#header-inner {background-position: center !important; width: 100% !important;}

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Coconut Marble Cake


Doesn't look bad there, huh (minus the terrible picture quality)? Just a nice slice of bundt cake, right? Don't be fooled. Read on and see what really happened!

As soon as I saw this recipe in Woman's Day magazine, I was dying to try it. Coconut is one of my very favorite flavors, and since I had plenty of coconut leftover from this pie, I didn't need to be persuaded to make it! I like to serve a treat each Wednesday for our community group that meets at our house (last week I made these) and this was the perfect excuse to try it and hopefully get rid of most of it in one evening!

This is actually only the second time I've made something in my bundt pan...and with good reason. I cannot seem to remove anything in one piece! I waited more than half an hour for it to cool before inverting, and it STILL came out in a jumbled mess. Anyone have any idea how I can prevent this next time?

Despite the disaster it looked like upon removal, its taste was to die for! I knew it was going to be a winner as I was making it and I found myself stealing WAY too many nibbles of the batter. Cooked, it was just as good. The cake was perfectly moist and I loved the coconut flavor and could really taste the almond extract in there. They reminded me of my favorite Easter cookies (that you'll have to wait to see until Easter ;)) Even in shambles, this cake was honestly one of the favorites that I've ever made. You must try this for yourself (and hopefully yours will come out in one piece!).

Anyways, onto the recipe....

Coconut Marble Cake-as seen in the October Woman's Day magazine
Ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I just realized that I misread and added 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips...I guess a little extra chocolate is never a bad thing, but I do wonder if this made it extra heavy, leading to the disaster...)
2 cups sweetened flaked coconut, finely chopped (I didn't chop it as I like the texture of coconut in foods, and I had again overlooked this step. HA)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-in bundt pan. (I just sprayed my pan, which was 9 3/4 inches)
2. Beat butter, sugar, baking powder, and vanilla in a large bowl with mixer until fluffy.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. On low speed, beat in flour in 3 additions, alternating with the milk in 2 additions. Stir in almond extract to combine.
4. Melt chocolate chips in a glass bowl in the microwave. Cool slightly, then add 1 1/2 cups of the batter to the chocolate and stir to combine.
5. Stir coconut into the remaining batter and spoon 2 cups of coconut batter into the bundt pan. Drop spoonfuls of coconut batter into pan, leaving spaces between each dollop. Drop spoonfuls of coconut batter between chocolate batter. Repeat until all batter is in the bundt pan (see pictures below). Run a knife through the batters to marbleize.
6. Bake for 55 minutes (mine was perfect at 55 minutes!) Cool in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes before inverting cake on a rack to cool completely.

**Note: the magazine's recipe called for a chocolate drizzle that you then topped with coconut, but the shape of mine really didn't allow for this :)

The process in pictures:

The two batters


Layer #1 (2 cups of coconut batter)


Adding dollops of chocolate batter, anyone else see the flower shape?


and more coconut batter...


Post-marbleization, ready for the oven!

Fresh out of the oven-still looking good here!


The cake upon removal, where's the top half?!


In shambles & how I ultimately served it. Not exactly classy, but so yummy!

Perhaps third time's the charm with me and bundt cakes...only time will tell!