Coconut Cake

Excellent coconut flavor.

This recipe is a variation on the Olive Oil Cake (p. 852). The cook is instructed to replace the olive oil with coconut oil, and to replace the orange juice with a coconut milk + coconut mixture. Otherwise, proceed as written.

This leads to a problem, because the coconut oil is a solid at room temperature (in contrast to the liquid olive oil), and the coconut milk is also more viscous than orange juice. You are instructed make a batter with the oil, coconut milk, egg yolks, sugar, flour, baking powder, and fold in beaten egg whites. However, as written, the batter turns out to be the consistency of very thick library paste --- way too thick to fold in the egg whites.

I added about another 1/2 C of coconut milk. It was still very thick, but I did manage to fold in the whites (not without difficulty).

Nevertheless, the cake turned out well! Surprisingly light and moist. Watch the time carefully, for us, it was done before the top was browned.

This cake is sweet enough to not need a frosting, but I am going to keep my eyes out for a coconut milk-based glaze.