This Matcha Cake with Coconut Cream recipe yields a moist, almond scented matcha cake filled with a coconut white chocolate pastry cream and covered in a vanilla swiss meringue buttercream. I made this in a Betty Crocker Bake‘n Fill dome pan for my as seen on tv nostalgia series on social media, but it can also be made with traditional round cake pans.
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This cake came about from just wanting to have fun with flavors that sounded good to me. The design was inspired by Yip.Studio. I thought the “bloops” on their cakes looked like clouds, so I wanted to do a sky-inspired design. Originally, I set out to make the buttercream lime flavored, but I stopped because I realized the acid from lime juice would turn my frosting a different color when it interacted with the butterfly pea powder coloring. If you don’t care about the color, I still do think lime would pair really well with this matcha coconut cake.
This is the second dome cake I’ve done this year, my first being this Peanut Butter Corn Cake. I love the shape, but I also always love a traditional round cake, and this recipe can be either shape. If you’re into coconut in cakes, but not matcha, you might like my Black Sesame Coconut Cake.
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Why you'll love this recipe
- The matcha cake is made using the reverse creaming method, so the fat coats the flour and helps it stay moist for days.
- The coconut cream has a great natural coconut flavor and is not too sweet.
- The frosting is naturally colored.
Ingredients
- Granulated sugar sweetens the cake and the buttercream.
- Whole milk brings moisture to the cake.
- Cake flour provides a tender crumb.
- White chocolate gives flavor and structure to the coconut pastry cream.
- Eggs provide structure to the cake, pastry cream and buttercream.
- Baking powder gives rise to the cake.
- Matcha powder flavors the cake.
- Unflavored gelatin thickens the pastry cream.
- Coconut milk flavors the pastry cream.
- Vegetable oil keeps the cake moist.
- Kosher salt and vanilla balance the overall flavor profile.
- Toasted milk powder gives flavor depth to the cake.
- Cornstarch thickens the pastry cream.
- Almond extract flavors the cake.
- Unsalted butter is the base of the buttercream.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Substitutions and variations
Here’s how to customize this matcha cake with coconut cream to your liking:
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- Cake flavor — omit the matcha, if desired, or change the added extracts. Orange blossom water or coconut extract in the cake would be nice too.
- Different oil — use any neutral oil for the cake. Olive oil can also be used, but will impart flavor on the finished product.
- Buttercream — instead of Swiss meringue buttercream, make an American buttercream or coconut ermine frosting instead.
- No toasted milk powder — omit without issue or use untoasted, if desired.
- Another filling — omit the coconut cream and fill with the buttercream, or fill with something else, like corn pastry cream.
This recipe has not been tested with any substitutions or variations. If you try any, please let me know how it turned out by commenting below!
How to make matcha cake with coconut cream
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 9-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with a circle of parchment paper**. In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk together the vanilla and almond extracts with the matcha to remove clumps. Once smooth, add the room temperature milk and egg whites and stir to combine. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the vegetable oil. Use a hand mixer to combine the oil with the dry ingredients until they are evenly coated and no dry pockets of flour remain. The texture should be like wet sand. Add the milk mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. Do not over mix. Pour the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. Bake for 23-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cakes. Cool for 20-30 minutes in the pan before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely. If using the Bake ‘n’ Fill pan, cool the dome in the pan.
