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!! : )

Orange you glad it’s cake: Mandarin Orange Bundt Cake with Orange Juice Glaze

Mandarin Orange Bundt Cake

My first Mandarin cake was in Las Cruces, NM. It was a hot day in the desert and that cake was cold out of the fridge with a fresh orange taste...it was just heaven! Thankfully, the hostess did not scold me for having three pieces. My supper that evening was cake. I am not ashamed to admit it.

Her recipe had a heavier icing. Very good, very rich. I have chosen to make a simple glaze. Yes, it’s because I did not want to go to the store. I am very much a make-do sorta gal. But, over the years, I have become more of a fan of simple glazes or just dusting a cake with powdered sugar. I’m all about the flavorful cake and less about the icing.

This cake is very moist, with a hint of orange flavor. You can see little bits of mandarin orange throughout the slices. The orange juice glaze adds just enough sweetness, but doesn’t take away from the overall cake flavor.

Here is my tweaked-out version of her cake, in bundt form. You can make yours in two layers if you wish. Bundts are just easier to take places and share. I also cheat a bit and use a yellow cake mix. If you are a purist, mix up the dry ingredients for a yellow cake then add the wet ingredients I have listed.

Mandarin Orange Bundt Cake

• 1 yellow cake mix
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 (11oz.) can mandarin orange segments

Mix all the above ingredients together with a mixer. The mandarin orange pieces with almost disappear. (My particular can of mandarin oranges was only 10.5 ounces, so I filled the measuring up to 11 oz. with orange juice.)
Pour into a greased/floured bundt pan
Bake at 350 degrees for the time specified for bundt cakes on the box. (prob. about 45 min) A toothpick inserted needs to come out clean.

Orange Juice Glaze

• 2 TBS butter melted
• 1/2 box powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Orange juice

Melt butter in microwave in small mixing bowl. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Next, slowly add orange juice to the powdered sugar mixture. Make it as runny or as thick as you wish. I have no idea exactly how much I used. Mine turned out more like a glaze instead of an icing. It’s totally your call.

Wait until the cake has cooled to apply glaze/icing. Refrigerate at least 20-minutes before serving. You can dress it up with fresh orange slices. This cake is even better the next morning with a cup of coffee!

Mandarin Orange Bundt Cake slice...Yum!

This cake kinda reminds me of one of those orange push-up ice cream pops I used to eat as a kid...but it’s cake! You could probably make it as cupcakes and just make the glaze less runny, more like a frosting.

Let me know how you do! I’m gonna create a page to post the photos you send me of your creations!

As the mixing bowl turns,
Donna ; - )