Hawaiian Style Easy Coconut Cake Recipe

Looking for a tropical cake recipe for your birthday, anniversary, baby shower, or graduation celebration? You’ll love this Hawaiian-style easy coconut cake recipe that is oh-so-yummy! Scroll down for the full recipe!

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My family loves making cakes together. It’s something that my little kids can help with, and we can all enjoy together.

Well, I think my boys’ favorite part is eating leftover cake for breakfast. Yes, I’m one of those moms who lets her kids eat dessert for breakfast.

But, I make them earn it by helping make it.

We make a lot of different kinds of cake, depending on our moods. But, most of the time, we end up making something with a tropical twist.

Here in Seattle, we have an awesome Hawaiian bakery that makes the most delicious Hawaiian cakes. You can find them at most Hawaiian restaurants and even our local Asian grocery store.

This Hawaiian-style coconut cake recipe reminds me a lot of their Haupia cake. Haupia is a coconut gelatin/pudding dessert that you can usually find at luaus. But, it can also be used as icing for cake.

We made a coconut cream cheese frosting instead of haupia, but you could easily switch it out for haupia. It’s super easy to make, and you can even get a mix.

What I like about this easy coconut cake recipe is that my kids can help measure out the ingredients and stir them all together. And after the cake cools, they can help me decorate it.

This Hawaii cake would be a fun Hawaiian dessert to enjoy at a graduation celebration, birthday party, summer BBQ, or anytime you’d like to add a festive touch to a meal!

Ok, let’s dive into this Hawaiian cake recipe for a super easy coconut cake!

Hawaiian Style Super Easy Coconut Cake Recipe

Easy Coconut Cake Recipe: Cake Ingredients

• ½ cup (1 stick) of butter (room temperature)
• 1 ½ cups of sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup of unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp coconut extract

Easy Coconut Cake Recipe: Frosting Ingredients

• 1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese (room temperature)
• ½ cup butter (room temperature)
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tbsp unsweetened coconut milk
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp coconut extract
• ½ cup sweetened shredded coconut (optional)

How to Make Hawaiian Coconut Cake:

Before you start, preheat the oven to 350˚F.

1. Prepare two round, nine-inch cake pans.
2. Cream room-temperature butter and sugar together.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, to the butter and sugar mixture, mixing until fully incorporated.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.
5. Mix together coconut milk, vanilla, and coconut extract in liquid measuring cup.
6. Add dry ingredients to butter, sugar, and egg mixture. Mix thoroughly and scrape down bowl.
7. Add wet ingredients, mix. Scrape down side of bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated. 
8. Evenly divide cake mix between cake pans. Tap on counter to release air bubbles.
9. Bake cakes for 25 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  
10. Allow to cool completely before removing from pan and decorating. 

How to Make Coconut Frosting for your Coconut Cake:

1. Cream together room temperature cream cheese and butter.
2. Add confectioners’ sugar, one cup at a time, alternating each cup with the addition of coconut milk. Mix until thoroughly incorporated.**
3. Mix in salt, coconut milk, vanilla extract, and coconut extract.
4. If desired, fold in sweetened shredded coconut. 

**If the frosting is too stiff, add more coconut milk. If too thin, add more confectioners’ sugar.

That’s it! Enjoy decorating your cake and eating it when you are finished.

Coconut Cake FAQs

Love this Hawaiian-style cake? Check out my other Hawaii Recipes!

Yield: 10 Servings

Hawaiian Style Coconut Cake Recipe

Print

This coconut cake recipe is perfect for adding a tropical twist to your traditional cake.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Additional Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes

Ingredients

• Cake
• ½ cup (1 stick) of butter (room temperature)
• 1 ½ cups of sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup of unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp coconut extract
• Frosting
• 1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese (room temperature)
• ½ cup butter (room temperature)
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tbsp unsweetened coconut milk
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp coconut extract
• ½ cup sweetened shredded coconut (optional)

Instructions

Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
2. Prepare two round, nine-inch cake pans.
3. Cream room temperature butter and sugar together.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, to butter and sugar mixture, mixing until fully incorporated.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.
6. Mix together coconut milk, vanilla, and coconut extract in liquid measuring cup.
7. Add dry ingredients to butter, sugar, and egg mixture. Mix thoroughly and scrape down bowl.
8. Add wet ingredients, mix. Scrape down side of bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.  
9. Evenly divide cake mix between cake pans. Tap on counter to release air bubbles.
10. Bake cakes for 25 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  
11. Allow to cool to cool completely before removing from pan and decorating. 

Frosting

1. Cream together room temperature cream cheese and butter. 
2. Add confectioners’ sugar, one cup at a time, alternating each cup with the addition of coconut milk. Mix until thoroughly incorporated.** 
3. Mix in salt, coconut milk, vanilla extract, and coconut extract.
4. If desired, fold in sweetened shredded coconut. 

Notes

**If frosting is too stiff, add more coconut milk. If too thin, add more confectioners’ sugar.