Coconut-Pineapple Loaf Cake

Well, things are still progressing slowly at the house but I had some good motivation to give my new kitchen a work out recently. I signed up to make a dinner for Josh's boss during her recovery from surgery and I of course wanted to go all out. You gotta impress the husband's boss, right? I wanted to make something that felt fresh and healthy to help cheer her up and help her on the road to wellness, and since I would be making the same meal for us I wanted to make sure it was something we love too. I know the family enjoys Mexican food, so I made a batch of my favorite guacamole, some cilantro-lime rice and a big pan of vegetable enchiladas. I decided I'd like to make something for dessert too and settled on this Everyday Food cake that I'd had on my to-bake list. We still don't have permanent internet at the house, so uploading pics is not something I can get around to yet. I was too busy cooking to take pics anyway. Photo via Martha Stewart.

Coconut-Pineapple Loaf Cake
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 10















1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 can (20 ounces) pineapple chunks in juice, drained well

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread coconut on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until lightly toasted, tossing occasionally, 6 to 10 minutes; set aside. Butter and flour a 9-by-5-inch (8-cup) loaf pan; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
• Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce speed to low, and alternately add flour mixture in three parts and sour cream in two, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix just until combined (do not overmix).
• Using a rubber spatula, fold pineapple and 1 cup coconut into batter. Spoon into prepared pan, and smooth top; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup coconut. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 65 to 70 minutes (cover pan with foil halfway through). Let cake cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove from pan, and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

My notes: I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla and used a can of pineapple "tidbits", which are smaller than chunks but larger than crushed. I think the slightly smaller pieces of pineapple made the loaf easier to cut. Also, I cooked my cake about 75 minutes after reading several reviews on Martha's website about undercooked results. This cake was really delicious and the flavors worked well together without anything being too dominant. I think I'll definitely make this again.

Apple Crumb Coffee Cake

Last week I was taking a stroll over at Everybody Likes Sandwiches when I saw a delicious looking coffee cake. Now, she made the coffee cake in a bout of insomnia induced baking, and forgot to add the baking powder. The cake looked so good I was certain that I just had to make it. I decided to give it a shot Saturday afternoon, as a nice treat for all the spring cleaning I was doing. When gathering the ingredients I decided I would go ahead and give it a shot with the baking powder. It came out wonderfully, but I think I'm going to try it without the BP too, because her cake looks so wonderfully dense with apple. This cake gave me one of the nicest moments of the weekend- windows open, sun and breeze streaming in, hands messily mixing crumb topping while Prairie Home Companion seeped out of the speakers from NPR. It made me feel like I was doing something that my grandmother had surely done before me. So pleasant! Second nice moment- eating a piece of this cake!

Apple Crumb Coffee Cake
Recipe from Everybody Likes Sandwiches












for the cake part:
1 1/2 cups of flour
2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 Granny Smith apple, chopped

for the crumb part:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

• Preheat oven to 400. Butter and flour an 8" round cake pan, shaking off any excess flour. Prepare crumb topping in a medium-sized bowl, crumbling mixtures with your fingers until it looks like crumbs. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl, combine egg, milk and oil. Add the wet to the dry and mix. Add in apples and stir until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and top with crumb mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool.

My notes: I had one large Fuji apple in the crisper, so that's what I used. Fuji holds it's shape well when baked, so it's a nice texture with the cake. I used a 9" round pan, no problem there. I cooked it for 25 minutes and my crumb topping was a little dark, so maybe cut it a little earlier next time. This cake was so delicious, especially with a nice cup of coffee, of course.

More Yogurt Cake? Merci!

So, when I bought the yogurt I needed to make the Ina Garten yogurt cake, I ended up getting a big tub of it as I couldn't find any small containers at the store. Which left me with a lot of leftover yogurt. What should I do with it? Make another yogurt cake you say? I like your style. Because that is exactly what I did. This recipe comes from a wonderful book by Clotilde Dusoulier of Chocolate & Zucchini. Josh was kind enough to give me her Chocolate and Zucchini: Daily Adventures In A Parisian Kitchen as a Christmas gift. This was the first recipe I've made from it, but it won't be the last. I have so many pages tagged that I didn't know where to start, but having an excess of a key ingredient on hand helped me choose this cake. I'm planning on making this cake again this weekend to take over to the In-Law's for a Sunday afternoon lunch.

Yogurt Cake
Recipe from Chocolate & Zucchini













1/3 cup vegetable oil, plus 1 teaspoon to grease pan
1 cup plain unsweetened whole milk yogurt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon light or amber rum (optional but recommended)
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Good pinch of fine sea salt

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the sides of a 10-inch round cake pan or springform pan with oil and line the bottom with parchment paper if the pan is not springform.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt and sugar. Add the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla, oil, and rum, if using, and whisk again.
• In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour the flour mixture into the yogurt mixture, and whisk until just combined.
• Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let stand for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the pan to loosen. If you're using the springform pan, unclasp the sides. Otherwise, flip the cake onto a plate and flip it back on the rack. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

My notes: I didn't have any rum on hand, so I used 1 teaspoon almond extract, and it was delicious! Also, my cake pan is 9", so I had a bit of batter leftover that couldn't fit. But, I didn't think to reduce the cooking time a smidge, so at 35 minutes my cake is a very golden brown, ha. It didn't affect the taste at all though, but now I know to shave a couple minutes off. My friend Holly was over for a movie day, and despite her being an incredibly picky eater, she really liked the cake. Josh and I both loved it too! I look forward to making more great recipes from this fantastic book.

