Yield: 1 Mini Robin’s Egg Cake // Total Time: 1 hr. 30 min. // Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links. //
Moist, fluffy vanilla coconut 6-inch cake with a vanilla bean cream cheese frosting.
mini robin’s egg cake
a.k.a a mini coconut cake! If you’re looking for a cake for Easter but aren’t the biggest fan of carrot cake, I’ve got the perfect cake for you. This cake is ridiculously light, fluffy, and moist. It’s filled with coconut flavor from coconut milk, coconut extract, and shredded coconut and is topped and filled with the most luscious vanilla bean cream cheese frosting. And she’s a mini 6-inch cake, perfect for a small Easter celebration.
expert baking tips
weigh your ingredients
While other things can go wrong during the baking process, using a kitchen scale helps your recipe come out closer to how mine did and can be more helpful for troubleshooting if something goes wrong. Here is a cheaper kitchen scale (affiliate link) that was trusty and helpful when I was starting with a scale.
be careful when mixing the batter
It is super important to not over-mix the cupcake batter or you will end up with tough, chewy, dry cake. Using the reverse creaming method makes it more difficult to over-mix the batter, but it’s still good to be aware of how much you are mixing it. Only mix just until all of the ingredients are cohesive.
use room temperature ingredients
This is super important for allowing the batter to come together smoothly. You’ll want to take your ingredients out of the fridge about an hour before baking to allow them enough time to come to room temperature.
freeze the cake while frosting it
After you stack all your cake layers together, I recommend freezing it for 10 minutes and then frosting the outside of the cake. This allows the frosting to firm up and makes it so your cake is less likely to slide around.
mini robin’s egg cake ingredients
For the COCONUT VANILLA CAKE:
All purpose flour: for structure.
Baking powder: for helping the cake rise.
Salt: for balancing and bringing out the sweetness of the batter.
Unsalted butter: for tenderizing the cake batter. You can substitute in salted butter, just be sure to omit the extra salt in the batter.
Vegetable oil: for tenderizing the cake. If you don’t have vegetable oil on hand, you can use another neutral oil such as canola.
Granulated sugar: for adding sweetness and for locking in moisture.
Egg: for binding the batter together and adding moisture.
Vanilla bean paste: gives you those nice little specks of vanilla. You can also sub in vanilla extract here.
Canned coconut milk: for flavor, texture, and moisture. Make sure you use a canned unsweetened coconut milk and not the coconut milk that comes in a carton.
Sour cream: for tenderizing the cake, texture, and moisture. I recommend full-fat for the best results, but a non-dairy or low-fat option would work here as well.
Sweetened coconut flakes: for flavor and texture. We’ll also need more for topping the cake.
For the vanilla cream cheese buttercream:
Cream cheese & unsalted butter: the base of the frosting.
Salt: helps balance and bring out the sweetness of the buttercream
Powdered sugar: sweetens and thickens up the buttercream.
Vanilla bean paste: gives you those nice little specks of vanilla in the buttercream. You can also substitute in regular vanilla extract.
Blue food coloring: for color, if making this for easter. If you’d like a natural food coloring, you could sub some butterfly pea powder in.
Robin Eggs Candy: for topping the cake.
how to make mini robin’s egg cake
Here are a few images of the process of making this cake. You can find the full recipe at the end of the blog post.
- Beat the butter into the dry ingredients.
- Then beat in the wet ingredients.
- Divide the batter between three 6-inch cake pans, then bake.
- Once the cake has cooled to room temperature, frost it, decorate it, and enjoy!
mini robin’s egg cake q&a
can I turn this into cupcakes?
Sure thing! The full recipe of this would yield 18 cupcakes so you can scale the ingredients down to make 12 cupcakes (*.67) or 6 cupcakes (*.33).
how to store this cake
Because the frosting has cream cheese in it, you’ll need to store this cake in the fridge. It will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days, and will start to dry out after that.
why do you measure in grams?
