Triple Coconut Cake – Day One – Giant Macaroons
This week I’m celebrating all things coconut! I hope you’re a fan of these tropical “nuts”. (Actually they aren’t nuts at all. They are actually stone fruit like peaches and plumbs. source.) Anyway, I love coconut in my treats – cookies, cakes, pies, popsicles and ice cream. I think that coconut can add texture and flavor that is sometimes unexpected. With this Triple Coconut Cake however, there is no surprise. You’re getting Macaroons, Coconut Pudding and then a Coconut Cake and Frosting all covered in shredded coconut. Enjoy your trip the tropics this week!
I have gone back and forth on trying to make up my mind about making this dessert. In total, there are 16 egg whites in the four recipes. That was a big drawback.
I also wasn’t sure if this recipe should be saved for summer… is Coconut Cake a winter treat? It looks like a huge snowball, so I figure why not. I made it and I loved it!
I’ve mad a lot of Macaroons over the years. They are very easy, straight forward cookies to make. Egg white and coconut, some sugar maybe some candy bits and bake. I came across a recipe a cookbook Flour
that used pastry cream as the wet base for the macaroons and wanted to give it a try.
Yes, it’s an extra step to make the cream, but I really liked the result. It kept the inside from drying out while baking. It also provided a little extra structure to the batter to shape into little pyramids.
There was definitely a difference in store brand shredded coconut as compared to a more expensive bag of sweetened cococut. I don’t know if the store brand I bought had been sitting on the shelf longer, but it was dried out and almost too white. The more expensive bag was more coconut-y, moist, and softer. The pieces were more translucent and felt more like fresh coconut.
In my opinion, spend the extra pennies on the better bagged coconut and make some yummy Macaroons. You can also melt some chocolate and dip the bottoms or drizzle it over for an added candy bar flavor.
- 1/2 C milk
- 1/4 C sugar
- 2 Tbsp cake flour
- pinch of salt
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 2 (14 oz) bags sweetened, shredded coconut
- 6 egg whites
- 1 C sugar
- pinch of salt
- In a medium bowl stir the sugar, flour and salt. Whip the egg yolks together then whisk them into the dry ingredients. This will create a thick “dough”.
- Place the milk into a small saucepan and scald it – the edges should start to bubble only. Pour it over the egg mixture, whisking all the time. When all the milk is whisked in, return to the pan and cook over medium-low heat until the mixture thickens. It will bubble, just keep whisking until the bubbles dissipate and the dough becomes more like pudding. This is your basic pastry cream.
- Pour the pastry cream into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and cool completely.
- Preheat the oven to 350 and line two cookie sheets with silicon or parchment that has been slathered with butter.
- In a large bowl, mix the coconut, egg whites, sugar, salt and cool pastry cream.
- Use an ice cream scoop to measure out 1/4 cup of the batter. You can leave the macaroons in domed shapes or for a more traditional look, shape into pyramids.
- Bake for 25 – 35 minutes then let cool completely on the sheets.
- Store the macaroons in an airtight container.
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G’day Looks great! All blog comments appreciated and sharing is caring today!
Cheers! Joanne @ What’s On The List #SayGdayParty pinned all submission thx
Wow those look SO good!!!
Thanks! They were 🙂
I need to make these soon! Thanks for linking up with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
They are great! Dip ’em in chocolate and add some sprinkles and the kids will love them as well.