Lemon and Blueberry Yogurt Cake

This weekend I was in the mood to do some baking, and I was also in the mood to work on my cooking goals- to cook at least two recipes from all of my cookbooks this year. It was a really Springy day yesterday, great way to start off the month of March, which put me in the mood for something light and bright. I decided to try out Ina Garten's Lemon Yogurt Cake from The Barefoot Contessa At Home. While looking over the recipe I decided I would add a handful of the frozen blueberries I had- a special touch for Josh who loves blueberries. This turned out really good, although a little stouter than Ina's since my loaf pans dimensions are a bit wider than what the recipe called for. No matter, as it's all in the taste and the taste is great. Just finished off another slice before starting this post, as a matter of fact. :)

Lemon and Blueberry Yogurt Cake
Recipe from Ina Garten; Makes 1 loaf












1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole milk yogurt
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
3 extra-large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cups vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/4 x 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease over paper and flour the pan.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into one bowl. In another bowl, whisk the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated. Pour half the batter into the prepared pan, sprinkle in the blueberries, and top with the rest of the batter. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the load comes out clean.
• Meanwhile, cook the 1/2 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.
• When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully, place cake on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.

My notes: The recipe also called for a glaze of 1 cup confectioners sugar with 2 tablespoons lemon juice, but I wanted to keep it a little lighter. Instead once the first pouring with lemon-sugar mixture had finished dripping off the cake and had soaked in, I poured the mixture from the baking sheet back into the measuring cup and made another pass over the cake with it. Doubling it over gave it a nice soft glaze, but kept it feeling light since it's not a hard icing. I really like this cake, and Josh remarked on it's great flavor several times while eating his slice. Definitely going to make this recipe again.

Seeing Red

I was originally going to make this cake as a Sugar High Friday event entry, but alas things just didn't work out the way I had hoped. In fact, I wasn't going to bother blogging about it at all, except that Josh is crazy about the darn thing. He has had a piece every night he's gotten home from work. Don't tell anyone, but tonight he had two! I agree that the cake is mighty tasty, although I'm not 100% over the moon for the frosting and cake combo. Anyway, I made the cake and icing last Friday night, but once they were each done it was late, so I wrapped everything up and stuck it in the refrigerator. Saturday I leveled the cake layers, got them stocked and put my crumb coat on. That was a little rough, thanks to my laziness in preparing the baking pans with only grease. The outside of the cake was a bit crumby, so I had my doubts about the crumb coat working at all. Well, I popped it back in the fridge, but then ran out of time. I left early Sunday morning for Louisiana for Uncle Sammy's funeral, and didn't get home till late Monday night. So the cake I baked Friday night wasn't completed till Tuesday afternoon. Which only adds to my surprise at Josh thinking it is so great. I pulled this recipe from my grandmother's recipe boxes. It's signed at the bottom with the name of her best friend and former neighbor, so it's not quite a family recipe. And it's almost common knowledge at this point that this cake doesn't actually have it's roots at the Waldorf Astoria, but I'm keeping the title all the same.

Waldorf Red Cake
Recipe from Pat Gilliland; Makes 2 9" cakes

1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1/4 cup red food coloring
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon vinegar

• Cream shortening, sugar and eggs. Make paste of cocoa and food coloring and add to mixture. Add buttermilk and salt alternately with flour. Then add vanilla. Lastly add soda and vinegar.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes in 2 9" pans.

My notes: I ended up baking my cakes for about 35 minutes. Also, I used one small bottle of red food coloring, which wasn't quite 1/4 cup. As you can see there wasn't any problem telling what kind of cake it is, so you could definitely use less coloring. I made a basic cream cheese frosting for this cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 8 oz. block cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla

• Beat the butter on medium for 2 minutes. Add the cream cheese and beat for another 2 minutes.
• Sift the confectioners sugar and add to butter and cream cheese. Beat for 2 minutes.
• Add vanilla and beat until well blended, light and fluffy.

My notes: Here in Texas, especially in the summer, this frosting can't stand up to much so this cake has to be kept in the refrigerator.

