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Active Time
1 hr
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Total Time
2 hr
Ambrosia may sound exotic, but it's simply chilled fruit (typically oranges or bananas) tossed with coconut and sugar. In some homes, it is served as a salad as well as a dessert. Here, food editor Alexis Touchet put her own spin on this southern classic by bringing cake into the picture, and moving the oranges to the filling and pressing the coconut into the frosting.
Ingredients
Makes 10 to 12 servings
For cake
For orange filling
For seven-minute frosting
Special Equipment
Make cake:
Step 1
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour cake pans, knocking out excess flour.
Step 2
Sift together flour (2 3/4 cups), baking powder, and salt into a bowl.
Step 3
Beat together butter and sugar with an electric mixer (fitted with paddle attachment if using a stand mixer) at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then beat in zest and vanilla and continue beating 5 minutes more. Reduce speed to low, then add flour mixture and milk alternately in 4 batches, beginning with flour mixture and mixing until batter is just smooth. Divide between cake pans, spreading evenly.
Step 4
Bake cake layers until they begin to pull away from sides of pans and a wooden pick or skewer comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in pans on racks, then invert cake layers onto racks and cool completely. (Leave oven on for toasting coconut.)
Make filling while layers bake:
Step 5
Whisk together eggs in a heatproof bowl until combined well.
Step 6
With clean dry whisk, stir together sugar, cornstarch, and a pinch of salt in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart heavy saucepan, then whisk in water and juices until smooth. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking, then reduce heat and cook at a bare simmer, whisking constantly, 2 minutes (mixture will be thick).
Step 7
Add half of hot juice mixture to eggs in a slow stream, whisking, then whisk egg mixture into juices in saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, whisking, just until it reaches a boil. Remove pan from heat, then add butter and zest, whisking until butter is melted. Chill filling, its surface covered with a buttered round of wax paper (buttered side down), until cold, about 30 minutes.
Make frosting:
Step 8
Spread coconut in a shallow baking pan and toast in oven, stirring occasionally, until golden, 12 to 15 minutes.
Step 9
Beat together egg whites, sugar, water, corn syrup, and a pinch of salt in a large metal bowl with a handheld electric mixer (clean beaters if necessary) until combined. Set bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and beat mixture at high speed until it holds stiff, glossy peaks, 5 to 7 minutes. (Humid weather may necessitate additional beating time.) Remove bowl from heat, then add vanilla and lemon juice and continue beating until frosting is cooled and very thick, 6 to 10 minutes.
Assemble cake:
Step 10
Halve each cake horizontally with a long serrated knife. Put 1 layer on a cake stand or large plate and spread with about 3/4 cup filling. Stack remaining cake layers using about 3/4 cup filling between each layer. Spread top and side of cake with frosting and coat cake with coconut, gently pressing to help it adhere.
· Cake layers (not split horizontally) can be made 3 days ahead and chilled, wrapped individually in plastic wrap. · Filling can be chilled up to 8 hours. Stir before spreading. · Frosting can be made 4 hours ahead and chilled, covered. · Cake can be assembled and frosted 2 hours ahead.
Leave a Review
Reviews (31)
Back to TopMade this cake for a special occasion. It was a great success. I did make the layers and the filling ahead of time, and cooked the frosting on the day of assembly.
graciev
New Orleans LA
4/26/2015
I just made an Ambrosia Layer cake, as a B-day cake. All I got was HOW GREAT IT WAS. It was cleaned up in nothing flat; they left nothing behind not even a crumb. Now for the making of the Cake, all went well, but the making of the frosting, this recipe needs to be updated. I do not know just how many out there still have a hand held mixer, but all I have is a, 5qt stand mixer. As for taking my mixer bowl and placing, it in saucepan with hot water, that worked out but the getting it mixed was a problem. What I did, is mixed it up on the stand mixer, once it was mixed, I placed the mixing bowl in the saucepan with hot water, (now I used an IR Thermometer) and brought the mixture up to (123 F.). At this point, I took my mixing bowl and replaced it onto my stand mixer with the whisk attachment, and on high, I whisked it up to the WHITE GLOSSY PEAKS while on the stand.
BHomen
King City, Calif
10/16/2014
Loved this recipe! Made it yesterday for my mom's birthday. Recommend baking the cake day before decorating. Think I'll use 8 inch pans next time, and I know the 7 minute frosting is supposed to be like the marshmallows in an ambrosia salad, but I think I'll use a Swiss meringue buttercream instead of 7 minute frosting (7 minutes-hah!)
