This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Amber of Cobbler du Monde: apple-coconut family cake. It’s busy around here so the best thing about this cake is the ease with which it can be thrown together. Just a few bowls and a whisk and you’re good to go. Even better, there’s no butter in the recipe so you don’t have to wait for it to come to room temperature (and can instead save it for all the cookies you’re baking!). I went full size on the cake this week but made a few other changes to the recipe. We never have yogurt in the house so I substituted buttermilk. I skipped the rum as well as the glaze for the top of the finished cake. The baking time for my cake was also about 10 minutes longer than Dorie’s 45-50 minute recommendation.
As I went to photograph the cake I realized it’s now only 11 days until Christmas and therefore high time I pulled out cute seasonal plates. My mom bought me these gingerbread man plates from the Williams-Sonoma Outlet at an after-Christmas sale last year so I’ve been waiting forever to use them. I think they’re adorable and I love that the design on each of the plates is slightly different (though I realized afterward that I didn’t take any pictures actually demonstrating that to you – oops). You’ll probably be seeing them a bunch over the next 2 weeks until I have to put them away again 🙂
But, back to the cake. I think a lot of the TWD bakers were hesitant about the apple/coconut combination, but since I like both flavors, I expected to like the cake. And I did. The coconut didn’t add much flavor, it was more of a textural element for me. Although Dorie suggested unsweetened coconut, I didn’t have any on hand so I used sweetened and as a result, the cake was fairly sweet. It probably would have been smart to reduce the sugar the in recipe but I didn’t think of it until it was too late. The apples keep the cake really moist and I can definitely see this one getting better the longer it sits. Breakfast or dessert – your choice, this rustic cake would work well for either.
Many thanks to Amber for hosting this week! You can find the recipe for the cake on her blog here or on page 214 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.
Looks great, Tracey! You’re right, this would be great for breakfast! Too bad mine was all eaten as dessert the night before 🙂
Looks very good. I just baked an apple pie this past weekend (a special request), so I am going to wait until we go to my sisters and bring this. I like the combination of coconut and anything…
This looks great – especially on the cute gingerbread plates!
So pretty! And I love those plates – adorable. 🙂
What a cute presentation! All one needs is a cup of good tea 🙂
It must be fate. I bought some unsweetened coconut in my last King Arthur Flour order and I don’t remember what I had planned to do with it! The cake (and the cookies underneath) are gorgeous!
Bautiful cake, Tracey! And your photography is amazing. I love the plates, too.
We just ate our some of our minis and it was pretty yummy.
I love how beautifully you placed your apples on top- very lovely!
I will take your suggestion and save some of this for breakfast tomorrow!
I love the holiday plates. How great is the WS outlet? Note to self, have to get there soon.
I didn’t make time to make this one, but you just talked me into it by dispelling all of my concerns. It looks really, really good (and those plates are adorable!)
Looks great! The plates are so cute! I agree that this cake would be a perfect breakfast treat.
Looks really great and sounds good, too. I will make it someday.
those are super cute plates! 🙂 your cake looks good too 😉
Lovely cake!
I waited overnight to comment so I could address the issue of letting it sit.
Fabulous! It was awesome the first day, although I thought the sweet coconut was perfect and can’t picture how it would taste with unsweetened. I risked losing out on a second piece by waiting till noon today, but since I put it in the fridge it wasn’t visible, so I was able to snag one of the last slices. I nuked it for 10 seconds to take the cold edge off it, and it was fantastic again! Many comments around here about the coconut / apple combo working very well.
Hmmm – I love baked treats that can be enjoyed for breakfast or dessert! It looks wonderful Tracey.
I actually made a mistake and used too much sugar, but it didn’t ruin the cake luckily. This one was yummy, and yours is exquisite! Nice plates 🙂
It looks like a great breakfast to me! I skipped this one, but I like apple and coconut, separate or together. I should get my Christmas plates out – time is running out!
That cake looks great. I’ve read that a lot of people didn’t liek this one, but the flavors sound awesome to me! I love cute plates, want to see more of them 🙂
Wowsers, those Gingerbread plates are ADORABLE!