Raise your hand if, last week, you wanted to punch the weather in the face. I know that technically it’s still winter, but just…COME ON. To add insult to injury, I’m also betting that those of you who are childless (or whose kids aren’t school-aged yet) are stuck at work while, seemingly, everyone else has taken the week off to cart their kids off to somewhere amazing and warm for March Break.
That said, there are reasons to celebrate: I saw some buds on a tree today. We gained an hour of daylight (even though we lost an hour of sleep). And friends, there is a cake that you can make that tastes like vacation. Like coconuts and pineapple and cheap delicious foreign rum. From the moment I saw this recipe, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I wanted to make it for a birthday party, but was pre-empted by the host’s plans to make red velvet cupcakes (which, by the way, are a very good idea, all the time). I had to wait a whole week for another special occasion — this time a baby shower — to be able to test this puppy out. My only regret? Convincing myself there was some reason to wait to make it in the first place. Seriously, you can just make this cake on any ol’ Tuesday. Like today.
I have a habit of slightly modifying every recipe I try — sometimes because I think I can make it better, other times out of some kind of stubborn need to make something my own. (That way, when somebody asks me where I got the recipe, I can say, “Oh, [insert food website], but, you know, I modified it a little.” Annoying, right?)
In this case, my only change was to substitute one ingredient, and truly it was only because I couldn’t find the cream of coconut the original recipe called for. Otherwise, I wouldn’t change a thing about this cake. It has a moist, rich denseness from the creamed coconut, but the crumb is still delicate. The glaze, made with pineapple juice, gives an added boost of freshness. Also, there is rum in it.
The recipe calls for cream of coconut, which is what is often used to make actual pina coladas — it’s thick, pre-sweetened and comes in a can. This is not to be confused with coconut milk, which will give you a weaker flavour and you’ll need to add extra sugar. This is also not coconut cream, which is like a more concentrated version of coconut milk. Confusing the matter further are the “creamed coconut” blocks that can be found in Caribbean/West Indian/Indian grocery stores, but also in the “ethnic aisle” of some of the larger chains.
Knowing that coconut milk wouldn’t give me the coconuttiness required, I used the creamed coconut block, dissolved it in a cup of water and added about a half cup of sugar to make something that approximated cream of coconut. If you can’t find the cream of coconut, then I’d recommend doing this rather than following the original recipe’s coconut milk substitution suggestion. I used canned pineapple because it also comes packed in the juice you need for this recipe, but if you want to go for a fresh one and purchase the juice separately, nobody’s stopping you.
Pina Colada Cake
from smittenkitchen
For cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp dark rum (Havana Club is a good one)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup cream of coconut*
1/2 cup finely chopped pineapple
*or 1 150g block creamed coconut + 1/2 cup sugar, dissolved into 1 cup hot water
For brushing over cake:
1-2 tbsp dark rum
2 tbsp pineapple juice
For glaze:
1 cup icing sugar
Pinch of sea salt
1.5 to 3 tbsp pineapple juice
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 9 inch round cake pan (I used a springform), and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper. Butter the parchment paper too.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and brown sugar together with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then the rum. Add cream of coconut and mix.
4. Add dry ingredients, half at a time, mixing until flour mixture is just incorporated, scraping down from side of bowl between batches. Fold in pineapple with a spatula. Avoid overmixing.
5. Spread batter evenly in the pan. Bake until golden on top, and a wooden toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean (35-40 minutes). Using a toothpick or wooden skewer, poke a bunch of small holes in the surface of the cake. Brush rum and pineapple juice over the cake while it’s still hot. Cool for 10 minutes.
6. Run a knife around the edge of the cake pan to loosen, then invert cake, peeling off parchment, then setting to cool completely on a wire rack before icing.
7. Once cake is cool, combine 1 tbsp of pineapple juice with the icing sugar. Add a tablespoonful at a time until the glaze is just pourable (avoid thinning it out too much or it won’t set properly). Pour glaze over centre of cake, allowing it to crawl to the edges (you can use a nonstick spatula to help it along so it covers the whole surface of the cake). Allow the glaze to set for about 20 minutes before serving.
Sara Chan is a Toronto-based entertainment lawyer, food enthusiast, unprofessional home chef and even less professional food photographer. Her favourite food group is pork. Sara’s column appears every other Tuesday here on lawandstyle.ca.