A Taste of Yellow- Wild Canary Cake

Growing up I was raised by two moms, my real mom and my grandmother. The four of us, including my brother, lived together in the same house. My grandma was a woman who grew up in a house where food was very important. In a farming family with 13 brothers and sisters, times were often hard. With there always being plenty of mouths to feed my great-grandmother baked bread almost every day (which reminds me, I swear I will be continuing my work with yeast). And since my grandmother was the second oldest, a lot of responsibility fell to her. Growing up we ate a lot of good food, to say the least, as she learned a lot growing up herself. I have a lot of wonderful memories of my grandmother- her super doughy sugar cookies, pumpkin bread every Thanksgiving and Christmas, homemade noodles, chicken & dumplings, and so much more. I have a lot of wonderful memories that don't necessarily involve food. Staying home with my grandmother during the day meant we would watch our soap operas together. And I could stay up late at night if I helped her work the crossword puzzle while we watched Perry Mason reruns. Living through the death of her husband, a brother, and both her parents, my grandmother was definitely the definition of a survivor, in my opinion. Which made it very hard when she passed away in 1994 of cancer. I wasn't just losing my grandma, it was like I was losing a mom too. And it was all the more hard because my brother and I weren't done being raised by her. I was 13 when she passed away, and my brother was 10. I sometimes regret not asking more questions, more about her life, but there's no way you can really expect a kid to think about those kinds of things. I have a lot of wonderful memories, and I do have a lot of stories that I can share with my future children, even if I don't know every single one she had to tell. Here is a picture of my grandmother with a few of her co-workers (a few of them also family) at the brick yard, where she worked during WWII, while my grandfather was in the Navy. She's the next to last woman. I think part of my image of her as survivor has to do with the fact that she was so tall, ha.

A month or two ago I borrowed one of my grandmother's recipe boxes from my mom. I had pulled out several recipes that looked interesting. When I heard about the Taste of Yellow blog event created by Barbara at Winos and Foodies to celebrate LiveStrong Day, I knew that I had to make one of these recipes- Wild Canary Cake. The cake takes it's name from the hue of the main ingredient- egg yolks. Yep, if you are on cholesterol medication, avoid this cake at all costs! The recipe, typed on an index card that is quite yellowed itself, is a bit vague. The last instruction on the back is merely "Bake." But I didn't let that stop me from taking up the challenge. Nor did it stop me when, in an attempt to find out anything else about the recipe my Google searches resulted in nothing but bird feed information. So, this Sunday morning I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. And this is the point at which I feel the need to come completely clean and tell you that I used store-bought frosting. I know, I know- it's a travesty. I'm sure Stephanie and Lindsey are thoroughly disappointed in me, but I was under a time crunch, didn't have all the ingredients I needed, and had total lack of confidence as well, ha. But, aside from the frosting the cake is completely homemade, vague index card and all.

Wild Canary Cake
Recipe from my grandmother; Makes 2 9" round cakes


3/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
8 or 10 egg yolks
2 1/2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla

• Cream shortening. Cream in sugar.
• Beat egg yolks very light. Beat into first mixture.
• Sift dry ingredients together. Add alternately with liquid. Beat in flavoring.
• Bake.

My notes: Okay, so as you can read, those directions are straightforward, but can leave a bit to be desired. I used cake flour, which worked fine, but since talking with my mom she thinks my grandmother probably would have used all-purpose. I also went with the 8 egg yolks, because- seriously, 10 yolks? 8 already seems insane. I greased the pans, lined the bottom with parchment, greased that, and floured them. I divided the batter evenly between the two pans, evened the batter in each pan, and tapped on the counter to bring up any bubbles. I decided to cook these cakes at 350 degrees and started at 30 minutes. I pretty much just based that on a another one of her cake recipes. After the first 30 minutes I left them in for an additional 7 or so after testing with a skewer. While these cakes were baking there was the smell of vanilla in the house. When I took them out of the oven, there was the smell of eggs. I don't mean that in a bad way, but it's just really strange to have your house smelling like cooked eggs. Also, these cakes cooked up, and over. But only to one side. My rack is in the oven evenly, my oven has not recently been placed on a fault line, so I really can't figure out why each one baked up to form a lip on one side. After they cooled in the pans for around 15-20 minutes I cooled on a rack. The top had a very sponge like texture, and thanks to the lip thing, I cut the tops off each of them. This revealed the pretty yellow innards, very moist but quite crumby. As you can see in the picture, the outside of the cake had browned nicely. This is about the time I realized that I had very little time to frost them before our dinner date. So, yeah, I took the easy way out and bought some cream cheese icing. I'm a woman on the go, get off my back! What with the crumby texture of the now exposed tops I figured they should probably be in the middle. I think it made for an interesting visual, since the cream cheese in the center seems to blend with the cake, and the golden brown outer edge of the layers matches up fairly well. I crumb coated the thing, stuck it in the fridge for 30 while I got ready for dinner, and then iced it completed. This is the first time I'd done a crumb coat. To be quite honest I am horrible at icing cakes. I lucked out in marrying a guy who doesn't really like much frosting. I typically ice the middle and top and leave it at that, but I knew that wasn't gonna do this cake any justice. I must admit that there were a few crumbs in the icing, but overall my crumb coat was a success. I will probably stick to my ways as far as household sweets go, but it's nice to know that I can produce a better looking cake for friends and family.

And so, that's the tale of how a blog event for a good cause brought me just a little bit closer to my grandmother, even though we haven't been in the same kitchen in more than 10 years. My grandmother isn't the only person I know that has been affected by cancer- my paternal grandfather, my great-uncle, my husband's aunt, and one of our good friends. But here's a slice for all of the wonderful, strong, and amazing people who have had to deal with this disease- whatever form it's taken, whomever it has affected. I hope that everyone who participates gets as much out of it as I have.