coconut tea cake.

This recipe caught my eye as I was flipping through my newfound favourite book, Baking by Flavour, simply because Lisa Yockelson described this cake as tasting simply of "butter and coconut". I mean, how could I possibly resist that sort of description?

I made the cake a day before I wanted to eat it because this cake seemed to me like the kind that needs a bit of time to sit and let all the flavours gel together. Although the downside to this is that the texture of the cake is not as light and fluffy when it is cool, and that you lose that nice crispness from the edges of the cake after storage.

I made one major change to this recipe, which is to use desiccated coconut instead of flaked (because I didn't have any) so it could have absorbed a fair bit of the moisture from the cake. It was still sufficiently moist, just not as moist as I would like. My cake didn't bake all that evenly so I managed to hit a few jackpots where the cake was nice and damp. Yum! I really should have underbaked it slightly.

Overall, this cake is not that impressive. It was a way too sweet and not coconut-ty enough for me. I bet it would be delicious when warm though.

Coconut Tea Cake
adapted from Baking by Flavour by Lisa Yockelson
makes a 10 inch tube cake

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cake flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 sticks butter
2 tbsp shortening
2 cups sugar (I would use 1 1/3 cups)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
1/2 cup canned coconut milk, whisked well before measuring
1/2 cup whole milk
2 tbsp sour cream
1 2/3 cups lightly packed sweetened flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a 10 inch fluted tube pan.

Sift the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg into a bowl.

Cream the butter and shortening until smooth and creamy and add the sugar in three additions, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Blend in the vanilla extract and then the eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate each before adding the next.

Whisk the coconut milk and milk together in a cup. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions and milk mixture in 2, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Add the sour cream and beat to incorporate. Stir in the coconut.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 55 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out mostly clean.