Tuesday, March 30, 2010
TWD: Coconut tea cake
I was so excited about this cake that I made it more than a week early. Yup, you read that right. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am never early for anything, but it seems like we've been making lots of cookies and tarts at TWD, and cake is my favourite thing to bake and eat. I even went hunting in my mother's basement to find a bundt cake pan. Unfortunately when I was turning the cake out I saw that it was recommended for microwave use. Oops. Guess that's why the outside of the cake was a bit too brown in spots. It didn't melt, but that was probably just luck. I think this pan dates from the 80s, when my parents bought their first microwave--a behemoth Panasonic Genius. My mother still has it, and she can have the pan back too.
:)
I used fresh coconut both inside and on top of the cake. I also added 1 teaspoon of ground cardamom, but the flavour wasn't that strong, so I'd add more next time. Interestingly, in the TWD P&Q forum (that's problems and questions), some found that the optional cardamom overpowered, but I have been taste-tasting the cake for days (it's a good keeper), and I still can't taste it. Instead of rum and vanilla, I added some of my homemade extrait antillais: a mixture of rum, vanilla beans, mace, tonka beans and sapote. It smells like heaven, even though I only made it a couple of weeks ago and it needs longer to get really strong. I tried to get a photo, but it looks like alien parts in a bottle, so just use your imagination. I also glazed the cake with some cream cheese icing that I thinned with the leftover coconut milk and more rum.
I usually don't like bundt cakes much, but this was nice: the coconut added a nice texture, and it was lighter than I expected, and very moist. Again in the P&Q some found this a bit dry, but I think the fresh coconut helped. The cake lasted 4 or 5 days, and kept very well. This week's recipe was selected by Carmen of Carmen Cooks, so she's got the recipe. Thanks for a fantastic pick Carmen!
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31 comments:
Your cake turned out beautifully :-) I bet the fresh coconut was wonderful!
Love the fresh coconut on top, makes it look so classy. And don't give your Mom her bundt pan back just yet. We have another TWD Bundt cake next week. Yummy.
I'm soo glad you liked it! I love that you used fresh coconut - I'm still scared to try to split open a coconut on my own. Thanks for baking with me this week! :)
Gorgeous cake! Your homemade flavouring sounds wonderful.
Beautiful - can't wait to try this one next week. Glad your pan didn't melt, too! ;)
fresh coconut - way to go! I've never even touched a fresh coconut i wouldn't know where to start!
lovely! Love the fresh coconut!!
Glad your pan didn't melt! Your cake is beautiful. I thought this recipe was a winner.
Absolutely gorgeous! Fresh coconut would be fantastic.
Your cake looks great, this was a yummy one for me. Love the big coconut flakes on the top.
Yum your cake looks so good! I love the topping!
Nice job. The toasted coconut looks SO good!
I love how you decorated the cake - gorgeous.
I LOVE the name of your blog!
Your Coconut Tea Cake looks amazing with the fresh coconut! How in the world do you shave the coconut, much less crack it open? Yipes. I'm not a coconut fan, but I really liked this cake! =)
Your cake is really beautiful! I'm glad your pan didn't melt! The extract sounds delicious too.
so pretty, and your additions sound genius! I'm giggling at the microwave cake pan. I remember stumbling on a 1980s microwave cookbook that had cake recipes in it and thinking "ewwwww." :-)
Wow - that is really a beautiful bundt cake - truly! I love the fresh coconut - have never tried "making my own" believe it or not. So glad you enjoyed it - I'll all for extract too!
Beautiful presentation! And I kind of want to see those bottled alien parts, they sound delicious! I'm glad your Bundt pan survived the inferno. :)
Great looking cake and the fresh coconut looks fabulous!!
Beautiful cake, it looks moist and delicious! I love the fresh coconut on top!
This just looks amazing!! I love anything with coconut!!
This looks delicious and beautiful!!
Your cake is just gorgeous! I would love to try it with fresh coconut but I don't even know where to start with getting one open!
Gorgeous cake! I love the fresh coconut on top.
That looks like a lovely cake. Love how you decorated it!
What a prety cake and your spiced rum sound fantastic! I'm surprised you didn't pick up much cardamom flavor. Cardamom is one of the most volitile spices, losing flavor very quickly once ground. If you didn't grind your spice fresh, try buying cardamom in the pod, or at least as whole seeds and grinding fresh each time you use it. I bet you will notice a difference if you have been using pre-ground.
Gorgeous cake! I love the long flakes of toasted coconut! Too funny about the microwave pan, glad it turned out okay and you didn't end up with a mess in the oven :)
Wow, this looks absolutely gorgeous!!!
Beautiful cake! I've never heard of antillais-will have to look that one up. I liked this recipe very much and will make it again. Thanks for commenting on my blog, Cafe Lynnylu.
okay that fresh coconut on top looks amazing! YUM!
mine just got out of the oven. i used grapefruit zest and juice and will be posting on tuesday.
YUM!
LOVE it! I love the look of fresh coconut and bet that gave the cake a great flavor. I'm also a huge cardamom fan and would love to try that variation next time.
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