Coconut Lemon Bundt Cake...

I am a coconut loving fiend! I know coconut is one of those foods that people often have rather strong feelings about - whether for or against, generally everyone has an opinion. My opinion is that coconuts are amazing, and I will consume virtually anything that even hints of coconut. Where this love of coconut comes from I have no idea, but I assure you I most definitely wasn’t born with it. I didn’t start to go coconut crazy until a few years ago, and honestly I can’t think of more than a handful of people I know who actually like this tropical sensation. Me though - man - coconut water, coconut milk, coconut pudding, non-dairy coconut ice cream, coconut curry, coconut soup, coconut sauce, coconut... well you get the picture, coconut anything and I’ll eat it. Coconut water I find particularly refreshing, and usually drink a few bottles a week. If I could drink vats of coconut milk without gaining 800 pounds I’d do it in a heart beat. I even enjoy cracking open baby Thai coconuts scooping out their delicate white flesh and eating it right off the spoon.

So is it any surprise that a recipe for coconut lemon bundt cake has been taunting me all weekend? I think not. I mean how can you really go wrong there? if the coconut itself isn’t enough to convince you, there’s the lemon to finish the job! So Monday afternoon I set to work, pulling all my ingredients from their various locations in the kitchen, measuring, pouring, whisking, and mixing. I grabbed the old bundt pan that never seems to want to cooperate with me - always sticking like glue to my finished product and refusing to let go until I jiggle and shake so hard that I end up with more of a steaming mess then a cake - and thoroughly greased it. Maybe excessive is a better word, the pan was excessively greased, but hey as long as it didn’t grab hold of the cake and hang on for dear life, am I right? What’s a little extra oil? I set it in a 350 oven and after 45 minutes pulled it out and pierced it with a green plastic chopstick - because I have no toothpicks - the cake was suppose to bake an hour, but after 45 minutes I felt it was sufficiently done. So I took it out and left it to cool for thirty minutes before very cautiously, and very nervously placing a plate over top of the pan and gently flipping it over. Slowly I raised the pan, and much to my surprise - Voila! My very first ever perfect bundt cake! I breathed a sigh of relief and left it to cool uncovered for a while longer.

Now I wish I could take credit for this magnificent creation, but I simply can’t. The credit belongs to Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero in who’s book "Veganomicon" I found the recipe. (Great book by the way I highly recommend it) I can however take credit for a nice decorating job. Just a well placed sprinkling of powdered sugar, and some julienne lemon zest curls. I can also take credit for enjoying two large slices of this incredible desert promptly upon finishing my dinner, and no I don’t feel the least bit guilty about it either. The cake was so moist and scrumptious! Whoever claims vegan deserts don’t taste like the most heavenly thing on earth hasn’t been to my house recently, or ever in their life picked up a vegan baking book and given it a try. You get all the flavor with a hell of a lot less fat! I fail to see the downside of that.

My only suggestions here are to check the cake after 45 minutes as I did, and make the cake the recipe way first, then upon your second attempt remove the lemon and sub it with lime. Coconut and Lime work magic together and I can already taste how great they would pair in this cake.

*Bon Appetite Mes Amis!*