Tres Leches Coconut Bundt Cake

Tres Leches Coconut Bundt Cake

This August I have been pretty busy getting my daughter prepared to study abroad in London and did not realize I hadn’t posted a single crumb! Last week I was thinking about all her favorite foods to eat and remembered her love of coconut cake. A dear friend in South Bend, IN made her 18th birthday cake while I was on the mend and it was a coconut tres leches cake with toasted marshmallow frosting. Yeah, the toasted marshmallow frosting was beyond amazing!

I knew I could NEVER replicate that cake, plus, I have developed this ‘thing’ about frosting/icing. I’m kinda over it. I think years of getting the corner piece covered in roses did it. I’m now satisfied with a little drizzle of sauce or a dusting of powdered sugar. It’s all about the CAKE these days.

This recipe was developed from two or three others that I read online. It turned out even better than I expected! (Sometimes, my experiments don’t go so well...but I never post anything about those.) I have also given my bundt pan quite a workout this year. I’m kinda over layer cakes, too. I don’t want to worry about getting the same amount of batter in each pan. I don’t want to have to make enough frosting to cover the sides and the top. Bundts are just way easier; easier to cut, to store, for the family to slice and not wreck the rest of the cake. Easier.

I did learn what to do better the next time I make this cake. 1) I will wait overnight before I invert the cake and put it on a cake plate. 2) I will poke more holes, allowing more milk to filter to the bottom of the bundt pan. Here is my version of a Tres Leches Coconut Bundt Cake:

Someone on Twitter was allergic to coconut and asked what to do. Simply omit the shredded coconut and coconut milk and replace the coconut milk with heavy cream.

Tres Leches Coconut Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

Cake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup coconut milk, unsweetened
• Zest from one Lime or small lemon
• Juice from one Lime or small lemon
• 3/4 cup shredded coconut
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or coconut extract

Tres Leches

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 can evaporated milk
• Remainder of the can of coconut milk you used earlier
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 TBS rum or brandy (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease/flour your bundt pan or spray with Bakers Joy-type baking spray. Set aside.
2. Cream butter, eggs, sugar and extract together.
3. Mix together dry ingredients; flour, baking powder, salt, and add to the creamed mixture along with the shredded coconut and coconut milk.
4. Lastly, add the juice and zest from one lime or small lemon. (a little tip I received from chef Carla Hall!)
5. When the ingredients are combined fully, add them to the prepared bundt pan.
6. Bake for 45-55 minutes, checking by using the clean toothpick method.
7. While cake is still hot, begin poking holes all over the cake, all the way down to the bottom of the pan.
8. Ladle on the entire contents of the tres leches mixture.
9. Allow cake to soak and chill in a refrigerator at least 4-hours, or better yet, overnight.
10. Turn out onto a cake plate, dust with powdered sugar and serve with fresh berries.

Little tip:  I panicked because my cake would not come out of the bundt pan after it had chilled! Then it hit me, that the sweet milk would loosen up if I warmed the pan up a bit. So, I put about 2 inches of hot water in my kitchen sink and let the cake pan sit in the sink for a couple of minutes. I then took a knife and went around the center hole to make sure nothing was sticking. I took the cake out of the sink, dried off the bottom of the pan and tried again. Presto! The cake popped right out! Whew! So don’t panic...there is hope!

Meet your tres leches and coconut.

The batter is really thick.

Check with a toothpick to make sure it is done.

Poke a zillion holes!

Pour on the milk a little at a time.

Cause this will happen if you go too fast.

It will look like this after it chills.

Oh, and chef Carla Hall tweeted this was “Stunning” when she saw my photo on Twitter. Thanks, Carla! : ) Guess we are friends like that! LOL!!

This cake is so moist, sweet, dense, and delish! I think making it in a bundt pan makes it much easier to serve...but that’s just me. I do not know a way to make this cake for the health conscious or lactose intolerant. Sorry. It’s just amazing and as it should be. Serving it with a few fresh berries was perfection! You could add whipped cream, too...but then it would end up being cuatro leche, right?

Give this one a try! Bet you will keep this recipe in your file box!! And send me the photos of your creation...I’d love to post it on my blog!

As the mixing bowl turns,
Donna ; - )

I made a second one for a Labor Day BBQ. Chef Rick Bayless said this pic looked “gorgeous!” Thanks, Chef!! : )