46 | 52 Coconut Buttermilk Cake

Coconut and buttermilk. Sounds like the perfect pair for a cake, right?

I thought so.

There was some buttermilk in the fridge that needed to be used up and I hadn't baked anything with coconut in such a long time, so this seemed to be the perfect recipe:

Coconut Buttermilk Cake

From Gonna Want Seconds

For the cake:

170 g (1 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature

260 g (2 cups) flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

200 g (1 cup) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 eggs

240 ml (1 cup) buttermilk

120 g (1 1/4 cups) shredded coconut 

For the glaze:

 

2 tablespoons buttermilk

25 g (1/4 cup) shredded coconut

130 g (1 cup) powdered sugar

• Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F).
• Combine flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
• Beat together butter and sugar for 5 minutes. Add vanilla. Add eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition.
• Add buttermilk and flour mix alternatingly. Fold in coconut.
• Pour batter into prepared pan (loaf or bundt cake) and bake for about 60 minutes. Let cool.
• Bake remaining shredded coconut for about 5-10 minutes in the oven until golden brown (be careful not to burn it). Let cool. 
• For the glaze, whisk together powdered sugar and buttermilk. Drizzle over cake and sprinkle with toasted coconut.

My modifications:

None.

The taste:

Good! Very moist and 'milky'. And coconutty, of course.

What's your favorite coconut recipe?

19 | 52 Lime Cake with Coconut

It's summer!

Well, not really. But the weather sure does suggest it!

And what's not to love about high temperatures. 

(Well, yes, a couple of things. But let's focus on the - literally - bright side, shall we?)

Limes and coconuts. There's few things that scream SUMMER right into your face than these.

So let's bake them into a cake:

Lime Cake with Coconut

From Living at Home

375 g ( 2 3/4 cups) flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons vanilla (or 2 packets vanilla sugar)

8 tablespoons coconut, shredded

salt

2 limes (zest of 1 lime and juice of 2 limes)

200 g (1 3/4 sticks) butter, room temperature

300 g (1 1/2 cups) sugar

6 eggs

200 ml (3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons) Batida de Coco (coconut liqueur) or coconut cream

200 g (1 1/2 cups) powdered sugar

shredded coconut, for sprinkling

• Preheat oven to 180ºC (355ºF).
• In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, shredded coconut and a pinch of salt.
• In a second bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time.
• Add coconut liqueur or cream and beat together.
• Add flour mix, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of lime juice and beat for another minute. Add lime zest.
• Pour batter into prepared loaf pan (about 30 x 10 cm / 12 x 4 in) and bake on second lowest rack for 50-60 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool and take out of pan.
• Combine powdered sugar with 4-5 tablespoons of lime juice. Glaze cake and sprinkle with shredded coconut.

My modifications:

I used half whole-grain flour and a bit less sugar (250 g instead of 300 g) which both worked very well. I made the non-alcoholic version and put a bit of the coconut cream into the glaze as well.

The taste:

Very good. Very moist and spongy. Could be a bit more limey and coconutty for my taste. But it is very good and summery.

What are your favorite summer flavors combined in a cake?

24*52 Apricot-Chocolate-Coconut-Crumble Pie

Fresh apricots. Yum. A big bowl of them were waiting to be eaten here.

But of course I rather turned them into some baked goodness.

I know I've been crumbling a lot on this blog but hey - you can never have enough crumbles in your life (at least not when they're the sweet, edible kind). Right?

 Apricot-Chocolate-Coconut-Crumble Pie

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Crust

1 pie crust (with 1 teaspoon sugar added)

Filling

35 (about 800 g or 1 3/4 lb) apricots

105 g (1/2 cup) sugar

55 g (1/2 cup) brown sugar

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch

60 g (1/3 cup) small chocolate chips

1/4 teaspoon salt

Crumbles

175 g (3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons) flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

115 g (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) shredded coconut

114 g (1 stick) butter, at room temperature and in pieces

80 g (1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons) brown sugar

• Prepare pie crust. Leave refrigerated for at least one hour.
• Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
• Cut apricot into halves, remove stone and cut 3 wedges from each half. Combine with the remaining filling ingredients (works best if you use your hands). Pour into pie crust.
• Knead together all ingredients for the crumbles. Crumble over apricots. (It is a lot of crumble dough and the apricots were doming up so for me it worked best to press the crumbles onto the apricots to prevent everything from crumbling down.)
• Bake for about 1 hour on a lower oven rack. Place foil over top after 25-30 minutes to prevent the crumbles from getting burnt.
• Cool for at least 2 hours before serving.

 My modifications:

I used my recipe for the crust. It's not very different from Martha Stewart's though.

I also added the chocolate chips to the filling because chocolate can't hurt.

I only baked it for 1 hour instead of 1 1/2 and that was totally enough.

The taste:

So very good! I like the chocolate in it but if you're sceptical you can also leave it out.

I expected to taste more of the coconut so maybe replacing a bit of the flour with more coconut would be an option but that's just an idea, so try at your own risk.

What's your favorite fruity pie?

8*52 Choco-Coco-Squares

I used to hate (well, maybe not hate but strongly dislike) coconut.

Especially (if not exclusively) in combination with chocolate.

Totally strange and stupid, right?

Then, about 3 years ago, I suddenly loooooved the combination of coconut and chocolate.

I don't even remember what exactly changed my mind or why I even bothered trying it again.
But chocolate-coconut has been good to me ever since.

Even though this week's recipe is not very coconutty, it still adds nicely to the growing list of coconut-chocolate baking recipes.

