A fun delicious cake reminiscent of the popular drink this Malibu Sunset Layer Cake is a great cake for the long hot summers!
So there is a little thing called cake and I love it. Lately I’ve been making cakes of all sorts. Layer, sheet, cup, bundt and poke. Like I just can’t stop myself with all these cakes you guys! Oh did I ever tell you that we started a new CAKE WEBSITE!?! Yeah you’ll need to check it out HERE! Anyways, my body is hating me right now, I’m supposed to be getting beach body ready and that IS NOT HAPPENING. But I like food too much so I don’t think that it will really every happen. So I’ll just be comfortable in my cover up and once piece for now.
Maybe one day my body will take over my love for all things sweets, but as of right now I think sweets are what’s doing it for me, obviously in moderation but I could and would never cut it out entirely! I just can’t, its like telling a dog not to bark, it just in my blood and I was bred that way and there isn’t anything anyone can do about it, okay?! Okay!
So there is a popular drink called a Malibu Sunset and my husband really likes them, so I figured that it would be such a fun flavor to turn into a cake as well. Oh and must I mention that this cake actually lives up to the name because there is Malibu right in the cake itself! Yes sir, this is a booze filled cake, even know the majority of the alcohol burns off, the flavor is still there! And the flavor of this cake is so so so good.
So it starts with a coconut Malibu cake, then it is frosted with 3, yes THREE different flavors of buttercream! Why 3 you may ask, well I really don’t have an answer to you, I needed 3 different color of frosting so it turned out to be 3 different flavors as well, but don’t worry, they all really play together nicely which is awesome because this cake just works, and it’s pretty. I mean come on, you can’t deny the beauty!
You know when I make cakes I’m always like…oh this is the best cake I’ve ever made, blah blah blah…well I’m going to change it up a little this time and say that this has to be one of the prettiest cakes I’ve ever made. This is also my first “ombre” cake. So don’t knock my skills people, lol. I tried and for it being my first attempt I don’t think I failed too badly. I mean the top layer of white could have come down and around better but all in all I’m satisfied with how it turned out!
I topped it off with some cherries and some shaved coconut to finish it off, but you absolutely don’t have to do that, you can top it off or just leave it plain. For awhile there I was literally going to do nothing with the top of this cake, not even those pretty swirls, but then I was like…ok thats a little boring. I mean I was Pinteresting hardcore over ombre cakes and all of them were just plain, no topping…so it took me a little bit to decide to just be a rebel ya know!
So if you want a fun and flavorful cake for the summertime that is reminiscent of a fun fruity drink then this Malibu Sunset Layer Cake is right up your alley, not too terribly hard, it feeds a crowd and it’s so stinking flavorful to boot!!
Malibu Sunset Layer Cake
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour
- 1/2 cup room temp milk
- 1/2 cup Malibu coconut rum
- 6 large room temp egg whites
- 2 tsp coconut extract
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 sticks butter , softened
Vanilla Buttercream:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3-4 cups powdered sugar
- 3-4 Tbs milk
Cherry Buttercream:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1/4 cup grenadine
- Red food coloring
- 3-4 cups powdered sugar
Pineapple Buttercream:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1/4 cup pineapple juice
- Orange food coloring
- 3-4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and spray and line 2 8" round cake pans with cooking spray and parchment paper.
- Mix together milk, Malibu, egg whites and extracts in bowl until blended well, set aside.
- Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and mix together with hand mixer.
- Add butter and continue beating until combined.
- Add in your milk mixture and beat until blended.
- Pour batter evenly between two cake pans.
- Bake for 30 minutes for until center is set and springs back when touched.
- Remove from oven to cool.
Vanilla Buttercream:
- In bowl add your butter and shortening and mix with hand mixture until light and fluffy, add in your vanilla and continue to mix.
- Add in your powdered sugar 1 cup at a time then add in milk until you reach desired consistency. Set aside.
Cherry Buttercream:
- In bowl add your butter and shortening and mix with hand mixture until light and fluffy, add in your grenadine and continue to mix.
- Add in your powdered sugar 1 cup at a time then add in more grenadine until you reach desired consistency add in your food coloring until desired color is reached. Set aside.
Pineapple Buttercream:
- In bowl add your butter and shortening and mix with hand mixture until light and fluffy, add in your pineapple juice and continue to mix.
- Add in your powdered sugar 1 cup at a time then add in milk until you reach desired consistency add in your food coloring until desired color is reached. Set aside.
To Assemble:
- On a turn table or cake stand layer one of your 8" cakes.
- Spread half of your vanilla buttercream over the top util about 1/2" from edge.
- Using a flat large ribbon tip pipe 1 cup or more of your cherry buttercream around bottom of cake, reserve remaining cherry buttercream.
- Again using the flat large ribbon tip pipe 1 cup or more of your pineapple buttercream around the top side of the cake, reserve remaining pineapple buttercream.
- Using a cake or bench scraper press edge against your cake and spin cake to blend the two frostings together until smooth.
- Add the remaining vanilla buttercream to the top of your cake and spread over and blend with the edge of your pineapple buttercream.
- Add the remaining cherry and pineapple buttercream to another piping bag fitted with a large open star tip, orange on one side and red on another and pipe some out until the two colors blend.
- Pipe swirls around top of your cake (You may have leftover frosting).
- Garnish with cherries and coconut flakes if desired.
Nutrition
Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.
Tina
Thank you so much for a wonderful recipe! I made it for a coworker who requested a ” beachy, boozy cake”. This was PERFECT!
Toni
Can these be made into cupcakes?
Toni
Hi Alli
Will this cake layer well? If I wanted to either double the recipe or use one layer in a cake with other flavours like chocolate and maybe a red velvet?
Thanks in advance.
Katie
I had a question on if you could add Malibu to the frosting too make it more boozy?
Tornadough Alli
That should not be an issue at all! Just make sure to add more powdered sugar to adjust to any liquid additions.
Jessica
Goofy question… do you let the cakes cool completely in the pans and maybe on a cooling rack, or do you take them out after a certain time? Thank you!!
Tornadough Alli
I would let cool 5 minutes in pan then remove and full cool on a cooling rack 🙂
Wade
This looks great! Any particular tip you recommend for icing the sides?
Tornadough Alli
It would probably be easiest using a wilton 789 tip with is long and flat.
Katherine
This cake is so beautiful! I love the colors. And Pineapple Buttercream! Yum.
Christy S.
This not only looks delicious, but it’s such a beautiful cake. All of your recipes are incredible.