Step 2: Place the white chocolate in a medium heat proof bowl. Set aside. Add 1 tablespoon of cold water to the gelatin in a small bowl. Set aside. In a medium bowl, vigorously whisk together egg yolks and cornstarch until the mixture has lightened in color, about 2 minutes. Bring the coconut milk to a boil in a medium saucepan. Once it boils, remove from the heat. Wait 3 minutes. Slowly dribble ¼ cup of the warm milk into the egg yolk cornstarch mixture while whisking constantly. Continue whisking and dribbling in the rest of the milk slowly until it is all in. Add the bloomed water gelatin mixture and whisk to combine. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and heat over medium-low, whisking constantly, until it thickens. Be careful not to let it boil (come to 212°F) as gelatin loses its strength at this temperature. It should be able to coat the back of a spoon. Once desired thickness is reached, remove from the heat and pour the mixture over the white chocolate in the heat proof bowl. Stir to melt the chocolate completely. Emulsify the mixture with an immersion blender*** until the pastry cream is lighter in color, about 3-5 minutes. Pour the pastry cream on a sheet pan, optionally on top of a silicone baking mat. Spread it thin, and cover completely with plastic wrap, letting it touch all of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for 45 minutes or until completely cool.
Step 3: If using a Bake‘n Fill pan, pour the cream directly into the cavity of the cake, cover with the bottom layer of cake and chill the entire cake for at least 3 hours or up to overnight. Make the buttercream according to Serious Eats’ instructions. Color the buttercream, as desired. I set aside 1 cup of plain buttercream for garnishing, then I used 1 teaspoon of butterfly pea powder to color the rest of mine. Level the cake layers by cutting off any domed parts with a serrated knife that may have developed when baking. Carefully round off the edges of the top layer of cake with a serrated knife to make the dome, if making a dome cake. Treat the top layer the same as the first layer if you are making a traditional layer cake.
Step 4: Put a small dollop of the buttercream on a serving plate or board (this will help the cake stick and not slide around). Place the first layer of cake on top. Pipe a tall, thick dam of buttercream around the top edge of the cake to keep the cream in. Fill with coconut cream. Place the second layer of cake on top. Cover the entire cake with a thin layer of the buttercream to create a crumb coat to seal in any crumbs. Freeze for 5-10 minutes to seal this coating. When the crumb coat is set, pipe or dollop more frosting around the outside. Spread evenly with an offset spatula before scraping down the outside edge with a bench scraper. You may need to do this several times to get a smooth look. I found that keeping the bench scraper in a bowl of warm water before using it (drying it off in between) helped remove air bubbles on the outside and made smoothing even easier. If you need a visual on how to frost a traditional layer cake, check out this video. If you want in-depth instruction on frosting dome cakes, I highly recommend Bayou Saint Cake’s Dome Cakes for Everyone online course. Garnish as desired. I piped large “bloops” of the plain white buttercream all over and then dusted a 1:1 mixture of matcha and powdered sugar over them.
Hot tips
- To toast milk powder, heat over medium in a clean pan, stirring often, until golden.
- If using the Betty Crocker Bake‘n Fill Pan, be sure to thoroughly grease each component and dust with a mixture of flour and matcha.
- If you do not have an immersion blender you can use a traditional blender or food processor, or skip the blending step.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can use two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans. See recipe card instructions for further detail.
Yes, omit without issue or use untoasted milk powder.
This cake needs to be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container due to the cream filling. I designed the cake recipe so that it will stay moist even after being in the fridge. Feel free to eat it cold or let it come down to room temp so the frosting will be creamier.
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Lastly, if you make this Matcha Cake with Coconut Cream recipe be sure to leave a comment or give it a rating. I love to see when people make my recipes, so please tag me @youthsweets on Instagram if you post!
📖 Recipe
Matcha Cake with Coconut Cream
Ingredients
Matcha cake
- 2 teaspoon almond extract optional
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoon matcha powder (8g)
- 1 cup whole milk room temperature (241g)
- 6 egg whites room temperature (about ¾ cup, 180g)
- 2 ¼ cups cake flour (256g)
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar (350g)
- 1 ½ tablespoon milk powder toasted*
- 4 teaspoons baking powder (17g)
- 1 ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup vegetable oil (163g)
Coconut white chocolate pastry cream
- 4 egg yolks (64-68g)
- 25 g cornstarch (3 tbsp)
- 400 g full-fat coconut milk (1-14.5 oz can)
- 170 g white chocolate chips or chopped (1 cup)
- ½ teaspoon unflavored gelatin granulated
Frosting and garnish
- 1 batch Swiss meringue buttercream from Serious Eats’
- 1 teaspoon butterfly pea powder more as needed
- 2 teaspoon matcha powder
- 2 teaspoon powdered sugar
Instructions
Do ahead
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 8 or 9-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with a circle of parchment paper**.
