Dad’s Olive Oil-Coconut Layered Cake with Pineapple Curd ~#TheCakeSliceBakers

Eating Dad’s Olive Oil-Coconut Layered Cake with Pineapple Curd is like going on a tropical vacation and enjoying a Piña Colada. This cake has soft layers of soft coconut cake, pineapple curd filling, and frosted with coconut cream cheese frosting.

The Cake Slice Bakers are excited to announce the new cake-centric cookbook they will bake through in 2024 - The Cake Book: Beautiful Sweet Treats for Every Craving by Rebecca Firth. You may know Rebecca from the Saveur-nominated blog, Displaced Housewife. The Cake Book is a delicious collection of mouthwatering recipes that will fulfill all of your cake needs for any occasion with breakfast cakes, petite cakes, Bundt cakes, snacking cakes and stunning layered cakes.

The Cake Slice Bakers are a group of dedicated bakers who all love cake. Each year we choose a new cake-centric cookbook and bake our way through it. Every month we are given 3 choices and on the 20th day of each month we reveal what we have chosen on our blogs. This month's choices were Dad’s Olive Oil-Coconut Layered Cake with Pineapple Curd, Stella's Strawberry Lemonade Cake with Strawberry Marshmallow Frosting, and I Love Argentina Alfajores Cake. The coconut cake reminded me of a pina colada so I that was my choice this month.

I had great plans to break this cake up into three parts to make it a little easier to bake, but you know what they say about great plans.  In the end I had to do it all in one day - which is doable - but you need to be organized as the curd needs to cool fully and I found it a little easier to work with the frosting when I had chilled it slightly. I did like the flavor of the cake, but my husband said he would prefer it is the cake was pineapple and the frosting was coconut, because there is a lot of coconut in this cake.  The recipe was followed to a T for the pineapple curd, but I still found that it could have been thicker as the layers kind of slipped around when I was frosting it, and then once I cut the cake the curd slowly ran out of the middle of the cake.  Also, to give it more of a pineapple flavor, I think a little well-drained crushed or finely chopped canned pineapple would make a good addition to the filling of the cake. I am just a home baker, and I struggle sometimes with my decorating skills, but I thought this cake turned out better than anticipated, and it would make a lovely celebration cake. I would definitely make it again with a few of the changes that were mentioned above.

Dad’s Olive Oil-Coconut Layered Cake with Pineapple Curd

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Ingredients

Pineapple Curd~

• 150g (¾ cup) granulated sugar
• 30g (¼ cup) confectioners' sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 3 large egg yolks, at room temperature
• 30ml (2 tablespoons) fresh lemon juice
• 100g (7 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 7 pieces

Cake ~

• 400g (2 cups) granulated sugar
• 115g (½ cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 8g (¼ cup) lemon zest (about 3 to 4 lemons)
• 5 large eggs, room temperature
• 115ml (½ cup) good-quality extra-virgin olive oil
• 6ml (1½ teaspoons) vanilla paste or real vanilla extract
• 4ml (1 teaspoon) coconut extract 
• 420g (3¼ cups plus 2 tablespoons) cake flour
• 5g (1 teaspoon) baking soda
• 5g (1 teaspoon) sea salt
• 240ml (1 cup) buttermilk, shaken and room temperature
• 75g (1 cup) unsweetened coconut, finely shredded

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting ~

• 225g (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
• 115g (½ cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 5ml (1 teaspoon) coconut extract
• 660g (5½ cups) confectioners' sugar 
• 15ml (1 tablespoon) whole milk, maybe more to thin

Garnish ~

• 1½ cups (75 g) coconut, finely shredded (sweetened or unsweetened)

Preparation

Pineapple Curd~

1. Add the pineapple juice to a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes or until reduced by half (so you'll have ⅓ cup [75 g] of juice remaining).
2. Take off of the heat and whisk in the granulated sugar, confectioners' sugar, eggs, egg yolks and lemon juice.
3. Place back over medium heat and whisk for 5 to 7 minutes or until it starts to thicken, and your whisk feels some resistance.
4. Immediately take off of the heat and slowly whisk in the butter, 1 tablespoon (15g) at a time, making sure each is completely melted before adding in the next.
5. Press the curd through a fine-mesh sieve and into a heat-safe bowl, cover the surface with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to cool completely.

Cake ~

1. Preheat your oven to 180℃ (350°). 
2. Spray two 20cm (8-inch) round cake pans with baking spray and line with parchment paper.
3. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the sugar, butter and lemon zest and mix on medium until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes.
4. With the mixer on low, add the eggs, one at a time, making sure that each is well blended before adding the next.
5. Slowly stream in the oil and mix for 1 minute or until combined. Mix in the vanilla and coconut extract and take the bowl out of the mixer. Set aside.
6. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking soda and sea salt.
7. Alternate adding the flour and buttermilk to the creamed butter in two batches. old in the coconut and evenly divide the batter between the prepared pans.
8. Gently tap the pans on the counter several times to release any trapped air bubbles and smooth the tops. 
9. Bake in the center of the oven for 38 to 43 minutes or until the edges are lightly bronzed and the center bounces back when gently pressed. 
10. Set the pans on a cooling rack.
11.  After 10 minutes, run a knife around the edges and turn the cakes out onto the rack to finish cooling; discard the parchment paper.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting ~

1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the cream cheese and butter and beat on medium until they are completely smooth and blended.
2. Add in the coconut extract and confectioners' sugar and mix on low until combined, 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Turn the mixer to medium speed and run for 1 to 2 minutes more, or until the buttercream looks light and whipped (if necessary, add 15ml (1 tablespoon) of milk to thin).

Assembly ~

1. Set one layer upside down on a cake plate and pipe frosting along the outer edge of the cake as well as some in the center.
2. Fill the remaining space with the pineapple curd (you won't use all of the curd), add the second layer and cover the tops and sides with the remaining frosting.
3. Grab a handful of coconut and gently press it into the sides and top edge of the cake.
4. Cover the top with more pineapple curd and serve any left over on the side (note - add the pineapple curd just prior to serving).

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is The Cake Book: Beautiful Sweet Treats for Every Craving by Rebecca Firth. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!

Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the links below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.

The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.

It is a new year and a new book - The Cake Book: Beautiful Sweet Treats for Every Craving - and our choices for May 2024 were ~

Dad's Olive-Oil-Coconut Layer Cake with Pineapple Curd

• All That's Left Are The Crumbs

Stellas Strawberry Lemonade Cake

• My Recipe Reviews
• A Day in the Life on the Farm
• A Little Bit of All Right
• Karen's Kitchen Stories

I Love Argentina Alfajores Cake

• Amandie Bakes