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Looking for an old-fashioned pound cake? This coconut pound cake is just what you’re looking for.
Coconut Pound Cake Has Old-Time Texture
This coconut pound cake has a dense and fine texture just like the original pound cakes did. This one relies on the power of eggs as a leavening. There’s no baking soda nor baking powder to be found in this cake.
This recipe comes from who I consider the pound cake queen–Paula Jones from Call Me PMc. Whenever I want a different pound cake from the usual, I go to her site first. She will also walk you through the whole process if you’re a novice at baking one.
Love Coconut?
For me, that answer is a definite yes.
I deviated only slightly from Paula’s recipe in that I upped the amount of coconut because I am so fond of it. The original amount was one cup if you don’t want too much coconut. The cake will still be delicious.
For the coconut to blend better into the batter and have less “strings,” it’s pulsed in a food processor so that it’s more evenly shaped (for lack of a better word). Believe it or not, I consider this an essential step which shouldn’t be omittled. If it is, the long strands of the coconut would ruin the lovely texture. Don’t skip this step.
Vegetable Shortening
At first I thought that the inclusion of a bit of vegetable shortening was odd, considering the rich butteriness of pound cake. However, after I thought about it more, it’s there to lighten up the batter somewhat. With a lot of butter plus cream cheese, this cake would be rather dense. I happen to like that texture, but many don’t. Don’t leave it out either as the cake may not come out as expected.
As an aside, I prefer to get the vegetable shortening in the sticks. Yes, it’s more expensive–in fact it got outrageous–but if you’ve ever cleaned a measuring cup that contained shortening, you’ll know why I don’t balk at the extra expense.
The Recipe
Coconut Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening like Crisco
- 3 cups sugar
- 3 cups flour sifted
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 tbs coconut extract
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 7 eggs US graded large
- 1 1/2 cups flaked sweetened coconut
Glaze:
- 1/2 cup confectioners icing sugar
- 1 tbs water
- 1/4 cup flaked coconut
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F/160C. Grease a 12-cup tube or Bundt pan well.
- Place coconut in a food processor and pulse about 5 times.
- Using a stand mixer, beat butter, shortening and sugar until mixed then add the cream cheese and beat until light and fluffy, scraping down bowl occasionally.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the extracts and blend well. Stir in the flour, blending well..
- Stir in the coconut and pour batter into prepared pan
- Bake for 85-90 minutes. Cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let cake stand in the pan for 20 minutes then invert onto serving plate.
- Mix the confectioners sugar and water until smooth. Brush over top of the cake and sprinkle with the 1/4 cup coconut.
