There’s no doubt that the Louisiana Crunch Cake is a southern classic that ranks up there with crack cake and other favorites. It is a golden yellow cake with a delicious coconut glaze with nuts that crunches in all the right places.
The other great thing about this cake is you can tweak the ingredients as you like. If you prefer one type of nut over another, swap it. Test with plain glaze or with the nuts and coconut in it. You can easily adapt it to your family’s tastes.
Ingredients
Pan Preparation
- Solid shortening, or softened butter
- Almond flour
Crunch Layer
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetened coconut flakes
Cake
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Butter, salted
- Granulated white sugar
- Large eggs
- Buttermilk
- Vanilla extract
Glaze
- Powdered sugar
- Milk, or cream
- Vanilla
- Ground coconut
- Ground almonds
- Ground cashews
If you can’t get your hands on almond flour to prepare the pan, you can use plain dried breadcrumbs instead. Many of the vintage recipes use this but I always prefer almond flour.
How to make Louisiana Crunch Cake
Prepare the baking pan by lighting coating with shortening or softened butter then coat with almond flour and tap off any excess.
Crunch layer
- Combine ¼ cup sugar with ¼ cup of coconut flakes and spread across the bottom of the cake pan.
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Mix the flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a small bowl.
- In a larger bowl, mix the softened butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy then add the eggs, one at a time and mix in thoroughly (don’t forget to scrape those sides!)
- Add ⅓ of the flour mixture and mix well then add ½ of the buttermilk to the batter and mix.
- Add another ⅓ of the flour and mix then the last of the buttermilk and vanilla.
- Finally, add the last of the flour and combine then spread the batter over the crunch layer in the pan.
- Place in the oven and bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and cool for 30 minutes or more before adding the glaze.
Glaze
- Remove from the cake pan once cooled.
- Mix all the glaze ingredients until smooth and coat the cake.
- Once set, you can slice up and serve.
Recipe notes
Using almond flour to dust your cake pan will make it so much easier to get it out of the pan, especially when using a bundt pan.
For me, the ground nuts and coconut in the glaze are what make the Louisiana crunch cake live up to its name. But you can take them out and have a crunch-free glaze if you prefer. Or add a few toasted coconut flakes and nuts to the top of the glaze to finish.
Can you use a Bundt pan instead?
I use a tube pan for this recipe, but you can definitely use a Bundt pan to create this cake. Just remember that the glaze will mostly drip off the cake with this style of pan because it doesn’t create a flat top.
How do you store the cake?
Once the crunch cake glaze is set, you can store it in a sealed container in the fridge for up to three days. But I’m betting it won’t last that long!
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Louisiana Crunch Cake
Ingredients
Pan Preparation
- 2 tablespoons solid shortening or softened butter
- 1/4 cup almond flour for dusting the baking pan
Crunch Layer
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes
Cake
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup butter softened, salted
- 2 cups granulated white sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons milk or cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/4 cup ground coconut
- 1/8 cup ground almonds
- 1/8 cup ground cashews
Instructions
Pan Preparation
- Prepare a tube pan, or a Bundt pan, by lightly coating with shortening or softened butter. Coat the entire pan with almond flour. Lightly tap out the excess coconut flour.
- Crunch Layer
- Combine 1/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of coconut flakes and sprinkle evenly over the bottom of the cake pan.
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
- Add the softened butter and granulated sugar to a large mixing bowl and beat until it is light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one a time. Mix well between each egg and scrape the bowl as needed.
- Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, and mix well.
- Add 1/2 of the buttermilk to the batter and combine.
- Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix until the flour is incorporated.
- Add the last half of the buttermilk and the vanilla. Mix well.
- Add the remaining flour mixture and mix just until combined.
- Spread the batter over the coconut and sugar in the pan.
- Place into the preheated 350°F oven and bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes.
- Remove the cake from the pan.
Glaze
- Combine all the glaze ingredients and mix until smooth.
- Coat the cake with the glaze.
- Once the glaze has set you can slice and serve the cake.
Notes
- The ground nuts and coconut in the glaze are what gives this cake a crunch around the entire cake but can be omitted. Be sure to add some toasted coconut and nuts to the finished cake though.
- Plain dried breadcrumbs can be used in place of the almond flour for preparing the pan, many vintage recipes call for breadcrumbs instead.
- This can also be made in a Bundt pan. More glaze will run off the cake though since the top of the cake isn’t flat. Top with toasted coconut or toasted nut pieces if desired.
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