This moist coconut bundt cake is made with chunks of sweet white chocolate, frosted with a rich cream cheese frosting, and topped with toasted coconut flakes. The real $130 Doan’s Bakery cake was made famous by Tom Cruise. This took quite a bit of time to recreate. We tried several recipes and landed on this list winner below with some optional variations.
Sweet, delicate, rich, and very delicious.
Scroll down for the recipe
I toasted some of the coconut and added shaved white chocolate on top which was not on the original. I just thought it looked pretty.
The original cake at Doan’s Bakery below.
41 comments
Jeannie
Thank you so much for the recipe I’m definitely going to make what brand of white chocolate do you recommend thanks
Cheryl Conrad
I’m assuming it’s at 350 Degrees to bake it?
Melonie
Recipe says 325. Let us know how it turns out.
Shawnie Keeton
Yummy it’s going to be a White Christmas !! Thank you!
Mia Staly
Thank you for sharing this Christmas gem. It looks like it will be a new tradition at our house, thanks to you and your beautiful daughter. Merry Christmas!❤️
Kathryn
Thank you, can’t wait to try this amazing cake. Happy Holidays.
Ana Rivas
Thank you for sharing!!!! Can’t wait to try it!!!
Mireya
Thank you for sharing the recipe. I will for sure try this for Christmas. I love that you added the shaved chocolate on the top. Very classy, very demure!
Mari
Looks so good, can’t wait to try this recipe. Thank you! Happy Holidays!
Caroline
Can you use a 12 cup Bundt pan? Or is that to small?
Angela
You can, as I have and just use the left over mix and made a few cup cakes. I’m actually going to make cup cakes for the holidays. As CC are easier and they look pretty on my desert table with all the other desserts.
Carolyn Wall
At what temp and for how long do you cook the cupcakes?
Angela
Thank you for sharing!
Jackie
I just made the cake and it took longer than 1hr to cook. The middle was not quite cooking. I ended up having to scoop some of it out so it could cook. Will update on the taste when it’s cut. It smelled a little burnt but looks nice and golden. Fingers crossed.
Dhead
Thank you for sharing!!
Selena
I didnt like this recipe at all. Cake was too dense and it was a huge disappointment. What do I need all this cream cheese and all this icing sugar for? It shouldn’t have required so much. 5 eggs for a cake? That’s too much. Wasted so many ingredients for something that didnt taste good.
Joan
This was incredible! We made it last night for my husbands holiday work party and it was a hit! I had extra frosting but I normally don’t use a lot so I would have cut that in half but wonderful recipe! Thank you – Joan
Joan
We made this today and it’s very thick and dense like the original. I didn’t toast my coconut and used buttermilk and it was delicious. I also didn’t have the jello but the original wasn’t too coconut flavored so I liked it. Thank you.
Elisapeta Vann
Thank you so much! Looking forward to making this for the holiday season.
Emoni
I used this recipe in a company bake off and I came in second place! (I would’ve gotten first place if more people liked coconut haha) this cake is awesome.
Lea Frazier
This is delicious! I actually made two cakes with this recipe. I had a 6 cup and a 10 cup pan. The amount of icing this recipe made covered both perfectly.
Allison Gartshore
Can I use canned coconut milk instead of cream of coconut?
Julie
If you’re struggling finding the cream of coconut it’s in the cocktail section for drink mixers. I’d say no to the coconut milk, two totally different things.
Cat Manning
Turned out lovely! May be my oven but took way longer than an hour and 8 mins at 325! I did not have the coconut cream pudding so I used vanilla and for the frosting I used 3 c powdered sugar and it was great!
Ali
I’m confused where does the coconut go? In the frosting or only outside of the cake?
Janie
I don’t know what Selena is talking about because this cake is perfection. It’s also very easy to make. The cake is a dense, rich pound cake that is as delicious as it is festive. Going into our Christmas recipe vault!
Maggie K
Just made this cake for the first time and it turned out great! I thought the directions were straight forward and easy. And I love the icing, it’s not too sweet which compliments the cake well!
Karen Keen
So. This family does not, I repeat does not like coconut. But I love macaroons so I thought ya know what Im making this. My family didn’t even leave me a piece!!!! Absolutely amazing!!!! I didn’t use all the coconut pudding, I did a 3:1 vanilla coconut ratio of pudding and I did put a TBSP of the milk from the cream into the icing. Amazing recipe, thank you from the converted!!!
Christina McCormic
Does anyone know whether to store in the fridge or room temp?
Candace
Best coconut cake I’ve ever made. I didn’t have cream of coconut, but I used coconut milk and it still came out delicious. I also used vanilla pudding instead of coconut pudding. I took the foil off the top of the cake after an hour and let it bake another 15 minutes.
I think 16 oz of cream cheese was too much, though, as I had a ton of frosting left over. Still amazing overall. I will be baking this again!
Carrie
I made this for a family get together, it was very good but extremely dense. I would say it’s more like a pound cake than anything. If you like a dense cake, this one’s for you. If you’re looking for a light and airy coconut cake, this isn’t it.
Carmen Milashouskas
OMG … truly one of the best and the most deliciously decadent cakes I have ever made. My husbands first words were ‘amazing’. You can taste all of the layers of flavor and pure LOVE that goes into making such a gem. I used a bar of Ghirardelli white chocolate and 3, 9” pans for a triple layer cake. Also added vanilla beans to the frosting. Too bad I can’t attach a few pics or I would.
THANK YOU!!!
Vanessa
Hello, I’ve made this twice now – massive hit… definitely a new family classic – will make another at Easter and attach ears etc
Amy
I want to make this cake ahead.Can this cake be frozen before frosting it?
HL
Made this for my mom’s 83rd birthday. It was a huge hit. My sister requested the recipe because her husband loved it and wanted it for his birthday. My adult son who rarely eats cake had two slices. I used white chocolate flavored pudding and 6oz Giradelli as well as plain coconut milk which worked just fine. Mine baked for an hour and 20 min so be prepared. It takes a loooong time to cool. As for the frosting, made and used entire recipe. It was just right because the cake was not super sweet. I would definitely recommend this moist and delicious cake and will be making it again.
Dorris
This cake is insanely delicious!!! We make it twice a year!!
Viki
I’ve reread this a few times and still can’t find the step where the white chocolate is added. What am I missing?
Anon
It’s in step number 5
Melissa
Step 5 fold in white chocolate
Jenna Cable
Does anyone have a UK alternative to this- “package instant coconut cream pudding“
Barbara
This cake is great for coconut lovers. Would also highly recommend The Barefoot Contessa’s layer cake version. BTW, canned coconut milk works fine in place of coconut cream. As with all cake baking, make all ingredients are room temperature or you will not have optimal texture.