when I bake after dark! Sun makes the best light and without it, you get…well this! However, I think you can still tell how yummilicious this cake looks so use your imagination and let the rest be well lit and high grain!
For the complete listing of all recipes I have posted to the Holiday Baking Category
(including gift mixes), click here!
First, you’re going to need to bake a yellow cake. Just get a boxed mix like I do or use your favorite recipe. The cake isn’t that important as the icing is our key player here. I used a yellow boxed mix and made it according to package directions.
Now, while that is warm, we need to assemble our icing. You’ll need: Coconut, whipped cream, sour cream, and sugar.
Place all icing ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Mix until well blended.
Poke holes all in warm cake with a fork.
Let cake cool for about ten minutes and then pour icing over it (it will still be warm).
Spread over, cover, and refrigerate! You can make this as a layer cake but I find it is much easier to deal with (and store in fridge) as a sheet cake.
YUM!!!!!
Daddy’s Coconut Cake
Ingredients
- 1 box yellow cake mix, prepared according to directions in a 9x13 inch pan
- 2 Cups Sugar
- 1 1/2 C whipped topping
- 16 ounces sour cream
- 12 ounces coconut (you can use frozen, bagged on shelf, or canned)
Instructions
- Prepare cake mix according to package directions in a 9x13 inch pan. Combine sugar, sour cream, whipped topping, and coconut. Blend well and chill.
- Poke holes all over top of warm cake and pour icing mixture over cake (after it has rested in pan about ten minutes).
- Cover well and refrigerate 1-3 days before serving. Store in refrigerator.
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Ingredients
- 1 box yellow cake mix, prepared according to directions in a 9x13 inch pan
- 2 Cups Sugar
- 1 1/2 C whipped topping
- 16 ounces sour cream
- 12 ounces coconut (you can use frozen, bagged on shelf, or canned)
Instructions
- Prepare cake mix according to package directions in a 9x13 inch pan. Combine sugar, sour cream, whipped topping, and coconut. Blend well and chill.
- Poke holes all over top of warm cake and pour icing mixture over cake (after it has rested in pan about ten minutes).
- Cover well and refrigerate 1-3 days before serving. Store in refrigerator.
Print This Recipe
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I am behind on emails, comments, and sending recipes out! I wanted to thank y’all for being so understanding! So much to do and this is the only time of year a lot of these things happen. The kids are having a great time and I’ll get caught up after Christmas! Love y’all!
Merry Christmas!
Gratefully,
Christy
Posted by Christy Jordan
on Dec 22 2008. Filed under Cake, Dessert, Holiday Favorites!.
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Oh, that frosting looks so delicious! I bet it would taste good on a chocolate cake too, or sprinkled with crushed candy canes, or mini chocolate chips… Hmm, I think I’m sweet-toothing. Gotta go bake something…
OMG I never thought about chocolate cake! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
The candy cane idea is great, it would be SO PRETTY!!!!!!
hehe!
I just love your food!
Christy
I was wondering if your coconut cake would be good made as a bowl cake. If I made it just like your recipe says, but then crumble or tear the cake in pieces and layer it in a punch bowl with cake then the icing, and layer until the cake is gone and then top it with the icing that’s left. Would that work? Should I make the cake like a layer cake or in the 9×13? What do you think would work best? By the way, I have all of the ingredients on the counter and about to make the cake. So if you get this in time, that would be great. : )
Thanks so much,
Maria Petty
just emailed this to you so you’d get it sooner!
Hey!
I think the cake would work great as a bowl cake like you described! Its so amazingly good and that recipe gives you lots of frosting so yes, go for it! Let me know how you like it, okay?
Gratefully,
Christy
I’ve made a recipe very much like this for a while now and I think it would be great as a bowl cake. I usually do a 9×13 cake, but I’ve also made cupcakes and used this icing. It’s so versatile… and delicious! (oh and i use either Ideal Sweetener or Splenda instead of sugar)
Coconut must be a dad thing because my dad loves that cake too, we just leave out the fact it contains sour cream which my dad despises.
I’m brand new to this site and loving every single minute and recipe. I think your daddy might be related to my father-in-law. He hates sour cream but loves food that it’s in (as long as he doesn’t know). But, heck, y’all he hates MAYONNAISE (he’s a true yankee)! ‘course he LOVES devilled eggs. Wonder what he thinks goes in them. LOL!
Mmmm… There was always a coconut cake as one of the many sweets at my Maw Maw’s house, too! That and Martha Washington candy are the main things I remember! She and my aunt would bake for a week before Christmas and fill up a spare bedroom with cakes, pies, and candies!
Merry Christmas!
Christy,
Love the new site but, if you could, please put the link to the recipe in the email…I like to save the mark these pages in my favorites. Used to be a link…Thank you so much. Your site is wonderful and you have been fortunate to get web mention and advertisment.
