Coconut Nut

Remember belting out, “I’ve got a love-uh-lee bunch of coconuts (dee-duh-lee-dee),” as a shameless teenager? While the ditty was amusing to sing, I never actually wanted my own set of coconuts standing in a row. Coconut milk made me nauseous, (virgin) piña coladas made me gag, and the actual coconut was so hairy and gross that I wanted to attack it with a razor.  

 

Even all of our childhood vacation to Kauai failed to change my mind. My family could down as many coconut ice cream cones and smoothies as they wanted; I stuck to my mango, guava, or passion fruit desserts.

 

So when I consciously and purposefully tossed a bag of shredded sweetened coconut into my cart at the grocery store last week—and then paid for it—I was more than a little surprised with myself. “What am I going to do with an entire – oz bag of… coconut??” I wondered.

 

Well, after three batches of this coconut loaf cake, the bag disappeared completely. And I only made the second two because I ate the first loaf in one sitting, all by mself! Bet you can’t resist either…

 

 

Coconut Loaf Cake

serves 8-10

After I finished off the first loaf so quickly, I began baking the later batches into mini-loaves to avoid the temptation. Reduce the baking time by about 10 minutes if you do this, but check the loaves often depending on your oven.

2 tbsp butter, softened

½ + 1/3 c. sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp coconut extract

2 eggs

1¼ c. flour

1¼ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

½ c. milk

½ c. shredded sweetened coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease a 13×9” loaf pan with non-stick baking spray. Set aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the extracts, mixing well to combine. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix in the shredded coconut, and pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool to room temperature.