My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.
a note on oven temperature
Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and aren’t always at the temperature that they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, or if you’ve noticed issues with how your bakes turn out vs. various recipes, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. I use this one.
tools and ingredients
You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here.
other recipes you might enjoy:
did you make this mini robin’s egg cake?
If you made this mini robin’s egg cake I would love to see it and know your thoughts! Please leave a comment and review down below, and tag me on Instagram @freshbeanbakery. If you have any questions about the recipe I will gladly do my best to answer them in the comments below!
Mini Robin’s Egg Cake
Ingredients
Coconut Vanilla Cake
- 270 g all purpose flour (2 ¼ c.)
- 1 tbsp. baking powder
- ¾ tsp. salt
- 300 g granulated sugar (1 ½ c.)
- 45 g sweetened coconut flakes (¼ c. + 2 tbsp.)
- 127 g unsalted butter cubed, room temperature (9 tbsp.)
- 100 g vegetable oil (½ c.)
- 3 egg whites room temperature
- 1 tbsp. vanilla bean paste
- 1 tbsp. coconut extract
- 135 g sour cream room temperature (½ c. + 1 tbsp.)
- 165 g canned unsweetened coconut milk room temperature (¾ c.)
Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Buttercream
- 170 g cream cheese room temperature (¾ c.)
- 170 g unsalted butter room temperature (¾ c.)
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 400 g powdered sugar (3 ⅓ c.)
- 1 tbsp. vanilla bean paste
- blue food coloring
For decorating
- 90 g sweetened coconut flakes toasted (¾ c.)
- Robin Eggs Candy
Instructions
Coconut Vanilla Cake.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Generously butter three 6-inch cake pans and coat them with sugar.
- To a medium sized mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, sweetened coconut flakes, and cubed butter. Use a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to beat the mixture together until the butter has completely combined with the dry ingredients and no lumps remain.
- Add in the oil, egg whites, vanilla bean paste, coconut extract, sour cream, and coconut milk.* Whisk the ingredients together just until a cohesive batter has formed.
- Distribute the batter evenly between the three cake pans (~415g per pan.) Bake for 28-33 min., or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out with only a few moist crumbs.
- Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for at least 20 minutes, then flip them out on to a wire rack to finish cooling to room temperature. At this point, you could let the cakes cool to room temperature, wrap them tightly with plastic wrap, and finish the cake the next day.
Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Buttercream
- (Save this step until you're ready to frost the cake.)
- Optional: toast the coconut for the cake. Add the coconut to a small saucepan set over medium heat and occasionally stir until the coconut is toasted. Set aside.
- Add the cream cheese, butter, and salt to a medium sized mixing bowl. Use a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to beat the ingredients together for 3-4 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Slowly beat in the powdered sugar until all of it has been used.
- Add in the vanilla bean paste and a little bit of blue food coloring. Mix until well combined, adding in more blue food coloring as desired.
- Frost the cake: If the cakes are not flat on top, level off 2 of them. Place a small amount of frosting down on a cake platter, then place a leveled-off cake on top of it.
- Top the layer with ~½ c. of frosting and spread it to the edges. Add on another leveled-off cake on top, then top it with another ½ c. of frosting. Add on the last cake layer.
- If your frosting is super soft and the cake seems to be wobbly, stick the cake in the freezer for at least 10 minutes, or until it firms up, before frosting the top and sides.
- Frost the top and sides of the cake, then coat around the bottom with some of the toasted coconut flakes.
- Add a circle of toasted coconut flakes on top of the cake, then place some Robin Eggs candy in the center. Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that the nutrition facts are only an estimate and may vary based on different brands of ingredients and any substitutions made.
This looks amazing. Can I substitute the vegetable oil with coconut oil? We don’t eat vegetable or canola oil. Thanks 🙏🏼
Thank you so much! I haven’t tried it but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work! 🙂
Can I make cake ahead of time and freeze and defrost later to frost it?
Hi! I haven’t tried but if you wanted to make some of it ahead of time I would recommend freezing the cake layers individually, then defrosting it and frosting the cake once you’re ready. I hope this helps!