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By Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
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If you’re a reader of Coco Cake Land, you know I have a special place in my HEART for Hawaii!The tropical sun, the warm clear water, the beautiful friendly people… sigh! Man I love the flavours of Hawaii too, especially those desserts – coconut, lillikoi (passionfruit), strawberry guava, lychee, pineapple… Gah I wish I was back there right now. Have you ever had haupia cake? I’m just going to blast right in and say it: if you hate coconut, run, just RUN away right now. If you love coconut, get your drooling parts ready ’cause this coconut haupia cake recipe is super stuffed with it. So what is haupia? It’s a cold and creamy coconut pudding that I could basically eat a children’s sized kiddie pool’s worth. After that, I may not eat it again for a while. But still. That’s pretty impressive.
Many haupia cake recipes online use a white cake mix and gelatin in the haupia – I am SO down with cake mixes (the flavour is so nostalgic to me! Those cake mix companies know what they’re doing, guys) and gelatin is lots o’ fun, but my recipe uses a haupia pudding as opposed to the thickly set gelatin layer you might find in other recipes. Honestly, there is NO haupia cake I would leave behind. None. My cake is also a bit heftier than the light Hawaiian sponge – it’s more of a butter cake slam-jammed with coconut. I made this cake for my sweet older sis Leanne’s birthday – she’s as Hawaii obsessed as I am!
Note: If you have leftover haupia, consider yourself a happy chappy – you can add it as a topping for waffles with fresh berries, or you can even CHURN IT UP in an ice cream maker! DUDE. It’s true. Or just gobble it up nice and cold with a spoon.
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Coconut Haupia Cake Recipe
By: Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Makes: 1 nine-inch 2 layer haupia cake
ingredients
For the cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 2 cups of granulated sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 3 cups of all purpose flour
- 2 cups packed shredded unsweetened white coconut
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups of full fat coconut milk
- ½ cup of white coconut curls
For the Haupia
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 cup water
- 4 cups coconut milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
For the whipped cream
- 2 cups of whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
instructions
Make the cake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour your cake pans. You can also add parchment paper circles for easy removal.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about two minutes.
Scraping down the sides of the bowl, add the eggs one by one until incorporated.
Add the vanilla and almond extracts until mixed.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, shredded coconut, baking powder and salt.
With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the coconut milk.
Mix on low speed until incorporated; do not overmix.
Divide batter in half and pour into prepared cake pans.
Bake in the middle rack of the oven, turning pans halfway to ensure even baking, about 22-28 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the center of each cake; if the toothpick comes out dry, remove the cakes from the oven.
Let cool in pans completely.
Make the haupia
In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar, salt, cornstarch and water into a slurry.
In a medium sized saucepan set over medium high heat, heat the coconut milk to a low boil.
Add the slurry, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until mixture thickens.
Once thickened, remove from heat. Stir in vanilla extract and let cool.
Chill in refrigerator for 1 hour until thickened and set.
For the whipped cream
Chill a metal bowl and whisk attachment or beaters in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Place whipped cream in the cold bowl. Add sugar and vanilla.
Beat on high until soft peaks form. Do not overbeat.
Assemble the cake
Once the cakes are completely cool, run a small offset spatula around the edges of your cake; remove cakes from pans.
Place the first layer flat side down on a cake plate. Using a serrated knife, trim the dome off the cake to level the cake.
Add 2 cups of the haupia filling to the cake.
Remove second cake layer from its pan; trim the dome off the second layer.
Place the layer cut-side-down gently on top of the haupia. It’s ok if the haupia filling drips down the sides a bit! Au naturel.
Then, place the remaining haupia on top of the second cake layer.
Add a healthy amount of whipped cream on top of the haupia, spreading from the center to the edges for a rustic look.
Finally, sprinkle the white coconut curls on top of the cake.
Chill the cake for one hour, covered, before serving.
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Reader Interactions
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Comments
molly yeh
whoa this is SO dreamy. like…. can-i-go-back-to-bed-only-my-bed-is-made-of-this-cake dreamy
Reply
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
haha… imagine log rolling around in this coconut cloud!!
danielle @ this picture books life
Dreamy indeed!!!
