Coconut Tea Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

Coconut Tea Cake

Recently, a friend of a friend started the marathon session of filling out the eHarmony questionnaire. I think applying for the Foreign Service or CIA is easier. How these 500 questions about music preferences, religion and bowel movements (towards the end I wasn't paying attention but I think they asked about regularity or something) will match you with your perfect mate on 29 dimensions of compatibility (for $50+ per month) is beyond me.

However, that got me thinking about "levels of compatibility" with food. My eFoodHarmony questionnaire will include: Bundt cakes, Thai Food, Green Tea/Matcha anything, Mochi, Hawaiian Shave Ice, Udon Noodles, Soon Tofu, Avocados, Carnitas and, of course, long walks on the beach with Lemon Curd.

And my "dimension of incompatibility"? You know....coconut strands (coconut flavor okay...but the strands and flakes have a dental floss texture that I don't hang with).

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Carmen of Carmen Cooks singled out Coconut Tea Cake on pages 194 and 195 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Made in a 10-cup Bundt and a mini 4-inch cake. I skipped the rum and used a bit extra vanilla extract.

My hate of the coconut strands prohibits me from rating this. Co-workers said it was The Yum.

Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

Recipe:
Carmen of Carmen Cooks' blog, or
Pages 194 and 195 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours

Martha Stewart's Coconut Cupcakes - MS Cupcake Club

Martha Stewart's Coconut Cupcakes

For this month's Martha Stewart's Cupcake Club, Jennifer from Cinema Cupcakes chose Coconut Cupcakes on pages 28-29 of Martha's fantastic book: Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book. Sorry for the delay in the post...I feel asleep instead of making these on Friday!

As I've mentioned on the blog several times, I have a love/hate relationship with coconut. Love the flavor, hate the strands. I knew these would be going straight to work! :)

This cupcake uses coconut milk and food processed coconut flakes. I didn't feel like making the frosting. Yesterday in my baking class (post coming soon), it was all about frosting and I was kinda frosted out. Also, several on-time bakers thought the cupcake was perfect without frosting...so I took their advice and just dusted them with some powdered sugar.

We are about to enter a week of lotsa rain in Los Angeles. A place where we flood because our poor drainage system is made for the desert and not a downpour. I think celebrities are going to line up two-by-two at the Hollywood sign! ;) Wish us luck!

Recipe:
Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book: Coconut Cupcakes, page 28

The Martha Stewart Cupcake Club doesn't post the recipe. You can use WorldCat to see if your library has it in their collection (I need to put the Librarian in the Food Librarian sometimes! :)

Be sure to check out the other Martha Stewart Cupcake Club members and their version of the recipe! Yes, you can actually see frosting! :)

Coconut Bundt - Day #9 - I Like Big Bundts

Day 9 of I Like Big Bundts: 30 Days of Bundt Cakes
Coconut Bundt Cake with Powdered Sugar Glaze

Thanks to my friend JustJenn of JustJennDesigns for making the logo!

Have plans for November 15th? Well, that's National Bundt Day and you should make a Bundt to celebrate this awesome baking pan! To inspire you, I'm making 30 Bundts from now til then!

Today, it's all about you.
Not me.
You.
You, the one who likes strands of coconut. This cake is all for you.

Because I ain't getting near it.

As has been well documented, I hate shredded coconut. I can't tell the difference between that stuff and dental floss. However, I do love coconut flavored items, Thai curries with coconut, and lovely Thai desserts using coconut milk. But the strands? I'll pass.

So, here's to you. I heard from co-workers that this Coconut Bundt is good. So take it from them. If you are one of them who keeps shredded coconut providers in business, make this Coconut Bundt!

This Bundt uses cake flour, 6 eggs and no baking soda or powder. The eggs do the lifting for this Big Bundt. It has triple coconut: unsweetened coconut milk, coconut extract and, of course, shredded coconut.

See you back here tomorrow for another round of Bundt making! And please, do what you can to keep me inspired. Make a Bundt! :) Karin of This Wife Bakes told me about her Pumpkin Chocolate Bundt. Check out her interesting cream cheese chocolate frosting. Yum!

