Coconut Loaf Cake with Thick Lime Glaze and a Giveaway!

I have been reading the recipes in Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen cookbook for the past week and immediately bookmarked one for Coconut Bread. It intrigued me since I hadn't had or seen anything like that before. I decided I wanted to change things up a bit anyway though and make it into a cake. I used a 9-inch springform which worked beautifully.

It makes a beautiful kind of a brunch cake or something you could have as an afternoon snack. The original recipe uses lemon, but I decided to go with lime. It also used coconut milk as well as toasted coconut.

I was thinking of topping it with a white chocolate glaze of some kind, but since I was undecided, went ahead and twittered all my foodie friends to see what they thought. While the white chocolate glaze sounded good though, @MormonFoodie, suggested a glaze made with powdered sugar, lime and coconut milk. That sounded really good, but unfortunately I was all out of coconut milk at that point since I used it all in the cake.

I decided to go with a simple glaze out of lime juice, powdered sugar and heavy cream. I wanted something very thick and smooth, and I got exactly that.

Even with the use of the coconut milk and toasted coconut, this cake / bread doesn't have an overwhelming coconut flavor. It just has all the very best characteristics of the flavor and texture. My son, who is a coconut hater, loved it. Of course, I didn't tell him what it was until after he ate a piece though!

Since the recipe came from Mr. Florence, I thought it would be a good way to announce a little giveaway that my friends over at M80 are helping me giveaway a $20 Macy's gift card to one of my lucky readers.

The giveaway is to help let all our foodie friends know about some podcasts that are available from Macy's and Tyler to help everyone with some cooking skills and knowledge, as part of Macy's Keeps America Cooking Campaign. You can view the podcasts here. Here is what M80 had to say about the podcasts and the contest...

"Macy’s and Tyler Florence, have joined and created an exciting 12-series
podcast hosted at macys.com/keepitcooking that feature some of his favorite
recipes. Check out what gets Tyler cooking and try out some of his tasty meals!
Macy’s also wants to know what gets you cooking and is offering you the chance
to win a kitchen shopping spree with Tyler in San Francisco!"

The contest goes through April 3rd, so if you are interested, check it out here! You can even find out more about it from M80 here!

All you have to do to win that Macy's card is to leave me a comment here and tell me what keep's you cooking? I'll run the contest till this Thursday, March 26th at midnight (MST) then use Random.org to pull a number from the comments.

Coconut Loaf Cake with Thick Lime Glaze
Source: Tyler Florence - link to original recipe here

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing the pan
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest of 2 limes, finely grated
1 - 14 oz. can unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut, toasted (see Note)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with butter.

In a large bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

In another large bowl, whisk together the melted butter with the brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and lime zest. Pour in the coconut milk and whisk together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold everything together with a spatula until you have a smooth batter.

Gently fold in the shredded coconut until evenly distributed. Pour into the prepared pan and set it on a cookie sheet. Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the bread. Rotate the pan periodically to ensure even browning.

Cool the bread in the pan for 20 minutes or so; then when cool enough to handle, remove the coconut bread to a cutting board and let it cool completely before glazing to keep the glaze nice and thick.

Note: To toast the coconut: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the coconut on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes, stirring it periodically Toasting will fluff up the coconut and increase its volume (as well as make it taste better).

Thick Lime Glaze

2 cups powdered confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice
1/4 to 1/3 cup heavy cream

Whisk ingredients together thoroughly in a large bowl til thick and smooth. Pour over the cake and use a rubber spatula to gently spread the glaze to the sides so that the weight just takes it down the sides of the cake. Add extra lime juice or cream, depending on the taste and thickness you want. The ratios above just have a light lime flavor.