Cooking from the Glossies: Key Lime Coconut Cake
What to do with two limes on the verge of expiration? Seriously, they didn't even look like limes anymore, but more like deformed green balls of death. Not to worry—they still turned out to be exceptional in this Key Lime Coconut Cake from the March issue of Gourmet. Even with my decrepit, non-Key limes, the cake turned out great and was the family favorite among the four desserts I randomly baked one weekend.
I made a couple of additional changes to the recipe. Of course, I substituted 2 percent milk for whole milk like I nearly always do. I really don't think whole milk is necessary for any dish except maybe puddings and other dairy-heavy desserts. And who has whole milk in their house besides those with young children? Second, I found that just drizzling the glaze over the cake led to the glaze pooling in the center of the cake, throwing off the ratio of glaze to cake. Solution? Poke holes with a toothpick all over the cake so that the glaze can settle evenly. Third, this cake is supposed to serve eight people, but three of us devoured it over the weekend (you know; a slice here, a slice there). Be careful—this cake is dangerously addictive!
Key Lime Coconut Cake
- serves 8 -
Adapted from Gourmet magazine.
Ingredients
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon grated Key lime zest
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups self-rising flour
3/4 cup 2 percent milk
1/4 cup fresh Key lime juice, divided
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon rum (optional)
Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Generously butter a 9 x 2-inch round cake pan and line bottom with a run of parchment paper.
2. Toast coconut in a small baking pan in oven, stirring once or twice, until golden, 8 to 12 minutes. Cool. Leave oven on.
3. Beat together butter, granulated sugar, and zest with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Stir together flour and 1/2 cup coconut (reserve remainder for topping). Stir together milk and 2 tablespoons lime juice. At low speed, mix flour and milk mixtures into egg mixture alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour.
4. Spoon batter into pan and smooth top. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool to warm, then turn out of pan and discard parchment.
5. Whisk together confectioner's sugar, remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice, and rum (if using). Poke 1 inch spaced holes with toothpick all over top of cake. Pour glaze over cake and sprinkle with remaining coconut. Let glaze set for 15 minutes before serving.
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16 Comments:
You had me at toasted coconut, and salvaging fruits on the edge of death.
bitchinlifestyle at 3:25PM on 04/03/09
I love coconut, but nobody else in my family does so I rarely bake with it.
Today, that ends.
http://bakingandmistaking.blogspot.com
cool2bars at 4:37PM on 04/03/09
This may be a dumb question, but how do you juice key limes? They're so tiny!
cunning at 5:45PM on 04/03/09
I have whole milk in the house!
producestories at 6:26PM on 04/03/09
I have limes - and this is on my menu for Easter weekend!
Maureen at 8:28PM on 04/03/09
I made this recipe a few weeks ago and it was terrific. I even made a trip to the store for the self-rising flour it calls for. Your tip about poking holes in the cake for the glaze is spot on. Wish I'd though if it. I'll be making this again (maybe with tangerine or grapefuit juice if I can't find fresh key limes again) and will use your glaze tip.
Sqeezing those little limes is a bit of a pain, but you don't need many and it was well worth the trouble.
kathyvegas at 10:45PM on 04/03/09
Put the lime in the coconut, put it all together.. Oh my... this sounds wonderful! This is the perfect size for a perfect treat.
It's on my list to make for my next dinner with my parents! (I cook for them every Sunday night).
TeriN at 11:51AM on 04/04/09
This looks amazing
ReneeRobinson at 12:42PM on 04/04/09
I just made this, I do not always have good luck with baking recipes but this turned out great. I did not have key limes but regular limes worked great.
danrob54 at 10:26PM on 04/04/09
Oh Smitten Kitchen made this too and posted it a while ago. It looked great on her blog and looks great here too. It's going on my must make list!
leeber at 11:02AM on 04/06/09
Hi all!
I'm with the anti-coconut folks usually, but I probably will give this one a try. Substituting whole milk for lower-fat milks can make or break a recipe's chemistry sometimes, so careful with that! Besides, it tends to create a richer end product.
For folks thinking about going out and buying self-rising flour, try this instead: to each cup of flour add 1 & 1/4 tsp baking powder and 1/8 or so tsp of salt.
camouflagedcalories at 1:47PM on 04/07/09
Oooh hahahahhahahaha! Deformed green balls of death! I love this post! Can't WAIT to use up my own mouldering green death balls. Thank you for a complete LOL moment.
whoizzit at 2:23PM on 04/08/09
The zest can be from real limes and instead of trying to squeezing key limes, buy at any store key lime juice. We make key lime pie all the time. This sounds great. Gonna make it for Easter.
old chef at 5:06PM on 04/08/09
Yum, I saw this recipe a few weeks ago and have been wanting to make it.
imafoodblogdotcom at 6:20PM on 04/08/09
OK, I am SO gonna use this for dessert at next year's Passover dinner (yeah, I know... don't ask). FIL loves coconut, so it will be nice to do something to his taste for a change.
susanova at 1:30PM on 04/13/09
You got 1/4 cup juice from 2 key limes? Two dried up, "on the verge of expiration" limes???
Sorry but my suspension of disbelief just burst.
mauserati at 5:06PM on 04/13/09