Bon Appetit is my favorite food magazine. Every month there is one spectacular recipe after another. This month’s issue was no exception. For some reason, this cake was classified as a coffeecake. Very odd. This is a recipe for a very nice dessert cake. It’s not a big gooey layer cake with a lot of frosting. It’s a one layer cake rich with coconut, bittersweet chocolate chunks, the grated peel of a whole orange, and a coconut drizzle. (If you have the magazine, see pages 84, 85, and 91.) Love it! My five testers all gave it a thumbs up, too. There’s no doubt that I will be making this again.
Coconut Cake with Chocolate Chunks and Orange Zest
For Cake
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded coconut
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons finely grated orange peel (peel from one orange)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or coconut extract)
1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate (use bars and break into 1/2-inch irregular pieces), divided use
extra 1/2 cup shredded coconut for topping
For Coconut Drizzle:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons (or more) canned unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
Cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter 9-inch cake pan with 2-inch-high sides. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Stir in shredded coconut and set aside. Using electric mixer, beat sugar, butter, and orange peel in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla or coconut extract. Add 1/3 flour mixture, beat until blended, then ½ coconut milk, then 1/3 flour, then ½ coconut milk, then last 1/3 flour mixture, beating just until blended after each addition. To make the chocolate chunks, leave the chocolate in wrappers and bang with a meat mallet. Fold 4 oz of bittersweet chocolate pieces (one entire bar) into batter. Spread batter evenly in prepared cake pan. Sprinkle remaining chocolate pieces (1/2 bar) over batter, then sprinkle with an additional ½ cup coconut. Bake cake until golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, tenting with sheet of foil if coconut atop cake is browning too quickly, 60 to 70 minutes. Transfer cake to rack and cool in pan 45 minutes.
Coconut Drizzle
Whisk powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons coconut milk, and coconut extract in small bowl to blend well, adding more coconut milk by 1/2 teaspoonfuls until mixture is thin enough to drizzle over cake. Remove cake from pan and drizzle with glaze. Do not over drizzle. Cool cake completely on platter. Cake can be made up to 1 day ahead. Cover cake and let stand at room temperature.
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