The Easy Way To Upgrade The Flaky Finish On Coconut Cake

Whether you're making a raspberry coconut cake or choose to stick with the format of a more traditional coconut cake recipe, sometimes a tried-and-true dessert calls for a little extra oomph. While coconut cakes can be relatively easy culinary projects to master, even a perfectly frosted cake can benefit from the addition of flaky, crunchy pieces of toasted coconut.

Sprinkling desiccated coconut onto the surface of a cake is a quick and proven decorating approach, but taking the time to toast the coconut flakes can offer a delicious texture and taste to your treat. If you think the added step of toasting will add extra overall time to your kitchen work, fear not: Toasting shredded coconut is a quick process. In less than five minutes, those white pieces of store-bought coconut can be converted into bites of golden heaven in a microwave or a hot skillet on your stove top – no extra oven steps required.

Coconut shreds can also be toasted in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, yet similarly to toasting the pieces in the microwave or in a skillet, you'll want to keep an eye on the pieces so the flakes do not burn. Keep shaking the coconut pieces around on the pan to ensure an even coat of color across the surface of each flake. In less than 10 minutes, you'll have flakes that only need to be cooled off before they land on the top of your finished cake.

Take our advice: Toast more coconut than what you think you will need to decorate your coconut cake. The toasted coconut that you do not use can be folded into muffin batter, sprinkled on top of pancakes, added to PB&Js, or tossed into your next batch of crunchy homemade granola. We only see winning when toasted coconut is involved.