I hope you have a great Christmas Christy and your family!!! It’s Christmas Eve today, and I’m about to go out shopping! Not that I’m disorganized, but you see, on Christmas Eve everything gets marked down because we have another holiday the day after Christmas, I’m sure you would approve of that! I’m hoping for some of those yummy boxed chocolates.
Have a great holiday!!!
Yum: this looks so sweet!
I made cookies with shredded coconut over the weekend: great minds think alike
Christy…
Mary’s sentiments are mine exactly.
It is just sooooooo much easier If I don’t have to go to the browser & then search andddd ohhh you know what I mean.
Can’t wait to make this cake!
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Mary said:
Christy,
If you could, please put the link to the recipe in the email…I like to save the mark these pages in my favorites. Used to be a link…Thank you so much. Your site is wonderful and you have been fortunate to get web mention and advertisment.
- December 23, 2008 at 11:02 am
………………………………………………………………
Hey! I will do my best to remember that! I do all of my emails manually now (I pay for a service to keep up with email addresses and to send the email itself out but I input the actual post manually so no one gets spam) and I often forget little things. However, anytime I send an email out, that recipe is always on the front page of SP, if that helps!!
I will try try try to remember to put a link to the specific recipe in the email though! thank you for your help!
Gratefully,
Christy
I made this for Christmas, and we all really liked it! It turned out just wonderful, yum!!
This recipe is wonderful…I usually make it in layers because that’s how the recipe was given to me. However, I will not start making it as a layer cake – definitely much easier to store. Thanks for that tip.
Even people who don’t like sour cream, LOVE this icing.
Alisa
I have this same recipe on my blog as well. Mine was my great grandmothers recipe and my fav also.
Christy,
I served this cake to the ladies at my Monday evening Bible study. We put dollops of lemon curd on it, and it was just divine! I have had requests to make it again and again and again… Thanks for the great recipe.
I am so very glad I found your site. I love everything about it. And I am going to make this cake to night.
Made this for our church Christmas potluck. It was a HIT! Thanks so much for your efforts in helping us southern girls learn to cook like our grandmas!
After you poke the holes, you cook it some more?? For ten minutes? Do you put anything on it first?? This looks delicious!
Anna (if you’re still around), I think Christy might have made a typo under the photo there. Instead of “cook” I think it should read “sit.” It does look yummy. I’m debating making it for Easter!
[...] Daddy’s Coconut Cake [...]
I was reading the part where you pour the icing on and instead of saying let cake cool about 10 min. it said let it cook.
Thank you Judy, I fixed it!
Hi there and thank you for all the great goodies to try for Easter!!
One question on this cake (frosting): Is is regular granulated sugar or powdered sugar?
Thanks for asking! It’s granulated. Hope this helps!
Kenz asked a good question about the sugar. I was wondering if you could use Splenda (or the generic) in the frosting recipe.
Hey S, I’ve never used Splenda but I think it would work just fine in the frosting. If you try it, let us know! I’m always looking for more ways to use my Splenda!!!
I’ll probably try it for Easter Sunday. By the way, I heart the Christmas plate in the cake picture!
Hi Christy, I made “Daddy’s Coconut Cake” yesterday for Easter and it was delicious! The frosting is so good! My dh and I are new to Virginia, USA and love all the southern food specialties. I usually stay with my standards but I love to try new recipes. Keep up the good work and God Bless!
This sounds jsut like how my Granny Granny makes her Coconut Cake!! It is sooo good. She does make hers in layers though…. But either way, it is so yummmyyy!! Thank you!
Hey Christie – Did you get my message that I have a red casserole (1 1/2 qt., I think – Pyrex) with a lid that’s in good shape – I’d love to send it to you if you’d like to have it. Let me know!!
Nom, Nom, Nom, I got to get some coconut cake! Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Christy,
It’s funny that you would post this recipe at this time. I just made a layer cake similar to this one for a friend to give her mother-in-law along with her Mother’s Day gifts. I got an e-mail this week telling me that although she and her husband didn’t get any of it, her brother-in-law and his wife were there on Mother’s Day and she was told they all ate two pieces each and then the brother and his wife asked if they could have some to take home. She said they thought it was the best coconut cake they had ever eaten! It had been sitting in the freezer for over two weeks so had gotten good and rich.
I make yellow layers and split them then frost them with the filling (not adding the whipped topping yet) and then add some of the filling to the whipped topping to frost the whole outside of the cake. I’m not a huge coconut cake fan but I have to say I will be happy to eat this one anytime…Ummmmm! Ummmmm! Good!
In fact, I just got home from the grocery store and got the ingredients to make another of these cakes to give to my friend since they didn’t get any of the other one.