- mary the food librarian

Recipe:
Coconut Bundt Cake with Powdered-Sugar Glaze
from Epicurious (Bon Appétit, October 2000)

I Like Big Bundts recap:
The Food Librarian confesses: I Like Big Bundts
Day 1: Pumpkin Spice Bundt with Buttermilk Icing
Day 2: Chocolate-Cinnamon Bundt Cake with Mocha Icing
Day 3: Pumpkin-Apple Spiced Bundt
Day 4: Cinnamon Ripple Sweet Potato Bundt
Day 5: Chocolate Zucchini Bundt
Day 6: Cardamom Vanilla Bundt
Day 7: Monkey Bread in a Bundt
Day 8: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt

Everyday Food Coconut Shrimp Soup (with added curry)

Coconut (and Curry) Shrimp Soup

Hi everyone,
I'm in the DC area this week helping my preggers friend Racheal who is on bed rest. We just finished watching 6 hours of Colin Firth in Pride & Prejudice - I can't believe my English major friend never saw it! Glad we can mark that movie off her list of the best RoCo movies of all time!

Anyway, I figure my friend can't eat dessert all day so I brought the book Everyday Food: Great Food Fast, and let Racheal bookmark some pages. First up, Coconut Shrimp Soup!

This was very simple to put together...once I figured out which way to cut the carrots! :)

Garlic and ginger are cooked, then the carrots, coconut milk, water, and cornstarch are added. You'll need to serve this immediately because the cornstarch and pasta soak up all the liquid if you let it sit...believe me on that!

I made the recipe exactly and when I tasted it, it had way too much coconut flavor. Way. too. much.

I added lots of curry powder and more red pepper flakes. And, we added in our left over Thai yellow curry from the previous day's take out! In addition, I squeezed a bunch of lime juice on top. I served it with Sriracha sauce (a staple in any house!) I probably won't make this recipe again, but at least I didn't let my friend starve! :)

Recipe: Coconut Shrimp Soup (I added lots of curry powder)

Later, I made a roast chicken, and apple & cherry crisp...coming up soon!

Coconut Butter Thins (Tuesdays with Dorie)

Coconut Butter Thins

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Jayne of The Barefoot Kitchen Witch selected on Coconut Butter Thins on page 145 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

This recipe calls for lime zest but I forgot to buy one and used a Meyer lemon instead. The dough was easy to put together in the morning, roll out and let it chill out in the refrig. I came home from work, cut them out and baked them off. Dorie has you cut them into squares with a ruler and all...but my blob of dough was so misshaped I thought circles might be easier!

They were light and buttery. Coconut, lemon zest, & macadamia nuts!
Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

P.S. Happy Birthday Dad!

Coconut Layer Cake (Everyday Food)

Coconut Layer Cake with Lemon Curd Filling

As I mentioned in this early post, I want to make the four cakes from "The Best Cakes" episode of Everyday Baking. I made the Spiced Carrot Cake in February, and here is cake #2: Coconut Layer Cake.

Coconut Layer Cake recipe on the Everyday Food website and on Martha Stewart's website.

This recipe has two layers of basic vanilla cake, seven minute frosting and a frosting/lemon curd filling. It said to use store bought lemon curd and although I have a basket full of Meyer Lemons, I felt like picking up this jar at Trader Joe's (it is way good and only $2.99).

I just love the Seven Minute Frosting - egg whites, sugar, corn syrup, cream of tartar can turn into magic frosting! This is the second time I made it...and both times missed the part about beating it off the heat (after beating it over a double boiler for 7 minutes) for another 3-5 minutes to cool it down. I just slathered on hot frosting...oops. I also like bringing out the old school plug in mixer! I think there is a 30 year old patina on it!

The lemon curd/frosting filling is covered with coconut. I'm not a fan of shredded coconut so I tend to scrape that part off! :)

Recently, I made the Southern Coconut Cake from Sky-High Cakes. I think a combo of these two cakes would be perfect. Sky-High has a great cake - it is made with cake flour and coconut milk...it is soft and delicious. I do like the addition of lemon curd in this one and the frosting was light. I messed up the Sky-High frosting so I threw on a cream cheese frosting. I think either the seven-minute or cream cheese frosting would be good...and, of course, without those pesky coconut strands (but I think some would balk at that! :)

Coconut Layer Cake

Recipe for Coconut Layer Cake

Southern Coconut Cake (Cake Slice Bakers)

Southern Coconut Cake

For this month's, Cake Slice Bakers, we voted to make Southern Coconut Cake from Alisa Huntsman's book: Sky-High Cakes: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes. (Luckily, I made it early before my oven started giving me troubles.)

I must tell you something. I'm not a fan of flaked coconut. I do enjoy coconut milk in Thai food curries and the "makes me weak in the knees" mango with sticky rice. But I can't stand the texture of flaked coconut. Seriously, there is very little difference between coconut and dental floss.

