Coconut Drip Cake

Some call this a "drip cake," a "poke cake," "tres leches." I call this cake the most amazing cake I've ever eaten. Seeing that our wedding cake was coconut I've dreamed of a good coconut cake since my wedding 14 years ago and sadly haven't come close. That was until yesterday. I was a little hesitant when I made this cake for a few reasons but the main reason I like a moist, but not soggy cake. I hate eating cake and ice cream together because the ice cream melts and ruins the texture of the cake. So when I read this recipe although all the ingredients together sounded delectable it would really depend on the final product to see if the texture was too mushy.  It wasn't, instead it was the most moist, delicious, coconut cloud on a plate.  This is only the second time I've used cake flour and I will say I can never go back to All Purpose flour for my cakes or cupcakes, the cake flour really does make such a difference. I also will never use vanilla extract again now that I've found vanilla bean paste, it is the experience of actual vanilla beans without having to buy and scrape my own vanilla beans.

Cake
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk

Topping
1/2 can condensed milk
1/2 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
Generous handful of unsweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350
Grease a 9X9 cake pan
Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In bowl of stand mixer beat butter and sugar at medium speed until pale and fluffy
Beat in vanilla
Add eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping the down the bowl after each addition
At low speed beat in buttermilk until just combined
Add flour mixture in three batches mixing until each addition is just incorporated
Spread batter evenly in pan and tap on counter to eliminate air bubbles
Bake 35-40 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean
Cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes
Use a fork to puncture all over the surface of the cake
Combine condensed milk & coconut milk and pour all over cake
Let cake cool in the fridge for at least 2 hours
Using whisk attachment on a stand mixer, gently whip up cream, sugar and vanilla bean paste
Spread over cake and cover with a sprinkling of shredded coconut.
***The original recipe was double this, so 4 cups + 2 tablespoons cake four, 1 full can condensed milk, 1 full can coconut milk, etc. However seeing that there was only a few of us to serve I didn't want a ton of cake. If I was taking this to a party I would definitely double this recipe.