Even coconut haters love this cake. It's just that good. I first made this cake for my Creative Director's birthday, and since then I've been asked to make it roughly 8 zajillion times. I have not had the heart to throw the scraps away even once. Seriously. Just try to dump a piece of this into the trash without weeping. Impossible.

Actually, pretty much all the recipes in this book are that good: Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes. Buy it.

Coconut Cake (adapted from Sky High)
Makes an 8-inch triple-layer cake (supposedly for 12-16 people)

For the cake
5 egg whites
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups cake flour
2 1/3 cups sugar
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, at room temp.
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

For the pastry cream
1 1/2 cups half and half
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
2 tbsp flour
2 tsp vanilla extract

For frosting
fresh whipped cream (1 cup heavy cream, 1 tsp vanilla, and sugar to taste, whipped in a chilled bowl)
sweetened shredded coconut

1 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter 3 8-inch cake pans and line with parchment.
2 Whisk the egg whites slightly. Add the milk and vanilla and mix thoroughly.
3 With a mixer on low speed, beat together the dry ingredients to mix well and break up any lumps. Add the butter and coconut milk and beat until light and fluffy, on medium speed.
4 Add the egg white mixture in 2 or 3 additions, mixing just to incorporate. Divide the batter among the three pans.
5 Bake for 30 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool the cakes for 10 minutes in their pans, then turn onto a rack.

6 To prepare the pastry cream, bring the half and half to a simmer in a saucepan.
7 Whisk together the sugar, eggs, egg yolk and flour in a separate bowl.
8 Pour the hot half and half into the bowl in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Transfer the mixture back to the saucepan.
9 Whisk over medium heat until mixture thickens and comes to boil, about 5 minutes. Boil 1 minute. Pour into a bowl, mix in vanilla, and chill in the fridge (give it a few hours to set).
10 Once everything's cool, I like to assemble this cake with the pastry cream in-between the layers, frost with fresh whipped cream, and cover the whole thing with sweetened shredded coconut. YUM