Pineapple and toasted coconut cake

Coconut pineapple bundt cake

I have been working on the Daring Baker challenge for the last two days and all that time Tom has been anxiously watching the process and suggesting I finish it all for tuesday so he can take it to work and share with his coworkers… Unfortunately for him that is not gonna happen! It needs to be chilled for at least overnight (no, no I will not share the secret!! Check back on the 27th!!) so that means it will be ready tomorrowmorning. But obviously I still need to take pictures of it plus it is not really enough to feed 9 hungry mouths. So… instead I figure I would make him and his team happy by baking something else.

I had never made a Bundt cake up until today. I don’t know why; it’s one of those things that my grandma used to make and funny enough so does Tom’s grandma. Is it a grandma thing? I had asked Santa for a bundt caketin which I got so it was time to put it to good use. Only two days earlier I received a package from Amazon with a couple new cookbooks… (I have a serious cookbook addiction, as I know many of you have too) and among them was a small book with 100 lovely cake recipe.Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman. It had an entire chapter on Bundt cakes although some I did not think would be suitable for trying out on poor non-suspecting colleagues of Tom as it included pepper and other spices, which I thought sounded intriguing but ok, for my first bundt cake I wanted to play it a little safer and I picked the coconut/pineapple cake. Well, ok… Tom did..

Adding the icing

He was sitting next to me in bed when we were discussing all of the above and was watching over my shoulder when I was going through the book and he thought that this particular cake would be good. And what can I say? It is really good. We did ofcourse have to pretaste the cake before it is going to it’s final destination and let’s face it; this cake is too much even for 9 people, so they won’t mind if two small pieces are missing right?

PINEAPPLE AND TOASTED COCONUT CAKE (from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman)

1,5 cups sweetened flaked coconut

2 large eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1,5 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup or 113 gr of butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 can (500 gr) pineapple chunks in juice, drained well and patted dry

For the glaze; 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar, 1 tbsp of fresh lime juice

Preheat the oven to 350F (or 200C). Grease a 12-cup Bundtpan and dust with flour. Spread the coconut on a baking sheet and toast until just golden, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Take care not to burn the coconut. Set aside to cool completely.

Combine the eggs, sour cream and vanilla in a large measuring cup and lightly beat. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.

Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice if necessary.

With the mixer on medium-low speed, pour 1/3 of the egg mixture into the bowl in a slow stream. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Add another 1/3 of the egg mixture  and another 1/3 of the flour mixture. Add the remaining egg mixture and then the remaining flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Stir in the toasted coconut and the pineapple chunks.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 1 hour to 10 hour and 10 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the glaze; Whisk together the confectioners sugar and lime juice in a medium bowl. Place the cake on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Drizzle the glaze over the cake, allowing it to run down the sides of the cake. Let the glaze set for 30 minutes before slicing and serving

Notes: I found the given time in the oven quite long so I checked at 45 minutes and found that the cake was already done at that point so I took it out of the oven. And it was perfectly done, so make sure to check from time to time to prevent overcooking the cake. It’s lovely and if you make sure you pat the pineapple dry well enough it will not be too moist (something I was afraid of at first) The taste of coconut was subtle but overal the cake is rather sweet but delicious!