Choco-Coco-Squares

From Swedish Cakes and Cookies

Cake

150 g (2/3 cup) butter

2 eggs

300 ml (1 1/4 cups) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon sifted cocoa

450 ml (2 cups) flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

150 ml (2/3 cup) milk

Frosting

75 g (5 tablespoons) butter

1-2 tablespoons cold coffee

1 tablespoon sifted cocoa

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

350 ml (1 1/2 cups) powdered sugar

coconut flakes

• Melt the butter and let cool. Beat the eggs and sugar until yellow and thick. Alternating, add dry ingredients, milk, and melted butter. Pour into prepared 30 x 40 cm (12 x 16 in) cake pan. Bake in preheated oven at 175°C (350°F) for around 15 minutes on a low oven rack. Let cool.
• For the frosting, melt the butter, stir in all frosting ingredients (except for the coconut flakes). Spread the frosting over the cake and sprinkle with coconut flakes. Cut into squares.

My modifications:

None.

The taste:

Very yummy. Nothing crazy or extraordinary, but solidly good.

Any flavor combination that you used to dislike but now love? Or the other way around?

44/52 Coconut Chai Coffee Cake

Reuniting with a friend after 20 years. Even though you're just 35 years old.
That's what I did this week. Exciting, isn't it?

An occasion like that calls for a special cake.
Nothing fancy. Suiting the season. Warm, cozy, comforting.
Serving as good company when you're trying to catch up on such a long period of time.

When Tracy Shutterbean posted a picture of this Coconut Chai Coffee Cake on Instagram not too long ago, I instantly knew that this would be it:

Coconut Chai Coffee Cake

Adapted from Tracy Shutterbean

Crumbles: 

115 g (1/2 cup) butter, melted 

85 g (1/2 cup) all-purpose flour 

150 g (3/4 cup) packed light brown sugar 

80 g (1 cup) unsweetened flaked (or shredded) coconut 

1 teaspoon ground cardamom 

1 teaspoon ground black pepper 

1 teaspoon ground ginger 

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

Cake: 

325 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour 

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

350 g (1 1/2) cups packed light brown sugar 

115 g (1/2 cup) butter, room temperature 

250 g (1 cup) plain yogurt (or sour cream) 

2 large eggs 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

• Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). 
• Mix all crumble ingredients together until combined. Put in the fridge. 
• For the cake, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and put aside. 
• Beat together sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the yogurt (and/or sour cream). Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Stir in the flour mix until just combined. 

• Pour batter into prepared spring form pan and spread evenly. 
• Sprinkle the crumbles over the top. 

• Bake for 50-55 minutes. Let cool before serving. 

My modifications: 

None. 

Except for using 2/3 yogurt and 1/3 sour cream. 

And shredded coconut instead of flaked because that's all I could get. And I think it might be even better because you can actually crumble it on top so that it gives you nice round crumbles.  

The taste: 

Just heavenly.
Spicy. Warm. Comforting. Autumnal. A tiny bit christmassy.
Moist inside. Crumbly on top.
Perfect for any reunion. Or any occassion in fall and winter.
I think this is one of my favorites of the 44 bakes I've made this year so far. 

What would you bake for a special reunion? 

15/52 Coconut & White Chocolate Cake

Coconut and white chocolate. What a combination.
Up until not too long ago, I would not have liked it much. But this is a great example of how taste can suddenly and unexpectedly change.

I am not sure when I started liking coconut. I never hated coconut but I would never eat a Bounty chocolate bar, for example. Or coconut macaroons, which my grandma always made for Christmas - I would eat 2 in December and that was it for the year.
Maybe it was just those things that were very coconutty. Like Bounty or coconut macaroons. But now I'm okay with that.

My grandpa loved white chocolate. I never really understood why. Sure, I would eat it if I craved something sweet and white chocolate was the only thing that was around (which never really happened).
But a couple of weeks ago, the hubby brought me some Lindt white chocolate Easter eggs that had a smooth white chocolate filling (exactly like the white Lindor balls) and I haven't been interested in any other chocolate ever since! (Okay, that might not be completely true, but you know...)

So when I visited Chocolate & Zucchini in search of a nice cake recipe that I could make this week, the Coconut & White Chocolate Cake practically sprang into my face.

It would be the perfect flavor to banish that cold, wet, uncomfortable April weather.

And to satisfy my white chocolate cravings (I hope).

The coconut also fits our next vacation which we just booked two days ago: Puerto Rico. Coincidence? Probably not. Even though I wouldn't go as far as to say that the cake recipe influenced our vacation planning. No, definitely not...

Coconut & White Chocolate Cake

Adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini

225 g (3 cups) coconut flakes

200 g (1.6 cups) flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

115 g (1 stick) butter, room temperature

200 g (1 cup) sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

250 ml (1 cup) plain yogurt

140 g (5 oz) white chocolate

• Preheat oven to 180°C (360°F). 
• Put coconut flakes on a baking sheet and let it roast in the oven for about 5 minutes. Take out and let cool. 
• In a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and baking soda. 
• Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
• Add the eggs one at a time. Then add the vanilla extract and yogurt. Add flour mix. Fold in 2/3 of the roasted coconut flakes. 
• Bake in prepared round pan (25 cm/10 in) for 30-50 minutes. Let cool. 
• Melt the chocolate and spread evenly on top of the cake. Sprinkle with the remaining coconut flakes.

My modifications:

The original recipe suggests an optional tablespoon of rum to be put into the batter. Since I don't like rum, I added a teaspoon of white chocolate sirup which I happened to have at hand. 

My cake was done after 30 minutes of baking, even though the original recipe calls for 50-60 minutes baking time. 

The taste:

Very coconutty and moist. Tropical. Delicious.

The hubby's question to me after the first bites: 'Since when do you like coconut?'     Ha...

Is there something you never really liked eating but all of a sudden did?