L ifestyle /C ulture
Triple Coconut Cake
F OO D
KERI WHITE | JE FOOD COLUMNIST
THIS CAKE WAS BORN out
of a surplus of coconut cream.

My daughter used a portion of
a can for quinoa porridge, and
I wanted to use the rest before
it went bad.

I am always on the lookout
for tasty pareve desserts, and
this one fit the bill. The cake
itself is a riff on a traditional
vanilla batter cake that is
topped with caramel.

The caramel glaze, which
normally uses heavy cream
and butter, came together with
coconut cream and coconut
oil instead. I used unsweet-
ened coconut for the topping
— toasted then mixed with
confectioner’s sugar — but
sweetened, flaked coconut
would do the job, too, toasted or
not. Hence the “triple coconut
cake” moniker.

Because it is pareve, the
cake can follow any dinner.

And it can go in many different
directions. There is definitely a
Southern vibe: Coconut layer
cake is an iconic and tradi-
tional dessert down South.

But I also feel this pulling
to South Asia — Thai, Indian,
Malaysian and other cuisines
in that part of the world
use a lot of coconut in both
savory and sweet dishes. You
could certainly highlight that
culinary geography by adding
chopped fresh mango as a
garnish at the table or mixing
ginger or cardamom into the
cake batter.

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Makes a 9-inch round cake,
or about 8 servings, depending
upon how you slice it
A note on the ingredients: To
achieve maximum coconut
flavor, use unrefined virgin
coconut oil; it has a much
stronger coconut flavor. Most
refined coconut oil has little or
no coconut flavor. As for the
coconut cream, this is a thicker,
higher-fat version of coconut
milk. If you can’t find it, full-fat
coconut milk will work, but the
caramel will be a bit thinner.

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20 FEBRUARY 25, 2021
medium until fluffy. Add the
eggs, one at a time, mixing well
after each. Add the coconut
cream and blend again. Sift the
TRIPLE COCONUT CAKE
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Strictly Kosher
And there’s an association oil, line it with parchment, then
with Mexican and Central spray the parchment. Set it aside.

American cuisines, which
In a mixing bowl, blend
frequently use coconut as the coconut oil and sugar on
an indigenous ingredient.

Consider adding lime zest and
juice to the various compo-
nents, or serve it with sliced
pineapple to enhance the
Mexican angle.

Finally, if you and yours
despise coconut, you can tweak
the cake by substituting equal
amounts of butter, margarine
or shortening for the coconut
oil, and buttermilk, regular
milk or non-dairy milk for the
coconut cream. In the caramel,
swap heavy cream and butter
(or non-dairy substitutes) for
the coconut ingredients.

If you want a crunchy
topping that doesn’t involve
coconut, you can toast chopped
almonds, pecans or walnuts —
or skip that step entirely and
let the caramel glaze stand on
its own.

½ cup coconut oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coconut cream
2 cups flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
Heat your oven to 350 F,
spray a round cake pan with
JEWISH EXPONENT
Triple coconut cake with caramel glaze
Photos by Keri White
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM