Sky High Raffaello Cake

There it is, the first layer cake on my blog! And oh my goodness, WHAT a layer cake. Unbelievable fluffy and moist with a slight coconut flavor through and through. It all started with this Southern Coconut Cake recipe from Completely Delicious (a great blog by the way, check it out). I had an eye on it for a while and was just waiting for the right occasion ("right occasion" you wonder, who needs the "right occasion" for cake?) but when I decided to turn the recipe into a Raffaello cake, I just couldn't wait any longer. 

So I went ahead and made a small changed to the cake recipe such as adding almonds, and covered the cake in white chocolate ganache. I know - there is no chocolate inside Raffaello. But I had to use something that would create the effect that I wanted so I had to go with white chocolate. And by mixing some condensed milk into the ganache, it came really close the Raffaello milk cream filling! 

Ingredients:
For the cake:
5 large egg whites
1/2 cup / 120 ml whole milk
1 tablespoon coconut flavoring
2.5 cups / 300 g cake flour
1 cup ground almonds
2 cups / 450 g sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup / 2 sticks / 230 g unsalted butter, room temperature
1.5 cup / 360 ml unsweetened coconut milk

For the cream cheese filling:
1 pack / 8oz / 250 g cream cheese
0.5 cup / 1 stick / 120 g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup coconut flakes
2 cups sifted powdered sugar

For the buttercream:
6 egg whites
50 g sugar
150 ml water
0.5 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoons coconut flavoring

For the ganache:
6 oz / 170 g white chocolate
5 tablespoons condensed milk