Coconut Frosting

"Cream Cheese, Butter, and Coconut Extract"

This coconut frosting is part of my cake frosting recipes collection. I originally made it for my coconut layer cake . After posting I realized this would go well as a frosting on my lemon layer cake too. (We use coconut quite a bit in our Italian dessert recipes.)

The frosting is no complex recipe. I was making a coconut layer cake for my step-sons 11th birthday. He was very intent on the word "layer" and very focused on "a lot of coconut".

I took a simple butter and cream cheese mix and just used coconut extract as flavoring. *Poof* Happy 11 year old. Ok, I was really pleased too. If you don't have coconut extract see the substitution section below for ideas. And I have a photo gallery of all the frosting recipes I have on my site. That is right next to the recipe.

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Coconut Frosting

YIELD: Adequate to frost a 9 inch round double layer cake

Ingredients

* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

* 8 ounces cream cheese

* 1 teaspoon coconut extract

* 4 1/2 -5 cups confectioner's sugar

* 1 bag of coconut (optional)

Procedure

* Let butter and cream cheese soften to room temp

* Cream both of them together along with the extract or your option see below .

* Gradually add in the powdered sugar

* You may find the frosting too soft to ice right away - so stick it in the fridge about 10 minutes. OR you can frost the top and let the frosting slide down the sides - and patch in before serving.

* I'd give yourself about 25 minutes leeway time just to be safe.

Wondering about the optional bag of coconut?

It's more for looks. It won't take away from the flavor of the icing. It's just and extra add-on for impression or "pretties". You can do a couple of things here: .

toast it

soak it in food coloring (dry it real well after soaking)

leave it plain ( un-colored and un-toasted) for a white look. See my coconut layer cake for that look .

No Coconut Extract?

I can't say I had coconut extract on hand before my step-son's birthday - but I had Malibu Rum! You could use it but watch the moisture level when adding it. The thing is - this is a common flavoring/extract. It's not that tough to find. :-) One other thought is coconut milk. I've known a couple people to have this in their pantry because they cook Thai food every now and then. The good news is - this isn't a hard extract or flavoring to find.

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