By now, I am sure you realized my love for coconut and the flavors it adds to savory and sweet dishes. I love its versatility and the subtle sweetness it brings as well. I dedicated an entire dessert to this tasty fruit and it came out extremely delicious! gave these squares a base layer made of cake mix and topped that crust with a creamy layer using cream cheese, coconut flakes, and coconut flavoring for optimal taste and textures! If you are a coconut fan, then you have to try this chilled dessert! It's extremely easy and tastes rich and creamy!
Once the dish has cooled to room temperature, sprinkle some powdered sugar on top for the final look before cutting them into squares!
Because of the cream cheese and butter in this dessert, it needs to be kept refrigerated unless it's being served, for desired flavors!
I add coconut to almost every dessert when I can. I am a big texture person when it comes to food and I feel like coconut does just that without overpowering the meal with its flavors. The beautiful white color can also add nice contrast as well when mixed in with fruits and jams as well.
For this dessert I used sweetened coconut. If you're looking for a lighter dessert however, that isn't as sweet, you can easily switch it to fresh or unsweetened coconut! It still tastes delicious and you get that coconut macaroon feel which is what inspired me when making this dessert! You can top this dessert with some fresh fruit as well, such as strawberries, or blackberries to amp up the sweet flavors!
Prep Time: 15 minutes Yields: 1 Dozen Squares
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
For the first Layer (Crust):
1 Box White Cake Mix, unprepared
1 Box Instant Pudding Coconut Cream Flavor, unprepared
1/2 cup Butter, melted
1 Egg
For the second Layer:
8 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
3 Eggs
1/2 cup Butter, melted
2 tsp. Coconut Extract
2 cups Powdered Sugar
2 cups Shredded and Sweetened Coconut
Powdered Sugar, for garnish after bake
INSTRUCTIONS:
In a medium bowl, mix together the white cake mix, coconut pudding mix, butter, and egg with an electric mixer. Mix until just incorporated.
In a 9x13 greased dish, line it with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper as well.
Pat down the crust onto the parchment paper lined dish and spread it out evenly, reaching the corners and edges. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a medium bowl, mix the cream cheese with an electric mixer until it is creamy, about 1 minute. Add in one egg at a time and continue mixing ingredients together.
Add in the butter, coconut extract, and powdered sugar and mix the ingredients on medium speed until you get a cake batter-like consistency.
Fold in the coconut shreds evenly into the batter. Pour the batter over the prepared crust.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until edges are golden brown. If the center still jiggles, like a cheesecake, that's okay, remove it and it will solidify when cooling down.
Allow the dish to cool to room temperature on a cooling rack.
Sprinkle the dessert with powdered sugar and cover the dessert with aluminum foil of plastic wrap. Refrigerate to chill for 2-3 hours before cutting and serving.
Enjoy!
Comments