Chocolate Sour Cream Cake with Coconut Buttercream Icing

This past weekend, we celebrated my mom's birthday. I was in charge of the cake, and I'm always looking for new recipes. This time I wasn't necessarily opting for the healthiest option. My mom doesn't have a favorite dessert. She likes them all. She often makes coconut desserts when she cooks on the holidays. So in my attempt to try a slightly different recipe (a potato in a cake?!), to be slightly Southern in style (mmm, sour cream), and to be not at all healthy (a pound of butter in the icing), I chose a Chocolate Sour Cream Cake with Coconut Buttercream Icing. It turned out to be a great pick. I've made chocolate cakes from scratch before, but this was by far the best tasting. The sour cream and the potato made it very moist, and had a great chocolate flavor. The icing was very rich, but I could handle it.

I found the cake recipe on a great food blog, A Sweet Spoonful. Scroll to the bottom for the recipe. The icing recipe is as follows-

Coconut Buttercream Icing

6 large egg yolks

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup coconut milk

1-2 tsp coconut extract

1 lb. unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, softened

4 cups grated coconut

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and coconut milk. Stir to combine and then bring to a boil. Put yolks in bowl and mix with electric mixer. Use a whisk attachment if you have one. I didn't so I just used the mixer. As the mixture heats, begin whipping the eggs on high speed. Boil the coconut milk and sugar until the mixture reaches the soft-ball stage (238°F on a candy thermometer). Again, no thermometer so I just eye-balled it. It took about 10 minutes. Remove the mixture from the heat. Stop the mixer and pour a small amount of the syrup into the egg yolks. Quickly beat on high again. Repeat twice more until all the syrup is incorporated. (You can also add the sugar syrup in a steady stream with the mixer on, but be careful not to let it hit the beater or the syrup will be flung to the sides of the bowl where it will harden.) Continue beating until the mixture is cool.

Add the coconut extract. With the mixer on medium speed, begin beating in the butter 1 or 2 tablespoons at a time. When the butter is completely incorporated, scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat another minute.

Use the frosting right away to frost the cooled cake, or cover tightly and refrigerate until ready to use. Pat on a generous coating of the shaved coconut over the sides and top and, if you have a layer cake, between the layers.

For aesthetic purposes, I regret not making a layer cake.  I think layer cakes always look nicer. I also should have made it the night before to let the icing set up, and I would have had time to take pictures. My dad and I were both busy in the kitchen for our cook out. But overall, it was a hit among everyone.