This old fashioned Vanilla Wafer Cake is the vintage recipe you remember from your childhood. Made with crushed Nilla Wafers cookies, coconut, and pecans, this dense, rich, Bundt cake is packed full of great flavor.
Yes, it sounds a bit different, but often times, different can be so, so good. And that’s certainly the case with this cake!
We swap traditional flour for crushed vanilla wafer cookies and the result is absolutely delicious. And yes, technically, there is flour in the cake as the cookies are made with flour, but you get my point.
This cake has been on the blog for years, but often gets overlooked, so I decided to give the recipe a little makeover, shoot some new images, and give it its own post.
While I can trace the history back to the 70s, I can’t find much beyond that. I’m hoping some of y’all might be able to help shine a little light on its back story. Be sure to share your memories of Vanilla Wafer Cake in the comments below!
A few things to note about this recipe:
This old recipe calls for frozen coconut. And I think it does make a difference. Frozen coconut isn’t as sweet as the shelf-stable sweetened coconut flakes you’re used to. It also has a dramatically different texture. The sweetened coconut flakes can often be stringy and chewy. This frozen coconut is super tender. It adds great coconut flavor without the sometimes weird texture.
I usually find frozen coconut in the freezer section of my grocery store right next to the frozen fruit.
If you can’t find frozen coconut, you can use 1 1/2 to 2 cups of the sweetened coconut flakes. It’s still delicious, but the texture is a bit different and the cake will be a touch sweeter.
When it comes time to crush those vanilla wafer, I typically toss them in my food processor, but a gallon zip-top bag and rolling pin works, too. If going that route, I suggest doing about half the box at a time to make sure you get them all crushed well.
This cake stores well on the counter for 4 to 5 days in an airtight container and freezes really well when tightly wrapped.
While I’ve seen other recipes that suggestion you can leave out the coconut or pecans, I don’t recommend that. I think they both are a big part of the flavor and texture of this cake, so I don’t think omitting them is a great idea. With that being said, I suppose you could swap the pecans for walnuts without much changing. If coconut and pecans aren’t you thing, maybe my Crusty Cream Cheese Pound Cake or my Caramel Pound Cake might be closer to what you’re looking for.
Vanilla Wafer Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 (11-ounce) package vanilla wafers, crushed
- 6 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 (6-ounce packages) frozen coconut, thawed (see note)
- 2 cups chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 10 to 12 cup Bundt pan.
- In a large bowl, use a mixer to cream the butter and sugar together. Add 1 egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the crushed vanilla wafers and milk and mix well. Add the coconut, vanilla, and pecans and stir to combine.
- Spread the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and bake for 1 hour and 25 minutes to 1 hour and 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs.
Notes
Michele Varney says
Can I substitute banana instead of coconut
Stacey says
Hmmm… I can’t say I’ve every tried that.
Jen says
This is top on my list to try!! Vanilla wafers are in my top 5 favorites. How did I make it this long without knowing about this cake? Thanks!!
Stacey says
Ha! Hope you’ll enjoy it!!
Annette says
Need to try this. I used to have a vanilla wafer fruitcake recipe that was a no bake cake. It had candied fruit, nuts, vanilla wafers and sweetened condensed milk. I’ll have to do some research to find it. Believe it or not it was actually pretty good and easy!
Stacey says
That sounds a lot like my Icebox Fruitcake. It’s so delicious! https://southernbite.com/icebox-fruitcake/
PattiAnn says
I have made this cake before and my mother made it also. My mom’s recipe card calls it Kay’s Cake ( Kay was a friend of my mom’s) Mom made this cake in the 1960’s.
I have always enjoyed this cake but as I got older found it to be too sweet, but I have never seen or used frozen coconut in our stores in Oregon. Maybe I will try unsweet coconut, very available or cut down on the sugar in the recipe. Vanilla wafers are also sweet.
Thanks for post…Happy Holiday’s
Sue says
Look for the frozen coconut. You may be surprised to find it.
Stacey says
Hope you’re able to tweak it to your liking! Happy Holidays, PattiAnn!
Barbara says
I’ve never heard of this cake but I am making it! Can’t wait to taste it!! Thanks Stacey.
Stacey says
Hope you’ll enjoy it!!
June says
What about a glaze or topping? Any ideas?
Stacey says
It’s pretty dense and sweet, so I’m not sure you’d need it. With that being said though, I certainly don’t think it’d be a bad idea! What about the glaze that’s on the Apple Dapple Cake? That might work. https://southernbite.com/apple-dapple-sheet-cake/
Grace says
This is a cake I have made for years around the holidays. Love it
Stacey says
It’s so good, right?
Barbara R Eubanks says
Is there anything that I could substitute for the coconut? I don’t care for coconut.
Stacey says
I’m not aware of a substitution, but you could leave it out completely.
Angela tyler says
I make these cakes for Christmas presents made up to 15
Stacey says
Wow! They are certainly worthy of gifting!
Dixie says
Good Heavens! This cake is amazing. Definitely a “hit” at our house. Thank you.
Stacey says
So glad to hear y’all enjoyed it!
Jan says
I have a recipe for Vanilla wafer cake. It was given to my by my husbands Aunt-godmother in 1980. She said this was her recipe that she made for my husbands (her godson) birthday every year. I’ve never seen or looked for it before. The only difference is hers says 1 and 1/2 cups of fresh grated coconut. I’ve made it many times and used the frozen coconut but never the sweetened packaged off the shelf. Hers also has a frosting but I only made that once. I felt like the cake didn’t need any topping. It’s really a good cake and goes far because we only cut small slices. It’s often on the table of goodies, and always disappears before all the cookies and fudge are gone.
Stacey says
It’s such a good cake! Thanks for sharing your memories of it!
Becky says
A sprinkling of powdered sugar is perfect as a topping. For Christmas, I sprinkle red or green, or a combo of colored sugar on top of the powdered sugar..
Stacey says
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing! Merry Christmas!!