Let me tell you about my love story with a Thai Coconut Cake. There is a little hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant in Atlanta called Little Bangkok. My husband David and I have dined there for years. The owner happens to be one of my friends’ aunt. David and I love their chicken coconut soup, the curry duck, the pad thai, etc. The food is delicious so we rarely save room for dessert.

One afternoon, I took my friend Rachelle there for her birthday. We ordered the Thai Coconut c=Cake to celebrate the occasion. She and I were planning to share a piece, but I think I ate it all before birthday girl could get to it. The cake was so moist that it basically dissolves in your mouth. The whipped topping was light and airy. The cake itself felt velvety and fluffy, with just a light hint of sweetness. It was truly addicting. In fact, I went back and ordered the entire cake. I’ve been back a few more times to order this little piece of heaven.

Now that Little Bangkok is very out-of-the-way for me. I attempted to recreate the recipe at home. On my first try, I baked the cake from scratch which ended up being very dry. After more research and help from David and my friend Rachelle, I came very close to duplicating Little Bangkok’s coconut cake. My recipe is very untraditional and is a short cut to the original method, but it’s easy and it tastes good. Believe me, if I can do this, you can too. Try it! If you prefer to bake your cake from scratch, that’s fine too. Just skip right to Step 2 of the recipe.

You will need:

1 box of instant white cake mix (and the eggs and oil that is required for it)
2 oz of coconut powder
3 cans of coconut milk (about 15oz each)
powder sugar
coconut flakes

1. Bake your cake according to the box instruction. While you bake, refrigerate 2 cans of coconut milk so the cream and the water  in the cans become separated.

2. About 7 minutes before your cake finish baking, remove it from the oven. Use a fork or chopstick and stab your cake all over like it owes you money. You want to create a bunch of holes in the cake.

3. Mix the 3rd can of coconut milk with the coconut powder. Pour it evenly over your cake and let it soak into the cake.

4. Place cake back into oven and let it finish baking. Once done, let it cools completely and let the coconut milk completely soak into it.

5. To make the whip frosting, take your refrigerated coconut milk, discard the water and retain the cream part. Whip it using a mixer until it becomes thick, like cool whip. As you whip, slowly add a little powder sugar for sweetness. If you’re lazy, just use the store-bought cool whip. It lacks coconut flavor but it works too.

6. Frost your cake and sprinkle coconut flakes on top. For extra flavor and color, you can lightly toast your coconut flakes get that nice golden brown color. This is optional.

7. And you’re done!!!