Adventures in all things food: Coconut Cream Bundt Cake

It's time for another bundt-licious installment from #BundBakers. This month features an amazing ingredient...coconut, and a pretty great cake recipe. I know that I really want to make this one again.

I am not sure there are many cakes that make me happier than a flavorful and moist coconut cake. I have mentioned before but, growing up my Mom didn't really bake cakes. No, she was more of a pie baker. She made some amazing cream pies. Coconut cream is still one of my favorites.

I did do a full coconut cake a few years ago. I have been meaning to do it again, but all from scratch. My son and I watched an episode of Good Eats were Alton Brown made the extract, milk, etc. My son loved the idea of doing it all ourselves. Well, I haven't quite had the time to tackle that project yet, but this bundt is delicious, without all the excess work.

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

This month's host is Terri Truscello Miller from http://loveandconfections.blogspot.com/ . A big thank you to her for coordinating all of this. She threw down a coconut challenge - Fresh coconut, coconut flour, coconut flakes, toasted coconut, coconut milk, coconut cream, or coconut oil! It was all fair game.

I took this challenge by the horns and decided to scour the pantry for anything coconut I could use. I came up with shredded coconut, coconut extract, milk and oil. Shall we take a peek at the recipe?

Coconut Cream Bundt Cake

You Will Need:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup coconut oil
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
6 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp. coconut extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 c. flaked coconut
2 c. coconut milk
2 c. powdered sugar
shredded coconut for topping

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt cake pan.

In a food processor, pulse the 2 cups of shredded coconut until it is in smaller pieces.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese till smooth. Mix in the coconut oil and sugar, beat until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, take time to scrape down the mixing bowl between each addition. Then add in the extracts. Stir in the flour and baking powder until just combined and then fold in the coconut. Pour the batter into the bundt pan, and smooth out the top with a spatula.

Bake for an hour, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack.

With a skewer, poke holes all over the cake. Brush 1 cup of coconut milk over the cake, letting it soak in fully before adding more. Really saturate the cake before wrapping in plastic wrap. Let the cake sit overnight before glazing and serving.

To make the glaze:
Combine 2 cups powdered sugar with a tablespoon at a time of coconut milk. Add more until the glaze reaches desired consistency. Drizzle the glaze over cooled cake and top with flaked coconut.

This is a really dense cake, from a smooth and velvety batter. The cream cheese and final brushing of coconut milk helps to make the cake extra moist.

I chose a traditional bundt pan for this recipe. It just seemed fitting. The coconut is enough of a star here.

This cake gave me the unique chance to poke it full of little holes... those are perfect for letting the cake soak up all the coconut milk. Really, it has a full coconut flavor.

Mmm.... can you almost taste the coconut?

If you have the chance, give this cake a rotation in your bundt pan. If you are a coconut fan, I promise this won't fall short of coconut expectations.