Reply
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
thanks danielle! ^__^
cynthia
This cake is my love language. OMG. You had me at haupia. And I want to make all those other links, too! (Toasted coconut ice cream!!!)
Reply
movita beaucoup
This sounds like the kind of thing I could make for myself. You know, to eat all alone. With no interruptions.
Reply
Mila
Hi Lyndsay!
Wow your blog looks great! I am here for the first time and I could not stop looking at the previous pages of your blog. Where did you learned to decorate cakes so perfectly?
Best regards,
MilaReply
Abbie
Looks delicious! I can’t wait to try this recipe. I also have a special place in my heart for Hawaii. My mom grew up there and we go there for vacations as much as possible. We just got back a week and a half ago!
Reply
Michelle @ Vitamin Sunshine
I love coconut. This is my dream cake :) The purple flower makes it look so whimsical.
Reply
Kate @ ¡Hola! Jalapeño
I’ve never heard of this but I’m already in love! These pictures are so pretty!
Reply
Kay
Thanks for the great haupia cake recipe. I wanted to make it for a Hawaiian themed potluck and the other recopies I found used a boxed white cake mix :(
I made a sheet cake and cut that into two layers. Filling between the layers and on top. I topped it with stabilized whipped cream Other than adding the gelatin to the whipped cream and the pan shape, I made the recipe exactly as listed.
A big hit – and hugely coconutty!
Reply
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Kay! I’m THRILLED that you made it and took the time to comment! Thank you so much and I’m so happy it was a big hit!! XO
Amanda
I Made the recipe exactly as shown and it was pretty good. The only thing that was disappointing was the haupia. Mine was super runny! I’m wondering if the instructions could be more detailed? Maybe I didn’t boil enough? I pulled it off the heat when it thickened and was hoping the refrigerator would have thickened it more but no dice.
Any suggestions?Reply
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Hi Amanda, I sent you an email!
Jennifer Georgi
How long do you bake the cake?
Reply
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Hi Jennifer, it says in the Instructions area of the recipe – around 25 minutes, but I would start checking at 22 minutes as all ovens are different! Thank you!
sheila Benard
Hi I have a recipe for the Haupia cake but it is for a 9X13″ pan I want to use a homemade cake recipe instead of the boxed one it calls for. So my question is will this be enough for that size pan I also have to slice into 3 halves .
Thank You
Sheila BenardReply
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Hi Sheila, I think the recipe would be ok for a single layer 9×13 pan, for a layered 9 x 13 cake, I would double the recipe and torte the cake into two layers, or bake two single 9 x 13 layers and stack.
Kahi
I made this for my sons birthday
I was so excited because he wanted a coconut cake especially with Haupia
but the cake was so incredibly dense
I would’ve much preferred a more sponge cake
the Haupia was ok but I wouldn’t add the vanilla if I wanted it beautiful white like the picture. the vanilla made the Haupia quite grey in color
I did add an additional 2 TBSP of cornstarch
one would’ve been fine but 2 was too much and made it chunky
that was my own fault
but the cake itself as just too much and all in all I didn’t. really l like it
I am commenting because I didn’t really see too many comments of people that actually made it so hear it isthank you
Reply
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Hi Kahi! Thank you for letting me know, hope your son could still enjoy his birthday cake, sorry to hear you didn’t like it. It’s been several years since I posted this, I think I will revisit the recipe!
amber Bernstein
I have made this recipe several times and I always get rave reviews. It is soooo delicious. Thank you!
My husband has requested this recipes with chocolate cake and I was wondering if you think adding coca powder would do the trick? Any advice?
Thank you!
Reply
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Hi Amber, oh I’m so happy to hear that! Haha I like your husband’s style – I would try reducing the amount of flour to 2 1/4 cups and using 1/2 cup of Dutch process cocoa powder. Cocoa powder can sometimes usurp moisture from a cake, hence the recommendation to reduce dry ingredients by 1/4 cup! Let me know how it goes -! xo Lyndsay
