The past few things I’ve made for the weekly Cakes & Bakes post have been pretty easy and speedy. Today’s coconut pecan cake is also pretty easy – however, the multiple stages take that little bit longer.
If you’re in the mood to spend a lazy, rainy morning baking this is a great cake to try. The recipe is the work of Dolester Miles (or ‘Dol’ as she prefers) who last month (May 2018) won the prestigious James Beard Foundation pastry chef award.
If you’ve not got the luxury of a few hours in a single day, it’s easy to spread the steps over two or three days and bring everything together on the final day.
As the chef (and her recipe) is from Alabama, a couple of the ingredients may be a bit unfamiliar to us Brits. The cream of coconut is the thick, syrupy, sweet tinned stuff that you can use to make piña colada. The sweetened, shredded coconut seems to be similar to the dessicated coconut we get here in the UK, but it appears to be shaved rather finely grated. I used dessicated in the custard filling, but used Tree of Life organic coconut chips in the cake batter and toasted on the top and sides.
I don’t think I’ve incorporated a custard filling into a sponge cake before, it works really well. And I’ll save the recipe for a doughnut filling (when I eventually get round to making those for Cakes & Bakes!).
Once all the component parts have been prepared, it’s simply a case of building up the layers and then coating. I think the colour and textures are very attractive – perfect to display in our recently purchased glass cake dome.
It’s a substantial cake, but light and airy too – coconutty and moist. Absolutely delicious – I’d be very happy if I was served a slice of this in a tea shop!
Here’s Dol making her now-even-more-famous coconut pecan cake!
Click here to save Dol’s coconut pecan cake recipe to Pinterest!
- 85g/3oz firmly packed sweetened shredded coconut
- 74g/2⅔oz pecan halves, toasted
- 402g/14oz granulated sugar
- 287g/10oz plain flour
- 1tbsp baking powder
- ¾tsp kosher salt
- 170g/6oz unsalted butter, softened, plus more to grease the tins
- 60ml/2fl oz cream of coconut
- 4 large eggs
- ¼tsp coconut extract (optional)
- 270ml/9½fl oz unsweetened coconut milk
- 2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
- 230g/8oz sweetened condensed milk
- 57g/2oz unsalted butter
- 1tbsp cream of coconut
- 85g/3oz sweetened shredded coconut
- 101g/3½oz granulated sugar
- 235ml/8 fl oz water
- 240ml/8½ fl oz double cream
- 31g/1oz icing sugar
- 1tbsp coconut extract (optional)
- 170g/6oz sweetened shredded coconut, toasted
- Heat oven to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
- Grease two 9-inch round cake tins and line the bottom of each with parchment paper
- Finely grind the coconut in a food processor, then transfer to a bowl
- Add the pecans to the food processor, along with 2tbsps of the sugar, and finely grind together
- In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt
- Stir in the ground coconut and pecans
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, cream of coconut and the remaining sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes
- Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the bowl as necessary, then beat in the coconut extract
- Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the coconut milk, starting and ending with the flour mixture
- Divide the batter equally between the tins and smooth the top of each with a spatula
- Bake until the cakes are golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes away clean, 30 to 35 minutes
- Allow the cakes cool in the tins on a wire rack for 30 minutes
- Run a knife around the edge of each cake, invert onto a wire rack and remove the parchment. Allow to cool completely
- Place the egg yolks into a small, heatproof bowl and set aside
- In a saucepan, combine the condensed milk, butter and cream of coconut and cook over a medium-low heat, stirring constantly until hot, about 4 minutes
- Whisk ⅓ of the hot milk into the egg yolks
- Transfer the egg mixture to the saucepan of milk and whisk constantly over medium-low heat until mixture has the consistency of custard, about 4 minutes. Don't allow the mixture to get too thick
- Transfer to a bowl and stir in the shredded coconut. Allow to cool completely
- In a saucepan, heat the sugar and water, stirring occasionally, until sugar has dissolved
- Remove from the heat
- Cut each cake in half horizontally
- Place one layer in the bottom of a /9-inch cake tin, moisten the top with 2 to 3 tablespoons simple syrup and spread ⅓ of the coconut filling in a thin, even layer with an offset spatula
- Repeat to make 2 more layers of cake and filling, then place the last layer on the top
- Refrigerate the cake for about 1 hour
- To remove, run a spatula around the edges, invert a cake plate over the top, and flip the cake over onto the plate
- Whip the cream with the icing sugar and coconut extract until stiff peaks form
- Spread on the top and sides of the cake and sprinkle with toasted coconut
- Refrigerate until ready to serve
Cakes & Bakes: Coconut buttermilk pound cake
I bought a pot of buttermilk last week with the intention of making a loaf of Irish soda bread. After spending the last few days eating the sourdough burger buns I’d baked, we were all breaded out!
Rather than allow the buttermilk to reach it’s ‘best before’ date, I used it to make a coconut buttermilk pound cake.
I found the perfect recipe on the Martha Stewart website – I already had all the ingredients in the kitchen.
Sometimes, on an online recipe, the comments made by people who have tried out the recipe are hugely useful. A couple of people stated that the size of the loaf tin recommended wasn’t big enough and they had left over batter. Because of this, I used my largest loaf tin – 19 x 15 x 10cm (8 x 6 x 4-inch). This was probably a bit to big – a smaller one would have sufficed.
Martha Stewart’s original recipe uses sweetened, shredded coconut however, dessicated coconut is easier to get hold of in the supermarket here in the UK. Dessicated is much finer than shredded, so I altered the recipe slightly.