Anonymous
WNY
10/13/2012
i made this for Christmas dinner as I wanted a special dessert. If you follow the recipe precisely (and I agree with the earlier reviewer about cake flour and fresh baking soda), you will bake a delicious and unusual cake. I think it's the perfect amount of sweetness, it's not cloying. Yes, it does take some effort, but it's worth it taste-wise and looks-wise!
bricci
nyc
12/27/2011
Thanks for the great recipe. Just tried it and it came out awesome!
dnas78
NYC
5/17/2011
The cake was delicious, the filling tasty and the frosting divine. However, I don't think they went together very well. I felt the cake was too heavy for the light tasting curd and fluffy frosting. A lighter cake recipe would have suited me better.
lucypositano
Toronto, On.
4/26/2011
This cake is wonderful!! I made it for Easter brunch so I had to make it in advance and it turned out terrific. I baked the cake and made the filling on Friday; made the frosting and assembled the cake Saturday. I had no problems whatsoever with the cake not being high enough as some have mentioned. Also, the day I made the frosting it was raining - I added a 1/4 tsp of cream of tarter and I ended up with a marvelous, fluffy frosting. Other than that, I didn't change a thing with the recipe.
Anonymous
North Carolina
4/24/2011
Great cake! I deceased the sugar on the frosting and filling by 1/4 cup. Friends and family loved it.
neekol9988
4/17/2011
Wowee Zowee. If you are drawn to this cake, by all means, make it! I found so much of this recipe to be intimidating: citrus curd, stove-top made marshmallow/meringue type frosting, cakes that may or may not rise, and "pressing coconut into the frosting," which sounded incredibly messy. None of my fears proved to be right. In fact, I am a novice cake maker, and this is only the second time that I have ever made a cake from scratch. It turned out wonderful-- I followed the recipe to a T. The layers were thick and airy, though I too found that it needed 30 minutes instead of 20-25. I made it for a tropical fruit nut, so I also added one layer of mango and one layer of pineapple to the curd layers. And yes, it was easy to "press the coconut" into the frosting on the sides, just use a light touch. It is a day-long process, so you better enjoy baking to make it!
lekaty
Oakland, CA
4/9/2011
Great flavor in this cake. The coconut gives it a really nice touch. I had trouble with the cake layers. The cake just did not rise so I was unable to slice it in half to have four layers. I just did two layers. I think, next time, I will use a piece of parchment paper to line the pans.
babel39
plymouth, ma
8/14/2010
A really really sweet cake. The filling and the frosting were a bit too sweet for me.
Anonymous
6/26/2010
Wonderful!! I made this recipe into cupcakes to suit the occasion. I still used the filling and just injected it in with small pastry tip and bag right through the top since the frosting covered that. They were excellent!! Definately better the second day after everything had a chance to sit together overnight. Very moist and can't wait to make it again! It was a huge hit with everyone!!!
TaylorElla
Metamora, IL
6/16/2010
Wow! Made it for my mother's birthday - everyone loved it! Filling is tangy - cake is even better the second day!
hiyatoots
4/13/2009
这是一个绝对漂亮,美味的蛋糕。我公司ree with some of the other reviewers in that it was time consuming (but it seems like a lot of from scratch baking, with filling and frosting, etc. is). I don't know that it is any more time consuming than any other layer cake one might make, however. I really loved the frosting though - some other reviewers did not. Apparently seven minute frosting is a classic (didn't know this) - my mom learned how to make this in home ec in high school in the early 60s, and my grandma used to make cakes with this frosting all the time. It is super sweet, fluffy and covers any lumps and bumps you might have made in your cake really well. I will probably hang onto the frosting recipe to use on other cakes. I would absolutely use fresh orange zest in the filling and the cake - don't substitute that stuff in the jar. That is what makes it especially good (besides the frosting). Made this to bring to an Easter dinner and everyone loved it, even the chocoholics. Every bite served was gone. It's a great "spring-y" cake for any occasion this time of year.
missbecky2006
4/12/2009
haven't tried this, but will...just wanted to say to LENJC from New Haven, CT ---Thankyou Thankyou...I cut and pasted your sage advice...will think of you often and well !!! Just what I needed to hear with my novice-self. New to cake baking, but have great interest (love those podcasts too!). I have a great recipe for chocolate buttermilk cake, but find that it is a bit dry and could really be a bit higher, I bet I am overmixing. Will try the cake flour tip too...I guess cake flour could never be wrong, right?
starfaced
3/1/2009
