Tropical Coffee Cake

p. 247

I made this coffee cake on Tuesday night, for breakfast Wednesday morning. Of course, when I read the "serve warm" on the directions, Scott and I each had a small slice... for the sake of experimentation!

First of all, the actual cake recipe calls for mango. Since Scott and I are both a little hesitant about mango, I decided on fresh pineapple instead. And believe it or not, that's the only substitution I made here!

This is one of those pesky recipes that wants you to use AP flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Generally, I just use self-rising and cross my fingers, but this time I followed the directions. I also sifted the dry ingredients (those above, plus sugar and nutmeg) in my new sifter. The sugar or the nutmeg jammed the holes, and some shaking and banging were necessary.

The wet ingredients for this cake included plain yogurt, oil and just one egg. And when mixed together with the dry, the batter was extremely thick. It was mid-way between cookie dough and muffin mix. In fact, staring at the bowl with my brow furrowed, I re-read the ingredient list at least two more times looking for the cup of water or milk that I forgot to add. But alas, there were no missing ingredients.

I tossed the pineapple (which Scott was nice enough to dice for me) with a tablespoon of flour, and "gently folded" it into the batter. I literally had to spread the batter all the way to the edges of the cake pan because it wanted to stay in a near-ball in the center of the pan.

I sprinkled a generous handful of coconut on the top (I think the recipe called for 2 T., but why bother?) and put it in the oven.

OMG the smell! I looked at Scott about 20 minutes into the baking process and told him I was going to make this again no matter how it tasted because it smelled so wonderful. I think it was the nutmeg. Or maybe the browning coconut.

The cake actually cooked in the time recommended in the recipe - a pleasant surprise because I was supposed to use a 9" cake pan and we only own 8" pans. Hmm... I guess that makes two substitutions!

My impressions of this cake are overall quite positive. The batter itself is a perfect blank canvas for just about any fruit filling. I'm tempted to substitute cinnamon for the nutmeg and apples for the "mango." Heck - maybe just add whatever is in season! It was moist, flavorful, and beautiful.

Scott and I both got bites that were heavy on the nutmeg, but that's definitely user error. I was proud that there was no issue with the baking soda/powder. My previous experience has definitely been negative, with results tasting soapy or salty. This time, everything was just right. And the cake rose nicely.

This cake is definitely something I'll make again. It was so good that I might even make it for the next pot luck at work!