Written, Photographed & Recipe by Maggie Kapustin

La Madeleine Country French Café Coconut Cake Recipe

La Madeleine Country French Café Coconut Cake Recipe – As a self-proclaimed home chef and baker, I’m always on the hunt for two things: memorable restaurant dishes and dishes that are adequately inspiring to make me want to try my own at-home versions.

You’ve been there, right? Taking that last bite of something that totally tantalizes your taste buds, you try to guess the ingredients, and—even if only for a fleeting moment—you vow to try this at home. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not, but either way, you search Pinterest and Facebook for a copycat recipe. If you’ve ever gone so far as to actually follow the recipe you find on social media, you probably have mixed reviews. I find that Pinterest and Facebook offer just as many recipe fails as successes.

Assuming (okay, knowing) I’m not the only one in this situation, I decided to take the bull by the horns after ordering and devouring our very favorite cake at La Madeleine Country French Café in Columbia, Maryland. A smallish chain, La Madeleine French Café has several locations across the country, the Reston and Alexandria, Virginia locations being the closest to DC.

For the hundredth time, my daughter and I came very close to standing on our café chairs for the big announcement that, yes indeed, La Madeleine makes the best coconut cake in the world. Well, in our world, at least. We should be embarrassed to visit La Madeleine as frequently as we do, always for the same piece of cake (their Sacher torte is exquisite as well, but we’ll tackle that another day), but we have no shame. It’s too delicious to practice restraint; we’re no good at restraint anyway.

So, here’s what I did: I made my own version of this coconut cake at home. Heaven knows, I’ve tasted it enough to memorize every texture, every morsel of coconut, every mouthful of custard— every everything.

I’m pleased to report that the home version was all I wanted it to be. It was creamy, moist, flavorful, and decadent. It’s also important to add that my version was created as a shortcut recipe that works for novices and chefs alike. That being said, I did use a doctored cake mix to make it a bit less daunting.

Was it as good as La Madeleine’s version? Not quite, but it was close. La Madeleine’s version of the cake was just a bit more moist than mine, with thinner layers. The original icing also had a slightly sturdier feel, with a more noticeable texture to the sugar addition. For a second try making this cake, I would definitely make the layers thinner in order to allow the custard to fully seep between each. For the icing, I actually preferred the at-home version because it was smoother. Switching from confectioners’ sugar to granulated sugar would probably have made the difference for those who like more textured icings. That being said, the version I created was definitely adequately moist and very creamy and smooth, which made it similar to the original and most assuredly worth repeating! You’ll still want to visit the café for the unparalleled original version, but if you also want to try something like it for yourself, I think you’ll agree that this recipe is a close second.

Here’s a pic of my slice from La Madeleine, then scroll down for my easy copycat version! Bon Appétit!

La Madeleine Country French Café Coconut Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

1 box white cake mix (I used Pillsbury Moist Supreme)

3 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup canola oil

1 tsp. almond extract

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1- 14 oz. bag sweetened, flaked coconut

1- 3 oz. box Jello Cook and Serve coconut custard mix

2 cups whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup confectioners sugar

1 – 8 oz. container mascarpone cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine cake mix, eggs, oil, and buttermilk. Mix until well combined and smooth. Add almond extract and 1 tsp. of vanilla extract, and mix just until combined. Pour evenly into three floured and greased 9-inch round cake pans. Bake until center springs back and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on wire racks.

Prepare coconut custard according to package directions, then place in refrigerator to set.

Whip heavy cream, confectioners’ sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, and mascarpone cheese until peaks form.

On a serving plate, place one layer of the cake, flat side up, and spread generously with coconut custard. Sprinkle with coconut. Place second cake layer on top of first and repeat custard and coconut (Note: You might have to take a knife to cut off rounded top of this layer. If so, make sure to put the cut side down.). Place the final layer on top (cutting to flatten if necessary) and cover with heavy cream/mascarpone icing. Also ice the sides of the cake. Coat entire cake with coconut, including sides. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Hope you enjoyed the La Madeleine Country French Café coconut cake recipe!