Almond coconut cake is delicious blend of almond, coconut, white chocolate and lemon flavors. It has almond sponge, white chocolate- coconut filling with just a hint of lemon taste, and it’s decorated with Raffaello candies and desiccated coconut.

To be honest I really had doubts when I should give a name for this recipe. An original recipe that was my starting points was Raffaello cake. Although the cake is really beautiful and delicious I can’t say that it tastes like Ferrero Raffaello confectiones. It has moist and soft almond sponge made with browned butter. The filling is made with white chocolate, coconut milk, cream and Greek yogurt, but it also has a hint of lemon flavor thanks to freshly squeezed lemon juice added into melted chocolate. It’s coated with thick layer of desiccated coconut. In the end it is the perfect combination of all these flavors. I made several changes from original recipe. I skipped grated lemon zest in the filling, because I thought it will be overpowering, and I was right (I’m not a fun of lemon in my cakes

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Perhaps I’m a little late to sharing this recipe with you as it would be perfect white dessert for Christmas or New Year but as they say, better late than never. Actually I made this lovely Almond coconut cake as a surprise for my husband to serve it after New Year’s dinner. He is a huge fan of Ferrero Raffaello confectiones. If you want to see a smile on his face just give him a box of Raffaello, and he will literally devour them in no time. I know that homemade cake would not be able to create that unique combo of crispy shell filled with milk cream and blanched almond, covered with flakes of coconut that my husband simply adores, but I was willing to try anyway.
Almond sponge was just a breeze to make, but the filling gave me a headache. First of all it takes much more time to make than I thought because I had to wait for hours to chill it. I got stuck late into the night in my kitchen because I started to make a cake in the evening.

And second, the filling was so thin and runny even after it was cooled so I almost gave up and throw it in the sink. But around two in the morning I decided to pour the filling mixture over the cake layers because the cake is making in the mold anyway, and went to sleep. All night I turned in bed and could not wait for morning to see what happened. I thought that I would just find a huge mess in the fridge. I thought the filling will never thicken enough. It would be such a shame, I am food blogger so we have desserts all year round and now we will celebrate New Year’s Eve without dessert!!! My husband will not stop joking at my account until next year. I waited for the morning with the same anxiety as a child when waiting to finds a gift from Santa Claus under the Christmas tree.

But this Almond coconut cake was the best surprise. When I remove the cake from the mold it was the most beautiful cake I have ever made. The filing was so smooth, thick and luscious. I was relieved and I can’t describe you how happy and pleased was my husband when he tried his dessert

12 thoughts on “Almond Coconut Cake”

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Judy Knight says:
January 28, 2016 at 4:41 am
This cake looks amazing !!!!!! However, I am deathly allergic to anything citrus. Is it necessary to add the lemon juice to this recipe? Could I substitute anything else for the lemon juice? Thanks...Judy
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1. Vera Zecevic says:
  January 29, 2016 at 2:44 pm
  Hi Judy, you can skip the lemon juice, add about 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract.
  Reply
leen says:
February 1, 2016 at 5:28 pm
I will try this for my bday this week. Where do I get gelatin to buy? I wish you had posted a picture of the filling texture .By the way this cake looks absolutely scrumptious and moist. Can't wait to try it.
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Melanie @ Gather for Bread says:
February 9, 2016 at 6:58 pm
I'm a sucker for coconut. This looks amazing!
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Simone Vecchio says:
February 15, 2016 at 5:19 pm
I made this recipe and really have quite a few critiques. If you plan on trying this, take heed and read this: 1. First of all, be prepared, this will be a very small cake if you follow the instructions. Regardless, I think the batter should have been doubled to get decent thickness for the layers. I followed her instructions to the letter and the layers were so thin. They were almost like crackers when I pulled them out of the oven, not at all sponge-like. I had two spring form pans that were both too big. A 7-inch springform is not the standard size. Its really small. So, my solution was to cut the layers into rectangles (I ended up with 6) and put them in a loaf pan. If you go this route, a handy tip is to cut a piece of parchment and line it across the pan with the edges overhanging. That way you can easily lift it out of the pan. 2. I think the toasted ground almond is a very strong flavor for such a light cake. I wasn't quite sure I liked that flavor. If you toast the almonds (and I would very lightly, barely toast them), I would also toast the coconut that gets put on at the end. I think this would carry that toasted flavor better throughout the cake. An alternative would be to not toast the almonds and just ground them as is, especially if you're not going to toast the coconut. 3. I tripled the whipped cream frosting part of the recipe. I wanted my entire cake covered with the whipped cream. 4. Beware, the Rafaello's were impossible to find. I tried 6 different stores: grocery, Italian markets, and even a chocolate shop. The owner at the chocolate shop which has candy from all over the world said that the company that producer has had some production problems and that may be why they're so hard to find. 5. My last critique is for the author of this recipe. Please proof read your recipes before posting them. They are so many typos and I think that's really unprofessional when you're have your own blog. Proofread! 6. I will say, that the taste of this recipe was good. My crowd enjoyed it. I'm very critical of my baking (and I suppose other's as well). At one point, I was ready to throw the layers away after they came out of the oven. I'm determined and don't let a recipe get the better of me. So, I persisted and had to make some adjustments. My point is, you should't have to do that in a recipe unless it's by personal choice.
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Jan says:
February 16, 2016 at 7:41 pm
Thank you for the feedback, Simone. I was hoping to make this for a party I will be attending in three days. Do you think it would be better to make the layers in a traditional 9 inch round cake pan and then slice them in half to form two layers vs. baking in a 10x14 and cutting circles from the sheet? Did you use parchment to bake them in the 10x14? I'm an experienced baker, however, not with sponge cakes.
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1. leen says:
  February 25, 2016 at 1:30 am
  Jan did you make this cake? And how did it turned out? Are the layers too thin as the previous comments?
  Reply
2. Simone Vecchio says:
  February 26, 2016 at 1:43 am
  Jan, sorry for the late response. I just saw your post. If you haven't made this yet, I think that's a good idea to make them in a round pan, but I'm not sure how easily you'll be able to cut them in half. If you try it that way, I would definitely double the batter recipe so you can make thick enough layers to slice through them. I did use parchment and the parchment was stuck to the layers. I think I forgot to mention how it took me forever to peel the parchment off and it kept tearing. I would still use parchment but maybe spray it with cooking spray. Hope this helps. I'm interested to see how yours turned out.
  Reply
Janet says:
February 24, 2016 at 6:40 pm
Your picture shows the thick layer of frosting on the outside edge of the cake, it is not the whipped cream. It is definitely the same as the filling material. There are no directions for this. How was that accomplished?
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1. Vera Zecevic says:
  February 26, 2016 at 11:40 am
  Hi Janet you should place the ring of springform pan or pastry ring around the bottom layer, it has larger diametar than other three cake layer so the frosting will fill the edges.
  Reply
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