This one is for my mom. It’s a simple pound cake inspired by the flavors of her tropical home. True pound cake relies on the lift that comes from creaming the butter and sugar perfectly. This recipe includes a little bit of insurance in the form of baking powder. It’s a great beginner cake. Easy to make yet special. In most recipes, I call for unsweetened shredded coconut, but this loaf is an exception. The sugar and moisture that comes from classic sweetened shredded coconut is important for the soft texture of this cake.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 3 hr 20 min |
| Active: | 20 min |
| Yield: | Makes 1 loaf |
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups sweetened flaked coconut
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup passion fruit pulp and seeds (from 4 to 5 fruit)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup melted virgin coconut oil
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch loaf pan.
- Spread the coconut in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake until golden brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer the toasted coconut to a plate to cool. Keep the oven on for baking the cake.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a 2-cup measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk and the passion fruit pulp and seeds.
- With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, sugar, and coconut oil in a large bowl until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally.
- Alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture to the egg mixture, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Stir in 1 cup of the toasted coconut.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle the top with the remaining 1/4 cup of toasted coconut. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool for 1 hour, then remove the cake from the pan and let cool completely.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 14 servings |
| Calories | 271 |
| Total Fat | 14 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Carbohydrates | 33 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 18 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Cholesterol | 58 mg |
| Sodium | 191 mg |
Reviews
The combination of toasted coconut and passionfruit is unique and delicious. However, I found that the recipe calls for more passionfruit than necessary. The recipe calls for 4 to 5 passionfruit, but I only needed 1 to 2 passionfruits to make the 1/4 cup of pulp required by the recipe. I was left wondering if there is a typo in the recipe list for either the number of fruits or the quantity of pulp required. Regardless, I used a 1/4 cup of pulp and the recipe came out fantastic. Overall, I highly recommend this recipe!
This recipe was pretty easy to follow. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to continue using the mixer to add the eggs and flour mixture, I ended up folding it in. Word of caution, this size loaf pan is way too small for the amount of batter that this recipe makes. The batter overflowed into my oven and burned, the whole house filled with smoke, it was a disaster. Despite all this, the cake actually tasted pretty good. Because it was so much batter I ended up baking for almost 2 hours. Next time I would use a cake pan or muffin tins…or just don’t fill the entire loaf pan with the batter.