It’s not often that there’s a ‘how to’ video of a recipe available – the one I embedded at the bottom of the post shows just how easy this recipe is.
Click here to save it to Pinterest for later – you won’t be disappointed!
- 170g/6oz butter, softened
- 170g/6oz caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- 240g/8½oz plain flour
- 1½tsp baking powder
- 1tsp salt
- 240ml/8fl oz buttermilk
- 75g/2⅔oz dessicated coconut, toasted
- 2tbsp buttermilk
- 125g icing sugar
- 1tbsp dessicated coconut, toasted
- Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
- Grease a 12 x 22cm (4½ x 8½-inch) loaf tin
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy
- In a small measuring jug, lightly whisk the eggs
- Add vanilla, then the beaten eggs, combining well
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt
- Carefully add the flour to the mixture in 3 additions, alternating with two additions of buttermilk. Combine well
- Using a silicone spatula, fold in the 75g of toasted, dessicated coconut
- Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes away clean
- Allow the cake to cool in its tin on a wire rack for about an hour
- Remove the cake from the tin and allow to cool completely
- Whisk together the icing sugar and 2 tbsp buttermilk making sure there are no lumps
- Drizzle over the cake and sprinkle with tablespoon of dessicated coconut
Cakes & Bakes: Coconut macaroon hearts
You may remember that we had a glut of eggs when we looked after our neighbours chickens whilst they went on holiday. Well, we had a freezer rearrange last week and realised that we had some egg whites that needed using. We also have a huge 1 kilo bag of dessicated coconut (not in the freezer!), two of the main ingredients needed for macaroons.
Seeing as it’s also Valentine’s Day we thought we’d make them a little extra special and made some coconut macaroon hearts drizzled in dark chocolate.
They probably take 10 seconds or so longer to make into hearts than the traditional dome shapes but don’t they look pretty?
If you prefer, you could also dip each heart into the melted chocolate instead of drizzling it… or omit the chocolate altogether, if you prefer.
I never realised that they were so quick and easy to make – just throw all the ingredients into a bowl, stir then spoon them on to a well greased or tray or parchment paper. A quarter of an hour in the oven, and they’re done!
Click here or on the image below to pin the recipe for later!
- 200g/7oz dessicated coconut
- 200g/7oz caster sugar
- 4 medium-sized egg whites
- 1tbsp cornflour
- pinch of salt
- 2tsp vanilla extract
- 75g/2⅔oz dark chocolate
- Preheat oven to 150ºC/300ºF/Gas mark 2
- Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the coconut, sugar, cornflour, salt, vanilla extract and egg whites
- Form the mixture into little heart shapes using a small cookie cutter placed on the baking tray
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 15 minutes until the macaroons begin to turn golden brown Allow to cool for 5 minutes before lifting the hearts off the greaseproof on to a wire rack
- Break the chocolate up into chunks and melt by putting it into a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water
- Lightly drizzle over the macaroons
Cakes & Bakes: Panipopo
I’ve been seeing recipes for panipopo sweeping by on my Pinterest feed for quite a while. I’ve never really stopped & clicked because I thought that the sweetened coconut bread would be too wet and sickly sweet.
How wrong I was! I’m glad I read some of the comments remarking on how delicious it is and how ex-pat islanders hanker after it when they’re far away from home.
Panipopo (or pani-popo or pani popo) is a Polynesian bread originating from Samoa or Hawaii – depending on who you believe.
I thought that all that liquid would make for a soggy bread, but most of it is absorbed by the dough in cooking. The liquid that is left turns into a thick, unctuous, syrupy sauce. We weren’t sure what to eat it with – I chose to have it as it comes, dunking it in more of the sauce that I’d reserved. Justin went all adventurous and had his with a little bit of Cambozola… he reckons it’s a winner.
Here’s the recipe – why don’t you have a go? Let us know what you think!
Panipopo
Ingredients
For the dough
- 7 g/¼oz active dry yeast
- 240 ml/8½ fl oz warm water
- 450 g/16oz plain or bread flour
- 50 g/1¾oz caster sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
For the coconut sauce
- 200 ml/7 fl oz tinned coconut milk check the tin, mine was already diluted to 50% coconut milk, 50% water
- 200 ml/7 fl oz water omit this if your coconut milk is already diluted
- 100 g/3½oz caster sugar
Instructions
For the dough
- In a measuring jug, stir the yeast into the warm water and leave for 10 minutes
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt
- In another measuring jug, lightly mix the egg and vegetable oil
- Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients. Combine well, adding a little more flour if the dough is too sticky
- Empty out the dough on to a floured surface and knead for 10-20 minutes until smooth and elastic
- Put the dough back into the mixing bowl, cover with cling film or put inside a large plastic bag. Leave in a warm place to prove until doubled in size
- Grease a large, deep rectangular or round baking tin. Set aside
- Punch the dough down and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface
- Roll the dough into a long rectangle, roll it up and slice it into 2.5cm/1-inch or any even-sized rounds
- Put the rounds into the baking tin, cover with cling film or put into a large plastic bag and allow to prove until doubled in size
- Wile the bread is proving, preheat the oven to 180ºC/375°F/Gas mark 4
For the coconut sauce
- In a large measuring jug, combine the coconut milk, water (if using) and sugar and stir until all the sugar has dissolved
- When the dough has doubled in size, pour the coconut sauce evenly over the dough
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until the top of the bread is has turned a golden brown
- Allow them to cool in the tin for at least an hour before serving
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