Copycat Tom Cruise White Chocolate Coconut Bundt Cake
My new Copycat Tom Cruise White Chocolate Coconut Bundt Cake is an incredibly delicious, moist, and flavorful copycat recipe of the famous Doan’s Bakery White Chocolate Coconut Bundt Cake Tom sends to all of his friends at Christmas. The catch? My version doesn’t cost $130 and, according to my kids, it’s better than the original! I can’t argue with that!
The Tom Cruise Cake
Have you heard about the viral Tom Cruise cake? It’s a white chocolate coconut cake from Doan’s Bakery – a cake so delicious, Tom apparently gifts it to all of his friends at Christmas. In fact, several of those said friends have talked about it on social media and talk shows. The world of foodies hasn’t stopped talking about it, but many people aren’t trying it. Why? Because ordering the real deal has a hefty price tag on it: nearly $130.
Lucky for me, I got my hands on a few slices thanks for a friend who had it delivered for her birthday!
Doan’s Bakery White Chocolate Coconut Bundt Cake
The original Doan’s Bakery version of this cake is described on the Goldbelly website as:
“The White Chocolate Coconut Cake is Doan’s most famous creation and for good reason. They start with a ring of moist, luxurious coconut bundt cake, mix in chunks of sweet white chocolate, layer on rich cream cheese frosting, and then dust it all over with toasted coconut flakes. The result is a delicious, pillowy cake good enough to derail the strictest Hollywood diets.”
I was eager to try this famous cake, but was unfortunately left underwhelmed. (Granted, I know the cake had been shipped, but I still had high hopes.)
My Review of the Doan’s White Chocolate Coconut Bundt Cake
Okay, real talk – I taste tested the Doan’s cake on Instagram stories last week and had a hard time hiding my lack of excitement for this cake. Here’s why:
- The cake itself lacked coconut flavor. To me, it tasted more like a dense yellow cake.
- The description says the cake has white chocolate chunks, but I never tasted one.
- I did think the cake was fairly moist, which won it some points. (After reading the description, we can thank the sour cream for that.)
- The buttercream was super duper sweet and had a strong cream cheese flavor. I felt like it overpowered the cake.
After tasting the real deal, I wondered if I could make a more flavorful, more moist cake – one that resembles the original version, but takes it up a notch.
White Chocolate Coconut Bundt Cake
It took me a few rounds of experiment to get the texture and flavor I wanted. In the first round, the cake was too fluffy and airy. In the second round, the cake was too dense. In the third round the texture was just right and the flavor was perfectly on point.
Here’s a look at what I did:
- For fat and flavor in the cake, I used half part coconut milk and half part buttermilk.
- I also added coconut emulsion to the cake to enhance the coconut flavor (feel free to substitute with coconut extract).
- Instead of chunks of white chocolate, I used melted chocolate, which gives the cake added richness.
- After pouring the batter into the pan, I topped the bottom of the cake with toasted coconut and then toffee pieces (instead of white chocolate chunks like the original – I liked the more caramelized flavor the toffee offers).
- In the buttercream, I used a mix of butter and cream cheese, but not too much cream cheese that it would overpower the other flavors.
- I also added coconut emulsion to the buttercream.
I’m so excited for you to try the recipe! Enjoy and let me know what you think!
Copycat Tom Cruise White Chocolate Coconut Bundt Cake
Ingredients
FOR THE COCONUT CAKE
- 3 cups (360 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) salt
- ½ cup (125 g) canned coconut milk, mixed before measuring
- ½ cup (120 g) buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon (16 g) coconut emulsion or extract
- 1 ¾ cups (350 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 4 ounces white chocolate, melted
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 2 egg whites, at room temperature
FOR THE COCONUT BUTTERCREAM
- 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, slightly cold
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 2 ½ cups (312.5 g) powdered sugar, measured then sifted
- 1 teaspoon (5.3 g) coconut emulsion
- Pinch of salt
GARNISH
- 1 cup (95 g) sweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup (95 g) toasted coconut, I buy mine pre-toasted from Orson Gygi
- 1 cup toffee baking bits
Instructions
FOR THE WHITE CHOCOLATE COCONUT CAKE
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a 12-cup bundt pan with nonstick spray. Dust with granulated sugar. Set aside.
- In a medium size bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a small mixing bowl, stir together the coconut milk, buttermilk, and coconut emulsion. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light in color and fluffy in texture, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Stir in the melted white chocolate, followed by the eggs and egg whites, making sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl in between additions.
- Continue to beat on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes, until the mixture gets smooth in texture and slightly bigger in volume.
