Good things come in small packages, right? You may think of a pound cake and picture a bundt pan sized cake. This wonderful small cake is baked in an 8″ loaf pan. It slices like a dream, has wonderful texture and flavor. My husband is a cake lover and this made him very happy. What a great dessert to bake for Thanksgiving or Christmas. If you have any leftover, it freezes great!

This recipe is from the New York Times – they have fabulous recipes, which require a subscription, but let me tell you, it’s worth the little bit of money (less than a cup of coffee/month!) + news + games (Wordle, anyone?) – it keeps me sharp! 😉

Here’s the link to the recipe – they have great notes, and I love the comments. I always read the comments before I make a recipe, it can be so helpful. This recipe is excellent – so good that I took a photo when it came out of the oven but then totally forgot about getting the good shot I was aiming for, one on a pretty plate. Oh well, next time!

Click the link (title) to access the NYT recipe. My version with notes is below. It’s no wonder this recipe receives rave reviews from so many people!!

NYT COCONUT POUND CAKE

(by Samantha Seneviratne – my sticky note version)

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temp + enough to grease the pan
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour + enough to flour the pan
• 2 teaspoons baking POWDER
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons coconut oil (softened/liquid)
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup canned coconut milk (liquid)
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons sweetened shredded coconut, toasted *see note

Preparation

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour an 8″ loaf pan – shake out excess flour. (I used a glass baking dish).

In a medium bowl, whisk 2 cups flour with baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. With mixer running, add coconut oil (scrape down bowl) until combined. Then beat in eggs, one at a time, beating in between each one.

Next, add half the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Add the coconut milk and beat to combine. Add the remaining dry ingredients and 1 cup of the toasted, shredded coconut. Beat just until combined. Do not over-mix.

Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top.

Bake until golden and toothpick inserted comes out clean. This takes about 60-70 minutes.

Transfer to a rack to cool for 20 minutes (I run a sharp knife along the edges of the loaf pan), then you can turn it out onto the cake rack to cool completely. Wrap and store leftovers. After three days you can freeze for up to one month. I sliced and wrapped individually in wax paper and then into a zip top plastic freezer bag with as much air as possible removed.

Note: the first time I made this recipe I used sweetened coconut but did not toast (it was a mistake) – a happy mistake, it was amazing. I think next time I make it I may toast extra coconut to sprinkle on a plated slice and also try it with toasted coconut in the cake batter!. Also, some commenters used unsweetened coconut and they said it was plenty sweet, so I may try that. The cake tasted perfect to me as it was, it didn’t taste too sweet (I’m not a fan of too sweet), but I’ll give it a whirl.

Probably the most difficult part of this recipe was getting the ingredients warm enough (chilly day) to be liquid (coconut oil and coconut milk) AND waiting for it to cool, that was torture (the coconut cake aroma, whoa!). Did we make let it cool all the way like you’re supposed to? No (tiny taste). But I do like it room temp better than warm, so, next time I’ll try a little harder.

👩‍💻 Until next time…