Butter Cake with Cocount Cream Cheese Icing

This is the cake I baked for my sister's birthday. I got the butter cake recipe from the Joy of Baking and the icing recipe from Epicurious. The butter cake is not a cake that rises a lot (and the recipe warns you of that) but it had a really good flavor and the cake was really moist. I definitely plan on using this cake recipe again. The icing I used was meant to spread on top of a sheet cake so it probably wasn't the best idea to use for a layer cake and also the coconut flavor wasn't as prominent as I was expecting. I ended up increasing the powdered sugar in the recipe and adding more cream of coconut but I never got the coconut flavor I was looking for. The icing was good, don't get me wrong, just not really what I was expecting and I probably should've used a thicker icing in order to layer. It just ended up tasting more like cream cheese icing which was still good.

In the recipe it tells you to smooth out the cake batter to be even and I kind of semi-spread the cake like I usually do and it settles in the oven. This batter is so much thicker that it's very important to have the batter even when it goes into the oven. I also let the eggs, butter, and milk set out until room temperature. The modifications I made to the icing were that I added an additional 1/3 cup of powdered sugar and 1 tbsp. of cream of coconut. I tripled the recipe.

Yellow Butter Cake
(Source: Joy of Baking)

6 large egg yolks
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two 9-inch cake pans with Bakers Joy, line bottoms with parchment paper, then spray again with Bakers Joy. Set aside.

In a medium bowl lightly combine the egg yolks, milk, and vanilla extract.

With hand or stand mixer, combine the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) and mix on low speed for about 30 seconds or until blended. Add the butter and remaining 3/4 cup milk. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about 2 minutes to aerate and develop the cake's structure. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Gradually add the egg mixture, in 3 additions, beating about 30 seconds after each addition to incorporate the egg.

Divide the batter and pour into the prepared pans, smoothing the surface with an offset spatula. (Pans will be about half full.) Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in center.

Place the cakes on a wire rack to cool, in their pans, for about 10 minutes. Then invert the cakes onto a greased rack. To prevent splitting, reinvert cakes so that tops are right side up. Cool completely before frosting.

Coconut Frosting
(Source: Epicurious)

3 oz cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup confectioners sugar I added an additional 1/3 cup to increase thickness
3 tablespoons well-stirred canned cream of coconut (not coconut milk) I added an additional tablespoon
1 teaspoon dark rum (optional) I used vanilla extract instead
1/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut

Beat together cream cheese and butter in a bowl using cleaned beaters at medium speed until smooth. Reduce speed to low, then add confectioners sugar, cream of coconut, and rum (if using) and mix until combined. Increase speed to high and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Frost cake and sprinkle with flaked coconut.