Coconut Cake Layers:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Prepare your cake pans with cake goop or cake release. Cover the bottom and sides of the pan. You could also line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper if you like, but it's not necessary if you coat your pans thoroughly with Baker's Joy.
3. To make the cake batter, start by adding all of your dry ingredients to a medium mixing bowl. Give it a quick whisk to combine. Of course, you can also use the bowl of a stand mixer. 
4. Combine all wet ingredients except the milk in a separate bowl.
5. While mixing on medium-high speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and the coconut milk to the wet ingredients mixture. Mix until you get a well-combined, smooth texture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
6. Distribute the batter evenly between three 6-inch prepared pans. 
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.
8. Allow to cool completely on a cooling rack. Once they are cool, level each layer with a cake leveler or large serrated knife. This step is to remove any dome from the top of the cake so you can stack the layers evenly.

Coconut Buttercream

1. Cream together the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Cream for 4-5 minutes on low speed or until light and fluffy. 
2. Add in confectioners sugar one cup at a time while the mixer is on slow speed. 
3. Add in the extract and heavy cream next. Mix on high speed for 4-5 minutes. This will give you more of a "whipped" frosting. 

Toasted Coconut

1. Add 1-1/2 cups if sweetened coconut flakes into a large baking pan.
2. Heat the pan on medium heat and turn every few minutes to make sure the coconut does not burn on one side. Once the coconut is nice and golden brown you can remove from the pan. For more details, I have an entire post dedicated to How to ToastCoconut here. 

To Assemble the Cake Layers

1. Place level cake onto a board or a cake stand. Top with about 1 cup of coconut buttercream and level so that you have an even layer.
2. Add the next cake layer and continue. Add a thin layer of buttercream on the outside of the cake and allow it to chill in the fridge for 20-30 minutes, or until the buttercream is set. This is the crumb coat and will keep all of the crumbs contained so they will not show through on your final buttercream layer. On this cake, the sides of the cake aren't so important because we are going to be covering it in coconut anyway! 
3. Apply another thicker layer of buttercream over the entire cake and smooth. Add toasted coconut flakes to the sides while the buttercream is fresh so that it sticks easily.
4. Serve and enjoy!