Tom Cruise Cake: The Viral White Chocolate Coconut Bundt Cake Everyone’s Obsessed With

 

A couple of years ago, my nephew came back from a Christmas party raving about “the Tom Cruise cake.” He’s famously frugal, so when he found out the shipped cake cost $130, he was equal parts impressed and horrified, especially since he didn’t get a bigger slice. That story stuck with me. As a coconut lover who will happily bake a cake any day of the week, I knew I had to try it.

 What I discovered is that this isn’t just any coconut cake, it’s a rich, dense white chocolate coconut Bundt cake from Doan’s Bakery in Woodland Hills, California. Every holiday season, Tom Cruise sends hundreds of these decadent cakes to his inner circle of A-list friends. Well, la di da. Cruise himself reportedly skips it due to his intense training, but the rest of Hollywood can’t get enough.

 It starts with a moist sour cream pound cake base loaded with sweet white chocolate chunks and shredded coconut. Then it’s finished with a thick, tangy cream cheese frosting and generously coated in toasted coconut flakes. The result? A show-stopping dessert that’s somehow both luxurious and comforting.

 While nothing beats the original from Doan’s, the viral popularity has inspired fantastic copycat recipes. This is my own adapted version, tweaked for flavor and texture, and I truly believe it’s every bit as delicious, if not better. I’m not going to lie to you, though, it’s work. On paper it doesn’t look like so much work, in reality, it is. It does serve a lot of people, and it freezes quite well, so that, partially anyway, makes up for it.

Tom Cruise Cake Recipe (Copycat) 

Cake:

3 c. flour

1 3.4-oz. pkg. instant coconut cream pudding mix

½ t. salt

¼ t. baking soda

1½ c. butter, room temperature

2¾ c. sugar

6 large eggs

2 t. vanilla extract

2 T. coconut extract

8 oz. sour cream

1 c. white chocolate chips, chopped*

Cream Cheese Frosting: 

½ c. butter, softened

1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 t. vanilla extract

1 t. coconut extract

4 c. powdered sugar

1 8-oz. pkg. shredded coconut

 Preheat oven to 325°F. Generously butter and flour a 15-cup Bundt or tube pan. I used this one.

 Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

 Cream butter, sugar, vanilla, and coconut extract until light and pale yellow, about 2–3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping the bowl as needed.

 Mix in the coconut pudding mix. On low speed, alternate adding the dry ingredients and sour cream until just combined. Fold in the white chocolate by hand.

 Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes (cover loosely with foil toward the end if browning too quickly). The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

 Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

 Frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add extracts and powdered sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Spread generously over the cooled cake and press toasted coconut into the frosting.

Slice, serve, and enjoy the compliments—this cake is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.

 *I pulsed mine in my mini ninja chopper.

My thoughts:

 This cake was good, very good. I like a tasty pound cake, and this one is very dense, heavy, deeply flavored, and one that deserves the praise it gets. Is it worth $130 shipped? Don’t be ridiculous! Is it worth the trouble? I’m not quite so sure. My favorite coconut cake is the Coco Lopez Cake, a recipe for which I have right here on the blog. It is simple to make, absolutely delicious, freezes beautifully, and always gets raves. So my advice would be to make that one, and just nod at this recipe in passing.

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