Coconut Pound Cake Southern Living

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Classic Southern Living Coconut Pound Cake Topped With A Scrumptious Coconut Pound Cake Glaze.

This recipe comes from my well used, classic Southern Living Homemaker’s Cookbook: Cakes. It’s a southern staple, rich buttery pound cake filled with tropical coconut flavor. Yes friends, and it creates an extremely flavorful experience.

Southern Living Coconut Pound Cake

OLD FASHIONED COCONUT POUND CAKE

As a child I hated coconut. It was such an adult flavor and I wanted no part of it.

I can remember my mom fixing an old fashioned coconut pound cake for a special dessert or church potluck. I mean how disappointing. Where’s the chocolate cake?

But, as I’ve grown into an adult, I’ve learned to appreciate an old fashioned coconut pound cake. It still doesn’t hold the greatness of chocolate cake in my world, but I enjoy a slice of classic coconut pound cake.

Coconut Pound Cake From Southern Living

SOUTHERN POUND CAKE WITH A TROPICAL TWIST

This cake reminds me of my Southern Living Key Lime Pound Cake recipe. Like it, this cake is an easy old fashioned southern pound cake infused with tropical flavor. Except, in this cake, our tropical flavor is coconut instead of key lime.

To me this is an unlikely marriage. I would never think to pair southern, rich, buttery pound cake with a tropical flavor, like coconut. But, this marriage works deliciously. It’s like Panama Jack marrying Scarley O’hara and it working out fabulously.

The coconut flavoring and unsweetened coconut combine so well with the rich, dense, buttery pound cake, that it creates an ideal dessert that’s perfect for any party or pot luck.

As well as being a flavorful experience, this coconut pound cake is super easy to whip up. So, if you like coconut and you like cake, this is a must for your recipe collection.

COCONUT POUND CAKE RECIPE

Ingredients in Coconut Pound Cake

  • Butter 
  • Vegetable shortening
  • Sugar
  • Eggs 
  • Almond flavoring
  • Coconut flavoring extract or imitation
  • All purpose flour
  • Milk 
  • Flaked coconut

Ingredients in Coconut Pound Cake Glaze

  • Sugar
  • Boiling water
  • Coconut flavoring extract or imitation
  • Corn starch optional

How To Make Coconut Pound Cake

  • Cream butter, shortening and sugar.
  • Add eggs.
  • Add flavorings.
  • Add flour and milk
  • Stir in coconut.
  • Spoon Batter into well greased tube or bundt pan.
  • Bake at 350° for 1¼ hours.
  • Let cake cool for 10 minutes in pan and release.
  • Spoon glaze on cake.

How To Make Coconut Pound Cake Glaze

  • Bring sugar, boiling water and coconut flavoring to a boil for 1 minute.
  • Remove from heat.
  • If you’d like to thicken, add corn starch. I added ¼ cup for some slight thickening.
  • Spoon over cake.
Old Fashioned Coconut Pound Cake

IS IMITATION COCONUT FLAVOR THE SAME AS COCONUT EXTRACT?

I could not find coconut extract and used imitation coconut flavoring. It worked well and my cake came out with delicious coconut flavor.

So, what’s the difference between coconut extract and imitation coconut flavor? According to this post by Supper For A Steal, the difference is in the ingredients. Coconut extract is made from processed real coconuts. However, imitation coconut flavoring is made from synthetic chemicals that taste like coconut.

The Best Coconut Pound Cake

FINAL THOUGHTS ON HEAVENLY COCONUT POUND CAKE

Southern Living coconut pound cake is a simple recipe that combines the exotic tropical flavor of coconut with the rich flavor and denseness of pound cake. This combo results in a luscious cake that is bursting with amazing coconut flavor and can be served at many different occasions.

In case you have any queries regarding the recipe feel free to reach out via the comment section or the contact page. Also, if you have tried this recipe, I would love to hear about your experiences.

I have linked to our related recipes below and I’m sure you will love them.

Coconut Pound Cake Southern Living
Print Jump to Recipe Pin Recipe

Heavenly Coconut Pound Cake From Southern Living

Lovely, soft pound cake filled with tropical coconut flavor and topped with an invisible coconut glaze.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword coconut, tropical coconut, coconut pound cake, coconut pound cake with glaze
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Cooling Time 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Servings 18 slices
Calories 500kcal
Cost 6.50

Equipment

  • Stand or Hand Mixer
  • Tube Pan or Bundt Pan
  • Long Spatula

Ingredients

Ingredients For Heavenly Coconut Pound Cake

  • 2 sticks Butter room temperature
  • ½ cup Vegetable shortening
  • 3 cups Sugar
  • 6 Eggs room temperature
  • ½ tsp Almond flavoring
  • 1 tsp Coconut flavoring extract or imitation
  • 3 cups All purpose flour
  • 1 cup Milk room temperature
  • 7 ounces Flaked coconut I used 5 ounces unsweet coconut and 2 ounces sweet coconut.

Ingredients For Coconut Glaze

  • 1½ cups Sugar
  • ¾ cup Boiling water
  • 3 tsp Coconut flavoring extract or imitation
  • ¼ cup Corn starch optional

Instructions

Instructions For Heavenly Coconut Pound Cake

  • Cream butter, shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.
  • Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  • Add almond and coconut flavorings.
  • Alternately add flour and milk, beating after each addition.
  • Stir in coconut.
  • Spoon Batter into well greased tube or bundt pan.
  • Bake at 350° for 1¼ hours.
  • Let cake cool for 10 minutes in pan and release.
  • Spoon glaze on cake.

Instructions For Coconut Glaze

  • Mix sugar, boiling water and coconut flavoring.
  • Bring to a boil for 1 minute.
  • Remove from heat.
  • If you'd like to thicken, add corn starch. I added ¼ cup for some slight thickening.
  • Spoon over cake.

Notes

The glaze does not have color, so it’s invisible on the cake.
This is a delicious glaze.  However it is not thick and is meant to soak into the cake.  I did add 1/4 cup corn starch, which thickened a little. 
I could not find coconut extract, so I used imitation coconut flavoring.  The cake came out amazing.

Nutrition

Calories: 500kcal

4 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Loved the moist texture of the cake. The flavor was very good. I used coconut milk in the place of the milk. Will put in rotation of my usual cakes.

    1. Thanks for the feedback. I loved that you used coconut milk. I’ll have to do that next time. Glad you liked it and thanks for the comment.

  2. Teri Wilson says:

    What type of shortening is used?

    1. Great question. I used basic Crisco. This a really good coconut pound cake. Hope you’ll make it and enjoy.

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