Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Coconut Tea Cake -- Tuesdays with Dorie

Time for Tuesdays with Dorie! Our treat today is Coconut Tea Cake, picked for us to try by Carmen of
Carmen Cooks, thank you Carmen. I adore coconut and also love tea cakes, slightly dryer than your traditional cake, with a dense crumb and soft but not too moist texture. Just perfect for snacking on a slice with a cup of your favorite tea.

I decided to bake this in my Nordic Ware Chrysanthemum Bundt Pan. I've only baked a few other cakes in this pan, and have to admit it is usually a little tough for me to judge how much batter goes in. You want to be able to see the details after baking but not overflow while baking. Dorie takes care of that guessing problem with this recipe and specifically calls for a 10-12 cup bundt pan, this is a 10 cup pan (it says so right on it) so even though it was on the smaller side of the suggested pans, I put the whole amount of batter in and hoped for the best.


Success! No overflow, yay! As you can see I did bake this on an insulated baking sheet, I know in the directions Dorie says not to bake this on a sheet because you want the hot air to circulate through the center of the cake, I went against the directions because I know that these darker pans tend to bake faster and I do not like my cake edges extra dark and dry. Also because this is a black pan I turned the oven temperature down to 325, and set my oven timer to check the cake right at one hour, and right at one hour this cake was perfectly done.

It released nicely from the pan, which I sprayed with Pam for Baking, any little imperfections were from the way it baked, not from sticking. It looked like the perfect springtime cake for sipping tea with.
I let if cool for about 4 hours before slicing and the inside was perfectly done, a nice tender and close-knit crumb. The first flavor I noticed was the coconut milk, followed by a nice little crunch of coconut. I couldn't detect the rum right away but I'm sure it helped to balance the other flavors.

Two out of three little taste testers liked this one, husband was a no try because of the coconut, and I personally thought it was great and fit the title of Tea Cake perfectly. I'm looking forward to some with some strawberry compote and whipped cream later, yum :)

24 comments:

Hindy said...

Your beautiful pan made a picture perfect cake! I applaud your family for waiting four hours before digging in. Mine would have been picking off those petals as soon as it was cool to the touch.

Mary said...

Beautiful cake! I thought this cake was pretty perfect too, but I didn't wait that long before trying it:)

Flourchild said...

I love your pan and your cake turned out really good. My husband didn't care for it and he loves coconut. I enjoyed it with butter and tea!

ostwestwind said...

Nice pan, we don't have such a great variety of Bundt pans in Germany

Jessica of My Baking Heart said...

I love that pan! The cake is just gorgeous!! :)

Tia said...

looks good! nice job this week. how did yiou grease your pan perfectly to get in all the nooks/crannies. awesome bundt pan!

Jules Someone said...

Gorgeous cake! Love the pan. I'm with the hubby, though. No coconut!

Cindy said...

Love, love, love that pan! I only cooked my cake 50 minutes and it was done. It was so delicious, I will make it again.

Leslie said...

Add me to the list of lovers of your bundt pan! I'm glad the cake turned out well, and it looks great baked in that pan!

Nichicakes said...

how perfect is that! so pretty

Pamela said...

I never get tired of looking at all of the pretty bundt cakes. Love that pan, and your cake looks wonderful.

Cathy said...

You have the best pan collection, Andrea! And this one might be my favorite of all! Your cake is beautiful - glad you enjoyed it!

Rachel said...

So pretty! I love your comments about how it worked out for you, they are very helpful. Blessings, Rachel

miss kate said...

!!!! must find this pan! !!!!

Kathleen said...

Your cake is totally beautiful!!! Love your pan. I've never seen it before.

Susan said...

That is a gorgeous pan!! Your cake looks so beautiful.

Deb in Hawaii said...

Your cake is gorgeous--I love that pan. I am a huge fan of coconut and this tea cake sounds just perfect.

Cristine said...

Your cake is gorgeous! Love the pan!

Kimberly Johnson said...

Your cake is beautiful! I want that pan!!

Anonymous said...

Oooh that pan is GORGEOUS! Glad you liked it. Thanks for baking with me this week!

Becky @ Project Domestication said...

love that pan! yours turned out so so nice!

Ashley aka Eclectic Connoisseur said...

Gorgeous cake!

Lillian said...

Love that pan. Your cake looks marvelous!

Michele said...

This looks so delicious!

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