Every Easter I see these pretty speckled robin’s egg cakes pop up all over the food internet, and I’ve been wanting to make one myself for a while. I’ve also been wanting to make a coconut layer cake, so I combined the two and here we are!

This cake has four layers of toasted coconut sponge filled with coconut pastry cream, toasted coconut flakes, and chocolate ganache. The frosting is Swiss meringue buttercream tinted blue and speckled with a mixture of vanilla extract and cocoa powder that you flick over the cake with a paint brush. And of course, toasted coconut nests and mini eggs for decoration (because let’s be real, buying a large bag of mini eggs is the true reason I wanted to make this cake!).

I made this over two days – baked the cakes and made the fillings on day one, then made the buttercream and assembled and decorated it on day two while Max napped on my back in the baby carrier. So what I’m trying to say is it can be broken down into lots of smaller steps and is totally doable if you, too, have a tiny human who requires a vast amount of your attention 😉

Happy Easter!

Robin’s Egg Toasted Coconut and Chocolate Cake

Cake layers adapted from Liv for Cake’s Coconut Cake; pastry cream and buttercream adapted from Liv for Cake’s Raffaello Cake. Makes one 6 inch round cake. 

Toasted Coconut Cake

1/3 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch fine sea salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature

1 cup granulated white sugar

2 large eggs room temperature

scant 3/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 drop coconut extract

2/3 cup full fat canned coconut milk, well shaken

Preheat the oven to 350˚F (325˚F convection). Grease and flour two 6″ round cake pans and line them with parchment. Spread the coconut on a baking sheet and toast in the preheating oven until evenly golden brown and fragrant, about 5-6 minutes, watching closely and stirring as needed. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high until very pale, fluffy, and light. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs one at a time, making sure they are fully incorporated after each addition by scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl with a spatula. Mix in the vanilla and coconut extract.

Add the flour mixture and coconut milk, alternating back and forth, making 3 additions of flour and 2 of milk. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with your spatula after each addition.

Gently fold in the toasted coconut.

Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs and the cakes spring back when gently pressed.

Cool the cakes in their pans on wire rack to cool for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Coconut Pastry Cream

2/3 cups full fat canned coconut milk, well shaken

1/8 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg yolk

2 tbsp granulated white sugar

4 tsp cornstarch

pinch fine sea salt

2 tbsp unsalted butter, in small pieces

Place the coconut milk and vanilla in a medium saucepan over high heat, stirring often until it just starts to simmer. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolk and sugar, then whisk in the salt and cornstarch.

Slowly pour the hot coconut milk into the egg mixture, whisking vigorously to ensure the egg doesn’t scramble.

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over high heat, whisking constantly, until it thickens and comes to a boil. Boil, stirring constantly, for 1 full minute.

Press the pastry cream through a strainer into a shallow bowl, then mix in the unsalted butter while the pastry cream is still warm. Press plastic wrap directly to the surface of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Cool to room temperature then place in the refrigerator until cold and set. Before using, bring back to room temperature (you can microwave it in 10 second intervals until the butter melts and the pastry cream becomes smooth again).

Chocolate Ganache

200 g finely chopped bittersweet chocolate

125 g whipping cream or full fat coconut milk or a mix of the two

pinch salt

Place the chocolate in a bowl. Heat the cream and salt in a small saucepan until just simmering, then pour over the chocolate. Cover the bowl and let the chocolate melt for several minutes. Once melted, stir in small circles with a whisk, starting in the centre of the bowl and gradually working outwards, until the ganache is smooth and emulsified. Allow to cool until thick and spreadable.

Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream

3 large egg whites

1 cup granulated sugar

pinch cream of tartar

pinch fine sea salt

1 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

blue food colour (I used Wilton gel colours in Sky Blue and Royal Blue)

Place the egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk gently until combined.

Place the bowl over a pot with 1-2″ of simmering water to make a bain marie (make sure the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water) and stir constantly with a flexible spatula until the mixture is hot and no longer grainy to the touch and it reaches 160˚F on a thermometer.

Place the bowl on the stand mixer with the whisk attachment and whisk on medium-high until the meringue is stiff and cool and the bowl is no longer warm to the touch at all.

Slowly add the cubed butter to the meringue, one piece at a time, and mix until smooth and emulsified and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract. Add the blue food colour in very small increments until you achieve a robin’s egg blue.

Assembly

All of the above (cake, pastry cream, ganache, buttercream)

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp cocoa powder

1/3 cup toasted finely shredded unsweetened coconut, for between the layers

3/4 cup toasted large flake unsweetened coconut chips, for decoration

mini eggs

Split each of the cakes in half horizontally with a long serrated knife. Spread three of the resulting cake layers with 2 tbsp of ganache. Place the naked cake layer on a cake stand or serving platter and tuck strips of waxed paper under the cake to protect the cake stand / platter. Spread with one third of the pastry cream and sprinkle with one third of the toasted finely shredded coconut. Top it with a second cake layer, ganache side down. Spread the second cake layer with another third of the pastry cream and sprinkle with another third of the coconut. Place the third cake layer on top, ganache side down. Spread with the remaining pastry cream, sprinkle with the remaining coconut, and top with the final cake layer, ganache side down. Press gently, making sure the top of the cake is level. Crumb coat the sides and top of the cake with the remaining ganache, and chill until firm.

Frost the top and sides of the cake with the blue buttercream and smooth out with an offset spatula.

In a small bowl, mix together the vanilla extract and cocoa powder until smooth. Dip a clean stiff-bristled pastry brush or paintbrush into the cocoa mixture. Holding the brush in one hand and a wooden spoon in the other hand, gently tap the handle of the brush against the wooden spoon to shoot cocoa speckles on the cake (practice on wax paper first!). Repeat until the cake is speckled all over. Chill for 30 minutes to set the speckles.

Cluster the mini eggs around the top and base of the cake and surround them with the large flake toasted coconut chips to resemble nests.