LaFern
My fam doesn’t do coconut, I bet this would be good with crushed pineapple as well. Looks so good!
Christy is EVERY recipe you have out of this world???? I can’t wait to make this but I think I might be sorry I found this site after all. I try in vain to keep from gaining weight and these recipes do nothing to help me. I guess I will just have to give more of my baking away. My friends don’t mind at all
)
I have made this cake several times….I love it!! As Christy states it better the longer it sets…so allow at least one day in the fridge before you serve….it just soaks up all that yumminess and the flavors intensify. It’s also easy to make….Enjoy everyone…I have a couple of times now…LOL
Christy- this one is a family favorite..like all the rest of your recipes!! thank you ! I pre-ordered 2 of your cookbooks..can’t wait for them- and I have to share!!
happy friday…happy weekend..Happy life:-)
robin
How do you print your recipes as “USER FRIENDLY”
I can’t find out how to do it without everyones comments printing out.
It is also delicious if you pour sweetened condensed milk over the warm cake and then mix the coolwhip and coconut together and then ice it.
Lord Have MERCY- That is the easiest and BEST cake I have ever made in my LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks Christy!!!!!!!!
THAT IS MY FAVORITE ,TOO. I LOVE DADDY’S CAKE.hOPE YOU ARE HAVING A GREAT TIME.
OH, FORGOT TO TELL YOU THAT I AM GOING TO DOLLYWOOD THURS. WITH MY AUNT.
We tried this with white cake and it is devine. It also lasts and lasts — if you have any left. Now I have an order for a yellow cake version with coconut flavor but without the “little bits of coconut.” Crazy as it sounds, I’m going to try saturating the warm cake with Coco Lopez (a liquid coconut cream from the drink mixers section of the grocery)and making the icing with just sugar, sour cream, and cool whip. Wish me luck!
Done. The Coco Lopez flavored the cake well and the “icing” was good, but the “bits” of coconut add so much flavor and volume that I won’t omit them again. Next time, we’ll stick with Daddy’s choice. =-)
Is there a way to print your recipes without the pictures? I makes for a lot of paper (trees) being used. I just love using your site. Keep up the good work.
This recipe was posted in December of 2008, so a comment in July of 2010 may be lost in the mists of time, but I wanted to share another title for this cake. While I was sorting through a file “discontinued” recipes, what’s this?, old news clips, notes on envelopes, and miscellaneous cooking ideas that were used as bookmarks in old cookbooks from estate sales, I found a recipe for “WAIT CAKE” on a yellowed and well thumbed piece of rag paper that newspapers used to use. Since the “customers” for this cake had to wait three days to eat it, that seems like a really good name for it.
IT’S NOT FAIR!!!!!!! This looks absolutely delicious!!!! I’m diabetic and can’t have it!!
Do you have one thats diabetic friendly?????
Dot, I’m diabetic too. I used Pillbury sugar free cake mix for this recipe & also used 1 c. sugar & 1 c. Splenda for the icing, It turned out great. I also made the cake in 2 8×8 inch pans. I gave one cake to my daughter so she & her family can enjoy it too. Next time I make this cake, I’ll try using all Splenda for the icing & if I make it for church dinner I may do a bowl cake. I hope this helps you. Good luck, Sheila
Thank You Christy, Sounds wonderful! Not sure I’d be able to wait for holidays.
MY MOMMA’S FAVORITE CAKE IS COCONUT CAKE TOO. I ALWAYS MAKE HER ONE FOR HER BIRTHDAY. I ALWAYS POKE HOLES IN THE CAKE AND I POUR CREAM OF COCONUT OVER THE WARM CAKE. TALKIN BOUT GOOD!!!!
Someone asked above about using Splenda instead of sugar in the frosting, and I just wanted to mention that I did and it worked very well. My frosting was on the thick side (not wet-looking like Christy’s) but after less than 24 hours in the fridge, the cake (2 boxes of Jiffy yellow cake mix) was surprisingly moist. I didn’t think it would be because I didn’t use the sugar. Because I have to limit sugar, I would make it this way for myself again. This is one incredible coconut cake!
[...] This is the second coconut cake recipe on SouthernPlate.com. To see my recipe for Daddy’s Coconut Cake, please click here. [...]
just made this, It was wonderful, I will say though, its Much, much better after sitting in the fridge for 2 days, although it got ate before then in my house, after 2 days there was still plenty left and my goodness, much better after sitting a few days.
This is also yummy if you add key lime juice to the frosting!!
[...] Daddy’s Coconut Cake [...]
I’ve made this cake several times. Its FANTASTIC. The hardest part is leaving it alone in the fridge. The wait is definitely worth it though.
Thank you for adding the recipe box to your website. I hope this is new, but then again, I haven’t checked this email addresss in a while, too busy. But again thanks.