Mini Coconut Cakes with Maple-Coconut Italian Meringue Frosting

These fluffy, cloud-like coconut cakes are topped with Coconut Maple Italian Meringue Buttercream to become the most charming single-serving mini cakes.

If you prefer a full-size coconut cake instead of minis, see the Coconut Cream Cake recipe on this site.

With the holidays approaching, I find myself surrounded by tiny white coconut cakes — a winter-y, festive project that’s as pretty as it is tasty. These mini cakes feel a bit like miniature wedding cakes, and the combination of tender coconut cake with coconut-maple Italian meringue buttercream is truly irresistible.

I’ll be honest: these are best for bakers who enjoy decorating. If you like taking an afternoon to pipe, frost, and arrange delicate details, these will be pure joy to make. If you want a quicker treat, consider simpler mini cake recipes instead, since frosting lots of small cakes can be time-consuming and requires patience.

The cake is baked as a large sheet cake and then cut into rounds using small cutters. I used a set of double-sided round cutters in several sizes so I could make a variety of minis — some single-layer, some stacked — and decorate each one differently. Decorating is the fun part: gather your spatulas, piping tips, and sprinkles and enjoy the process.

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What you need to know about frosting and decorating tiny cakes

The smaller the cakes, the trickier they are to cover neatly. Use a small offset spatula and start with plenty of buttercream. If you try to frost a tiny cake with too little buttercream, the spatula will pull crumbs and make a mess. With more buttercream, you can gently pat and smooth the frosting, then remove excess for a clean finish.

If you plan to coat the cakes in toasted coconut, you don’t need to worry about making the buttercream perfectly smooth — the coconut will disguise small imperfections.

Make a lot or a few mini coconut cakes

This recipe yields enough batter to fill a large 21 x 15-inch sheet pan, which can be cut into many mini cakes depending on the cutter sizes you choose. If you need fewer cakes, the recipe scales down easily; one exception is the egg whites — the original uses nine egg whites, so when halving the recipe consider using five egg whites as a practical substitute.

A quick note about Italian Meringue Buttercream

Italian meringue buttercream is a favorite for good reason: it’s silky, stable, and not overly sweet. The coconut maple variation used here is especially lovely — maple syrup complements coconut surprisingly well and adds depth to the frosting’s flavor. If you haven’t tried Italian meringue buttercream before, it’s worth making once; you’ll likely come back to it again.

Used in this recipe

• Large 21 x 15-inch sheet pan
• Small offset spatula
• Cake decorating set (piping tips, couplers, etc.)
• Stand mixer (6-quart is convenient for larger batches)
• Silver or pearl sprinkles (optional) for decoration

More holiday recipes

• Mini Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes
• Individual Almond Cakes with Cranberry Sauce
• Mini Ginger Snaps with Sorghum and Brown Sugar
• Perfect Profiteroles
• Wine-Poached Pear and Almond Tart
• Lemon Ricotta Olive Oil Loaves
• Mini Butterscotch Eclairs
• Eggnog Pots de Creme
• Cranberry Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes
• Mini Cranberry Bundt Cakes with Lemon Glaze

This recipe uses many egg whites. Save the leftover yolks for custards or pots de crème such as eggnog pots de crème, chai vanilla pots de crème, or a crustless custard tart.

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📖 Recipe

Mini Coconut Cakes with Coconut Maple Italian Meringue Buttercream

Yield:
15–30 mini cakes (depending on cutter size)

Prep Time:
1 hour 30 minutes

Cook Time:
35 minutes

Total Time:
2 hours 5 minutes

Fluffy mini coconut cakes topped with Coconut Maple Italian Meringue Buttercream make delightful single-serving desserts.

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 ½ tablespoons baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons table salt (or 2 teaspoons kosher salt)
• 2 large eggs + 9 large egg whites, at room temperature (save yolks for another use)
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons coconut cream, at room temperature
• ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons coconut milk, at room temperature
• 3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 ½ teaspoons coconut extract
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 9 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 9 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1–2 cups sweetened shredded coconut, for sprinkling
• 1 batch Coconut Maple Italian Meringue Buttercream (see instructions for flavoring)
• Silver sprinkles (optional) for decorating

Instructions

1. Grease a large 21 x 15-inch sheet pan with coconut oil. Line the bottom with parchment and grease the parchment. Lightly flour the pan.
2. Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C).
3. Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
4. In another bowl, whisk the whole eggs, egg whites, coconut cream, coconut milk, vanilla, and coconut extracts until combined.
5. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar, melted butter, and coconut oil on high for 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl. Add the dry and wet mixtures in alternating additions, starting and ending with flour: flour, egg mixture, flour, egg mixture, flour, mixing only until combined after each addition. Scrape the bowl as needed.
6. Line the oven rack with foil to catch any drips. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 25–35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Cool the cake completely in the pan on a wire rack.
8. While the cake cools, prepare the Coconut Maple Italian Meringue Buttercream.
9. Toast the shredded coconut in a dry skillet over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until about one-third to one-half of the coconut is golden. Transfer to a plate to cool.
10. Use round cutters to cut the cooled sheet cake into mini cakes in the sizes you prefer.
11. Frost each mini cake with the buttercream and finish with toasted coconut and optional silver sprinkles.

Notes

• Save leftover egg yolks for custards or pots de crème such as eggnog pots de crème, chai vanilla pots de crème, or a crustless custard tart.

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