Hawaiian Coconut Coffee Cake

I have had this recipe a long time. It dates from my days working in an office at the American Red Cross in St. Paul. I had a co-worker who was the baker extrodinaire...making this for some birthday or another. I have the copy right from the cookbook but no mention of the title of the book. There is a note by the cookbook author that the recipe was given to him/her by Richard Sax who acquired it from Simon Waters. Hmm...doing a google search for the recipe, even with those names, did not get me to the cookbook author or the original creator of this cake.

If you remember the Bleacher Butts (by the way, we came in 3rd...but we were honest about our workouts....not that I'm bitter or accusing anyone of cheating), there were a number of recipes calling for coconut. I bought a container of unsweetened coconut but am now feeling a tiny bit of pressure to use it. I have a co-worker who loves coconut...and she is having a milestone birthday this year, so I thought it was time to make this recipe. I did make it as outlined below and felt a bit guilty that I didn't substitute some other kind of flour for the wheat flour so even the gluten intolerant person could have it. BUT, I did feel that I needed to make this as the recipe outlines since I had never (maybe one time) made this.

The cake:

3/4 c unsalted butter, softened

1 c sugar

1 3/4 c flour

1/4 c cornstarch

1 t bkg powder

1 t bakg soda

pinch salt

3 eggs

1 1/2 t vanilla

1 1/4 c plain yogurt or sour cream

3/4 c grated coconut, preferably unsweetened

Coconut Glaze:

1/3 c canned cream of coconut, such as Coco Lopez

2 t cold water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10" springform pan and set aside.

Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy...6-8 minutes. Sift flour, cornstarch, baking powder and soda, and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper and set aside. Add eggs to the creamed butter one at a time and add the vanilla.

Add the flour mixture and yogurt alternately into creamed mixture beginning and ending with flour. Pour into the pan and sprinkle with coconut and bake until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean...about 50 minutes. May need to lay foil over the top of the cake if it is getting brown too quickly.

Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes then run blade over the sides. Remove from pan.

For glaze: heat cream of coconut and water in a pan. Poke holes in the cake and (while still warm) spoon glaze over the surface.


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