And that's why I love my job. It's interesting, challenging, and there is a group of people who like coconut!! :)

I loved the cake. The cake has a lovely crumb and uses coconut milk for a delicious (sans dental floss) coconut yumminess. Okay, I had to make this cake twice. The first time, I completely missed the sugar! What?! How did that happen? Well, this recipe uses the fat-flour method and mixes the dry ingredients with the butter before adding in the wet ingredients. If it started with creaming the butter and sugar, I wouldn't have forgotten the sugar (at least I hope so! :) Oh, well, it was sorta funny when it happened!

I made the frosting twice too! The original recipe calls for an Italian meringue technique (adding hot sugar syrup to egg whites), but I tried the Swiss meringue technique (heating the sugar and egg whites over a double-boiler) since I'm more familiar with it and I can get the egg whites up to 160 degrees. But adding the cream cheese/butter mixture didn't go as planned and I ended up with soup (the meringue was probably too warm). All my fault. I should have followed the recipe exactly and not messed with it!

I ended up creaming together 12 ounces (1 1/2 blocks) of cream cheese, 4 T (1/2 stick) of butter, 2 cups of powdered sugar and 2 t vanilla for a frosting. It was yummy and easy.

My co-workers really liked it. I could smell the coconut from my desk! I pushed off the dental floss and enjoyed the cake and cream cheese frosting.

You can find the recipe on Gigi's blog but you should really buy the book: Sky-High Cakes by Alisa Huntsman. All the recipes have been sooooo good!! Can't wait for next month's selection!

Florida Pie - Tuesdays with Dorie

This is my first Tuesday with Dorie baking effort! Thanks Dianne's Dishes for selecting this lovely dessert. (Library co-workers loved it!)
A delicious key lime pie with coconut and meringue

Dorie Greenspan says she often uses a purchased graham cracker crust, but since I used the small pans, I made my own.

I purchased my key limes at the local ethnic market in Los Angeles- always get a great deal for produce! I'm not a big fan of shredded coconut. I feel it tastes somewhat like edible dental floss (sorry, coconut lovers!) I wanted to get the taste of coconut so I cooked the cream with the coconut but strained it out.

Here is a thin layer of strained coconut cream topped with the key lime filling.

I had huge difficulties with the meringue. First, it was 5 am...and I tried the first batch. I was using my thermometer and tried to get it to 160 degrees to keep things food safe. But it got too hot and it smelled like cooked egg white. Down the drain those went. Next, I tried again...but again that just didn't feel right. Finally, I got it right (by realizing my thermometer's battery was dying) and didn't overcook the batch. I used a blow torch to brown it. I wish it turned out better...but I had to get to work!

Here's the recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours book. You should definitely buy it or borrow it from your library as the photos are lovely, and the stories touching.

Florida Pie
1 9-inch graham cracker crust (page 235), fully baked and cooled, or a store-bought crust
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups shredded sweetened coconut
4 large eggs, seperated
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh Key (or regular) lime juice (from about 5 regular limes)
1/4 cup of sugar

Getting Ready:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the pie plate on a baking sheet lined with parchment of a silicone mat.

Put the cream and 1 cup of the coconut in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring almost constantly. Continue to cook and stir until the cream is reduced by half and the mixture is slightly thickened. Scrape the coconut cream into a bowl and set it aside while you prepare the lime filling.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl beat the egg yolks at high speed until thick and pale. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the condensed milk. Still on low, add half of the lime juice. When it is incorporated, add the reaming juice, again mixing until it is blended. Spread the coconut cream in the bottom of the graham cracker crust, and pour over the lime filling.

Bake the pie for 12 minutes. Transfer the pie to a cooling rack and cool for 15 minutes, then freeze the pie for at least 1 hour.

To Finish the Pie with Meringue:

Put the 4 egg whites and the sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, whisking all the while, until the whites are hot to the touch. Transfer the whites to a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, or use a hand mixer in a large bowl, and beat the whites at high speed until they reach room temperature and hold firm peaks. Using a rubber spatula, fold the remaining 1/2 cup coconut into the meringue.

Spread the meringue over the top of the pie, and run the pie under the broiler until the top of the meringue is golden brown. (Or, if you've got a blowtorch, you can use it to brown the meringue.) Return the pie to the freezer for another 30 minutes or for up to 3 hours before serving.

Check out other creations by Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!