High Altitude Strawberry Coconut Cake
An easy, moist and fluffy strawberry cake made with fresh strawberries, frosted with coconut buttercream and covered in pink strawberry coconut.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Strawberry Reduction
- 6 ½ oz fresh or frozen strawberries
Cake
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ cup strawberry reduction, completely cooled
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg whites only (save the extra 2 yolks for another use)
- ½ cup vegetable oil (do not substitute with melted butter)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1-2 small drops pink or red gel food coloring, optional
- 3 ¼ cups cake flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Buttercream
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3-4 tbsp coconut cream (see note)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ tsp coconut extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ½ cups natural coconut flakes
- 1 ½ tbsp freeze dried strawberry powder
Instructions
Strawberry Reduction
- Wash and hull the strawberries, then use a small food processor to puree the strawberries.
- Scrape the pureed strawberries into a small saucepan. Over medium low heat, simmer the strawberries, stirring frequently to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pan, until reduced to 1/2 cup. This may take up to 30 minutes.
- Once reduced, transfer the strawberry reduction to a container, cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until needed. You can make the reduction up to 2 days in advance. You'll be using the strawberry reduction in the cake.
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spray the bottoms of three 8-inch round cake pans with non-stick baking spray.If making half the recipe for a smaller cake, use three 6-inch round cake pans.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, lemon juice, 1/2 cup strawberry reduction, eggs, egg whites, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract until well combined. Whisk in the food coloring, if using.I added 2 small drops super red gel food coloring; without the food coloring, the cakes will be a paler pinkish tan color.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, then whisk until everything is evenly distributed. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and whisk for about 10-15 seconds, until combined.
- Divide the batter between the pans, then bang the pans on the counter a few times to pop any large air bubbles.
- Bake the cakes until the tops spring back when gently touched, or a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean, about 21-25 minutes for three 8-inch cakes, and about 18-20 minutes for three 6-inch cakes.
- Set the pans on a cooling rack, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter for 1 minute until smooth. Beat in the coconut cream, vanilla extract and coconut extract.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar by spoonfuls, the meringue powder and the salt.
- Increase speed to medium (#6 on a Kitchen Aid mixer) and beat for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl down several times, until very light and fluffy. Turn the speed down to "stir" and mix for 1 more minute to pop any large air bubbles.
- Remove the cooled cakes from the pans, and stack, fill and frost the cake with the buttercream. See How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost a Layer Cake for more tips. Proceed to the next step of pressing the coconut onto the cake before the buttercream crusts over.
- In a bowl, combine the coconut flakes with the freeze dried strawberry powder, tossing everything together until the coconut is coated in the strawberry powder. Press the coconut all over the top and sides of the cake, scooping up whatever falls off and pressing it onto the buttercream until the cake is covered.
Notes
To make the coconut cream used in the buttercream, place a can of full-fat unsweetened coconut milk (do NOT shake the can) in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours, or overnight – the cream and the water will separate, allowing you to drain the water and just use the cream. Take the chilled can, turn it upside down, and remove the bottom of the can. Drain off the coconut water, saving it for another recipe if you like. The can should be about 1/2 – 2/3 full of solid coconut cream. Let the can sit out at room temperature for several hours to let the cream soften up again, before adding to your buttercream. Whatever cream you don’t use, you can save for another recipe, or use it in a vegan coconut whipped cream.
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