Make the cake
- In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk together the vanilla and almond extracts with the matcha to remove clumps. Once smooth, add the room temperature milk and egg whites and stir to combine.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the vegetable oil. Use a hand mixer to combine the oil with the dry ingredients until they are evenly coated and no dry pockets of flour remain. The texture should be like wet sand. Add the wet ingredients mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. Do not over mix.
- Pour the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans.
- Bake for 23-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cakes. Cool for 20-30 minutes in the pan before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely. If using the Bake‘n Fill pan, cool the dome in the pan.
Make the pastry cream
- Place the white chocolate in a medium heat proof bowl. Set aside. Add 1 tablespoon of cold water to the gelatin in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, vigorously whisk together egg yolks and cornstarch until the mixture has lightened in color, about 2 minutes.
- Bring the coconut milk to a boil in a medium saucepan. Once it boils, remove from the heat. Wait 3 minutes.
- Slowly dribble ¼ cup of the warm milk into the egg yolk cornstarch mixture while whisking constantly. Continue whisking and dribbling in the rest of the milk slowly until it is all in. Add the bloomed water gelatin mixture and whisk to combine.
- Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and heat over medium-low, whisking constantly, until it thickens. This can take 3-5+ minutes. Be careful not to let it boil (come to 212°F) as gelatin loses its strength at this temperature. It should be able to coat the back of a spoon.
- Once desired thickness is reached, remove from the heat and pour the mixture over the white chocolate in the heat proof bowl. Stir to melt the chocolate completely. Emulsify the mixture with an immersion blender*** until the pastry cream is lighter in color, about 3-5 minutes.
- Pour the pastry cream on a sheet pan, optionally on top of a silicone baking mat. Spread it thin, and cover completely with plastic wrap, letting it touch all of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for 45 minutes or until completely cool.
- If using a Bake‘n Fill pan, pour the cream directly into the cavity of the cake, cover with the bottom layer of cake and chill the entire cake for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
Make the buttercream
- Make the buttercream according to Serious Eats’ instructions.
- Color the buttercream, as desired. I set aside 1 cup of plain buttercream for garnishing, then I used 1 teaspoon of butterfly pea powder to color the rest of mine.
Assemble
- Level the cake layers by cutting off any domed parts with a serrated knife that may have developed when baking. Carefully round off the edges of the top layer of cake with a serrated knife to make the dome, if making a dome cake. Treat the top layer the same as the first layer if you are making a traditional layer cake.
- Put a small dollop of the buttercream on a serving plate or board (this will help the cake stick and not slide around). Place the first layer of cake on top. Pipe a tall, thick dam of buttercream around the top edge of the cake to keep the cream in. Fill with coconut cream. Place the second layer of cake on top.
- Cover the entire cake with a thin layer of the buttercream to create a crumb coat to seal in any crumbs. Freeze for 5-10 minutes to seal this coating.
- When the crumb coat is set, pipe or dollop more frosting around the outside. Spread evenly with an offset spatula before scraping down the outside edge with a bench scraper. You may need to do this several times to get a smooth look.
- I found that keeping the bench scraper in a bowl of warm water before using it (drying it off in between) helped remove air bubbles on the outside and made smoothing even easier. If you need a visual on how to frost a traditional layer cake, check out this video. If you want in-depth instruction on frosting dome cakes, I highly recommend Bayou Saint Cake’s Dome Cakes for Everyone online course.
- Garnish as desired. I piped large “bloops” of the plain white buttercream all over and then dusted a 1:1 mixture of matcha and powdered sugar over them.
