Sweet Things

It is funny, because from the majority of the recipes I post - it totally has to look like I'm obsessed with baking.... (the recipes I post now will support that....) but the thing is, while I do bake quite often, I am just as obsessed with cooking non-dessert food as well. It is just much more socially acceptable to take a plate of brownies or a cake to work than to take a roasted leg of lamb or a pot of risotto. Anyway, that said - here are some recent things that appeared next to the coffee pot....

Coconut Bundt Cake with Chocolate Ganache
3 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup softened unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
6 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

Preheat the oven to 350F. Generously butter a bundt pan.

Sift cake flour and salt, set aside. Beat the butter in your handy stand mixer until fluffy. Gradually add the sugar (1/2 cup at a time), beating until well blended. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then both extracts. Slowly add in the flour mixture alternating with coconut milk. Fold in 2 cups flaked coconut. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake cake until top is golden brown and tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool cake in pan 15 minutes. Turn cake out and cool completely before glazing. I glazed this one with a ganache made with sweetned condensed milk (made is a little caramel-y) and then topped it with more shredded coconut.

Fudgey Cocoa Brownies
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cold large eggs
1/2 cup cake flour
(you can add nuts if you want, I usually do)

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and sides of the baking pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.

Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl and set the bowl in a wide skillet of barely simmering water. Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and hot enough that you want to remove your finger fairly quickly after dipping it in to test. Remove the bowl from the skillet and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot.

Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Stir in the nuts, if using. Spread evenly in the lined pan.

Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 20 to 25 minutes.