Coconut Guava Cake

A helping hand

I wanted to do more for the fire victims. These are my neighbors, my friends. I’ve shared several things we can do to help on my Facebook page. But I want to continue to help. So, I decided to create this recipe.

A good blogger friend of mine at Shockingly Delicious lost her home in the fires. And, though I don’t know these bloggers, I understand they lost their homes as well: The Heart of Food and Wine, Leisure Fan Club, and Cooking on the Weekends. One of the ways I can help her and the other bloggers is by inviting my readers to visit their sites. They will all continue to make money from visits to their blogs.

I did a little looking into foods that are well known in the Malibu area. One of the foods that popped out at me was a Coconut Guava Cake. It’s from a restaurant in Malibu, and though my version is quite different than what’s served in the restaurant, I’m super happy with the results.  

It’s almost like a light Guava Cheesecake on top of a beautiful coconut cake. The guava frosting is adapted from Eva Bakes.

If you can’t find guava paste, I have a link to Amazon for you. If you’re in another country and that doesn’t work, or you want to try something else, quince paste or a thick guava jam would be my next suggestions with similar flavors. The next thing I’d suggest is a thick seedless strawberry jam or preserves. Know that the flavors will change a bit with each of those subs.

How to make

The full printable recipe ingredients and instructions are available in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. You can find important photos, as well as tips and tricks in the post.

prep work

Separate the eggs. Cold eggs will separate better than room temperature eggs. Save the egg yolks for another use.

At least 30 minutes before making the cake, take the butter, eggs, and sour cream out of the refrigerator and let them come to room temperature. Measure out the rest of the ingredients.

Position the oven rack to the center position. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Prepare the 9-inch cake baking pan with non-stick spray and parchment paper.

Make the cake

Sift the dry ingredients together. Whisk the salt in, and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. The mixture should be very pale yellow after mixing.

Add in the extracts. Slowly add in the egg whites.

Mix the coconut milk and sour cream together in a small bowl. Alternate adding the dry ingredients into the bowl in three additions with the milk/sour cream mixture in two additions, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix on medium speed between additions until fully incorporated.

Pop the batter into the cake pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool the cake in the pan completely on a cooling rack before turning out of the pan and frosting.

Make the frosting

Use a stand mixer or a hand-held mixer to whip the cream until you achieve stiff peaks, and set aside.

Next, you’ll whip the cream cheese, then whip in the sugar and salt, and red food coloring if desired. You can skip the food coloring, but it makes such a pretty pink color.

Soften the guava paste in the microwave for a few seconds, or on the stove in a small saucepan.

Mix the softened guava paste into the cream cheese.

Then, gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.

Frost the cooled cake using an offset spatula. Chill the cake for at least 2 hours before serving. The chilling will help the frosting set up. Garnish with shredded coconut.

Notes

Store the cake covered in foil or plastic wrap in the fridge for up to 3 days.

The cake can be made into cupcakes if you want. Cupcakes will take about 18-25 minutes to bake, and will make about 12 cupcakes. Don’t forget to line the cupcake pan with paper liners and spray the inside of the liner with cooking spray.

Do you love coconut? You gotta check out my Toasted Coconut Ice Box Cake, Gluten-free Coconut Muffins, and Coconut Meringue Cake with Lemon Curd Filling.