BUTTER PECAN COCONUT CAKE
This Butter Pecan Coconut Cake is one your family will love! Yes.. it’s made with a cake mix but you would never know it. It’s so easy and so good and it lasted one day at my house! If you love coconut you will love this delicious cake. Toasted coconut takes this cake to the next level.
Butter Pecan Coconut Cake and Frosting Ingredients Needed:
Butter Pecan Cake Mix
Shredded Coconut
Butter
Pecans
Cream Cheese
Powdered Sugar
Milk
Cinnamon
It seems that every time we post a cake made with a cake mix we get comments about how “I only bake from scratch” blah blah blah. If you have followed our website for ANY amount of time, you know that we have SOOO many cakes from scratch. Many are vintage and classic old fashioned cakes we have been making for generations. However we also like easy cake recipes and we don’t mind using a mix and this is one of those cakes. It’s so easy and so good and perfect for any gathering!
If you like making cakes from scratch you should definitely try this delicious Coconut Cake with Coconut Frosting! If you love Vintage cakes like we do, definitely check out our Vintage Cakes Ebook!
Full printable recipe in recipe card below.
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Butter Pecan Coconut Cake
Ingredients
- 1 (15.25 ounce) butter pecan cake mix (could use yellow or spice cake mix)
- 2 cups coconut divided
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup pecans chopped (divided)
Frosting for cake:
- 1 8 ounce cream cheese, softened
- 2 tablespoons butter softened
- 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 or 4 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (Optional)
- 3/4 cup of the toasted coconut
- 1/4 cup of the chopped pecans
Instructions
- Toast the 2 cups of coconut in the 3 tablespoons butter. I do mine in a skillet on top of the stove stirring constantly until coconut is browned.
- Prepare the cake mix according to package directions but replace the water called for in the mix with milk. Fold 1 cup of the toasted coconut and 1/2 cup of pecans into cake batter.
- Pour batter into 2 greased, round cake pans. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 30 minutes.
- Let cake layers cool 10 minutes in pans and turn out onto plates. Let cool and frost with recipe below for frosting.
Frosting Instructions:
- Mix cream cheese and butter with mixer. Add in powdered sugar, milk and cinnamon.
- Fold in toasted coconut and chopped nuts with spoon. Spread frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake.
- Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of toasted coconut and remaining 1/4 cup chopped pecans on top of the frosted cake.
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Thank you for this. I love it. It’s going to be my Easter desert. I love your recipes. So much like my mother’s.
Thank you so much! We hope it’s a hit!
Have not tried yet. Why do you use water instead of milk?
We don’t; no water is listed in this cake’s ingredients. It clearly says to replace the water that is required to make the cake (per the instructions on the cake mix box) WITH MILK.
I followed the recipe faithfully using Betty Crocker Butter Pecan cake mix but the cake was dry and crumbly and I even reduced the baking time by five minutes. The frosting was delicious and that helped.
Hi Aly, you can follow a recipe faithfully, but that still doesn’t mean you will get the right result. A crumbly dry cake is more than likely the result of two things. You over-mixed the batter, and or you baked the cake too long. Baking times are an estimate as ALL oven temps vary. If you overmix the batter, the gluten will become overdeveloped, resulting in a tough and dry cake. A dry cake is not ideal as it will crumble as soon as you cut into it. As far as recipes go, not everyone can make every recipe; that makes baking and cooking creative and challenging simultaneously. Thanks!
Could I use flaked Coconut (Baker’s brand) instead of shredded? Or is there a reason for specifically using shredded? Love all your recipes!
You can easily use either! Flaked is fine. Thanks so much!
This looks so delicious. I bake only in my air fryer. I don’t have a working oven. Can this be baked that way. Mine is a large multi use AF.
We don’t own an air fryer, so we can’t advise. Good luck!
can you do this recipe in a 9×13 dish ? thank you
I’m sure you could, but you would probably need to adjust the baking time. Thanks!
I Love Coconut and Pecans so, this cake was a winner for me. I made it, Loved it and so did everyone who tried it. I am planning on making it again for Thanksgiving Dessert. Great Recipe Ladies, Keep up the good work. Rick
Hi Ricky, we’re thrilled it as a hit for you!! Thank you for the kind comment.