Coconut Cream Cheese Pound Cake

I have not made that many tube style cakes, so figured this one was worth a try. This recipe was adapted from one I found on Cooks.com.

Cake:

1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 8oz. pkg. cream cheese
3 c. sugar
6 eggs
3 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. sweetened flaked coconut
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour the tube (bundt) pan and set it aside.

Have the butter, eggs and cream cheese at room temperature before you begin.

In a large bowl, stir the butter until soft and smooth. Stir in the cream cheese, and stir until well blended. Next stir in the sugar 1 cup at a time, stirring each time until the mixtue becomes light and fluffy. Stir in the 2 tsp. vanilla. Now stir in the eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously. The mixture should become lighter and fluffier, with more sugar dissolved, with each additional egg.

After the last egg has been added, stir in the coconut until it is evenly distributed throughout the batter.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Pour this mixture into the butter mixture and fold it in quickly, just enough to incorporate it evenly without over-mixing.

Now spoon the batter, about 1/2 c. at a time, into the prepared tube pan. It should fill the pan about 2/3 full to 3/4 at most. Place the pan into the preheated oven and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Cake is done when a skewer comes out clean. When it is done, remove it from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then turn out onto the serving platter by placing the platter upside down over the tube pan, then turning both over. The cake should fall out of the pan, ideally... :-) If it does not, then try and rescue any big pieces that may have stuck, so you can place them back onto the cake and hide them (and hold them in place) with the glaze we are going to add.

Glaze:

1/4 c. butter
4 oz. cream cheese
1-1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 to 4 Tbsp. coconut milk
1/3 c. sweetened flaked coconut

Melt butter in small saucepan. Remove from heat and add cream cheese, stirring until they are mixed and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the powdered sugar 1/4 c. at a time, whisking or stirring so as to remove any lumps. Add vanilla. Put the mixture into the refrigerator to cool while the cake is baking and while it cools.

When the cake is cool, remove the glaze from the refrigerator. Add 1 to 4 Tbsp. of coconut milk, 1 Tbsp. at a time, until the glaze is the right texture to drip down the sides of the tube cake without being runny. Pour the glaze over the tube cake, then sprinkle with the 1/3 c. coconut.

This is one Yummy!! coconut flavored cake!

Variants:

1 - This cake is very sweet. You can make it less sweet by using unsweetened flaked coconut. You will have the same big coconut flavor while cutting down on the sweetness factor.

2 - Try using brown sugar instead of white sugar, or a blend of half white / half brown sugar, and toasting the coconut to give a different coconut flavor hit altogether.

3 - Coconut and lime go great together. I'm thinking the next time I make this, I'll add the zest of 1 lime to the cake, and make a lime and cream cheese glaze to sprinkle the coconut on.

Enjoy!