I love this cake and it is always a favorite at any gathering. It is rich, easy to prepare, with lovely coconut flavor and so moist. It is from Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra’s amazing book, “Warm Bread and Honey Cake” and it really is worth a try.
And, I can highly recommend the cookbook as a whole It is filled with wonderful recipes and really not challenging from a baking point of view.
Ingredients
1 ½ cups AP Flour
2 ¼ tsp Baking Soda
¼ tsp Salt
2 sticks of unsalted Butter, softened
1 cup of superfine Sugar
3 Eggs, at room temperature and lightly beaten
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 ½ cups grated dry sweetened Coconut with 3 Tbsp water added. If you use moist coconut, you can omit the water.
1 8 inch square pan
1 8 inch square pan
Mix the coconut with the water and set aside. Preheat the oven to 325 F and grease the pan and then dust the pan with flour. Hint: Even if you are using a non stick pan, it still needs to be greased and dusted so it will brown properly.
Sift the flour with the baking soda and salt and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar until it is creamy and light in color. Add in the lightly beaten eggs a bit at a time. Then add the vanilla extract, mix and then gently fold in the flour. Do not overwork the batter or it will be tough.
Spread the batter evenly in the pan and rap the pan on the counter to remove any air from the mixture. The batter is quite thick.
Bake in the over for 30 min and then check for doneness with a knife or toothpick. If needed, you can bake for another 10-15 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack and slice into squares. It is amazing when still slightly warm.
Hack Alert: It is also very good with 1 Tbsp of lemon zest added to the batter.
Hack Alert: It is also very good with 1 Tbsp of lemon zest added to the batter.
The Louisville Chef 