- With the mixer on low speed, add ⅓ of the flour mixture, followed by ½ the coconut mixture, another ⅓ of the flour, the second ½ of the coconut mixture, and then the remaining flour mixture. Stir until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the top of the cake (which turns into the bottom) with the toasted coconut and then cover with the toffee bits (the coconut flakes need to go first so you can cover them with the toffee to help prevent the flakes from browning too much). Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs on it.
- Remove from oven and place the bundt pan on a cooling rack to cool completely. Allow the cake to cool for about an hour, until it’s room temperature, before inverting the cake on a cake stand. Allowing the cake to cool completely in the pan helps the cake to release from the sides cleanly when it’s time to take the cake out.
FOR THE COCONUT BUTTERCREAM
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and cream cheese for about 2 minutes, until lighter in color and fluffier in texture.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the sifted powdered sugar, one cup at a time, mixing a little in between each addition.
- Stir in the coconut emulsion and salt.
- Turn the mixer to medium-high speed and beat for an additional 3 to 5 minutes. The buttercream will become lighter in color and texture.
ASSEMBLY
- Spread or pipe the buttercream on top of the cake. Cover with shredded coconut.
I’m going to try your recipe next time. I made one from another and it was the most dense cake I have ever had. Needs to lighten up. Had sour cream and less butter and coconut milk. Too heavy!
Made this over the weekend. I’m not a big fan of coconut flavored cake but I had to try this as I’ve always been curious of how good “The Tom Cruise Cake” is. Me and my daughter wanted to get one so we can try it. Then I found your recipe and apparently it’s better than the original. Anyway, I baked one and everyone loved it! It’s not too sweet. It’s moist and the frosting is just perfect. The coconut taste is not overpowering. Thank you! I’m not sure if I will still get the original just to try because your recipe was so good already
yay! I love to hear it!
I love coconut and although I bake a lot, I’ve never made a coconut cake. This recipe was easy to make, following the directions, and I took it to our daughter’s house as a birthday cake for her 2 daughters. They all really liked it. But our daughter, who is slender and tries to stay away from desserts, had 5 pieces of it over 2 days. At the time she asked me not to make it again, but changed her mind a couple days ago…I’ll be making it again soon.
Can I make this completely ahead (including frosting) and freeze?
Don’t freeze the frosting.
Can I make this in 2 round cake pans? I was going to use the cake to make a bunny cake for Easter.
I would do 3 pans
Planning to make this for Easter dinner – thank you! Curious what you think about covering the whole frosted cake with toasted coconut? I have another coconut cake recipe that calls for that and it’s amazing….
Sounds delish!
This cake was so delicious! I had one problem though. On about half the cake, the coconut and toffee pieces sunk down into the cake. What would have caused this? Did I maybe not have that part of the cake mixed enough?
Can you substitute with cream of coconut?
I haven’t made this but am so excited to. How far in advance can I make this?
Make and keep wrapped in freezer!
This was such a delicious cake. Easy to make, and I loved the addition of the melted white chocolate in the cake batter. I’ve been wanting to try the “Tom Cruise Cake” for awhile, and I made this for a family member’s birthday – so good. Not too sweet and perfectly coconutty! LOVED the addition of the toffee bits on the bottom for an unexpected, sweet surprise.
Thank you so much!
I made this for a church potluck and got some really nice compliments. One woman stopped me on the way out and just raved about it! Definitely will make again. Only change I made from the recipe was chopping up the white chocolate into very small pieces and mixing it in the batter instead of melting it. I also left out the toffee chips, put the toasted coconut on top with more of the chopped white chocolate. THANK YOU for this great recipe!
I put 5 stars–I don’t know why only 2 showed up!
I see 5 🙂
Thank you so much for telling me! That’s so nice!
EXCELLENT cake that is now a top favorite of my husband and family who enjoyed this over Easter.
I followed the recipe to a T but had to bake it 30 mins longer than suggested. However it still came out perfect. Once I sprinkled on the toffee bits and toasted coconut I used my hand to press down a little to hopefully create more of a layer as I worried it would get super messy. This recipe is great!
Oh I also couldn’t find coconut emulsion or extract anywhere so ended up using vanilla extract in its place. Still beautiful!
I haven’t made this yet (but I look forward it it), but I noticed you mentioned sour cream in the intro but it’s not on the ingredients list. Did you substitute the sour cream for buttermilk? If so, why?
Sorry I don’t see where the sour cream was mentioned, but yes, I have part coconut milk and part buttermilk to add fat and moisture to the cake.
Delicious cake! Love the crunch. Flavors blend so well , nothing overwhelms. Perfection!
Hi, did you use sweetened or unsweetened coconut milk?
unsweetened!
I made this for the first time today for my husband and family. I don’t like coconut, but this cake won me over! My daughter and son in law said it was “the best cake I’ve made to date” My husband can’t stop raving about it. The texture is beyond amazing!! It deserves 10 stars👏👏