A Cake & A Cocktail

We had a celebratory cookout with contractor S and friends last week after the porch was complete – a night that left me fat and happy and feeling incredibly grateful for family, friends, food, our home, the joyful screams of kids in the yard on a late summer night…

Honey made a trip to the celebrated Patton’s Meat Market and grilled up divine steak and smoked pork chops.  The ladies brought apps and sides, contractor S cooked up some of the biggest prawns you’ve ever seen, and I made big sis H’s delish Coconut Pound Cake to serve with fresh fruit for dessert.  This cake was seriously to.die.for.  And I do not even have words for what it tasted like cooked up as french toast the next morning…

Coconut Pound Cake

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma

For the cake:

• 3 cups all purpose flour LESS 6 T. flour (to account for using all purpose rather than cake flour)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 16 Tbs. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 6 oz. cream cheese
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 tsp. lemon extract
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 Tbs. pure unsweetened coconut milk
• 3/4 cup shredded coconut
• 1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

For the glaze:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup fresh mint leaves

Directions:

Have all the ingredients at room temperature. Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 325ºF. Grease and flour a cathedral cake pan or 10-cup Bundt® pan.
To make the cake, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until creamy and smooth, 30 to 45 seconds. Add the sugar and continue beating, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lemon and vanilla extracts. Reduce the speed to low, add half the flour and salt, then the coconut milk, then the remaining flour and salt. Beat each addition until just incorporated, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the coconut and lemon zest.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 1/4 hours. Transfer to a wire rack and cool the cake upright in the pan for 10 minutes. Set the rack over a sheet of waxed paper and invert the cake onto the rack.
To make the glaze, in a small saucepan over low heat, combine the water, lemon juice and sugar just until the sugar dissolves. Add the mint and simmer for 3 minutes. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve and discard the mint. Brush the warm cake with the glaze. Let the cake cool completely before serving.
 
We started our evening with this crisp and refreshing Lemon-Mint summer cocktails from Fresh 365.  I cut back on the vodka – in each glass muddle a handful of fresh mint leaves, add a scoop of lemon sorbet, add more mint, add another scoop of lemon sorbet THEN top with a shot of vodka and fill with champagne.  The ladies agreed it was best when stirred up all slushy like…

While these somewhat strange pics (compliments of contractor S) don’t quite convey just how much fun was had…

…looking out over the yard at the end of the night there was no doubt that fun was had by all in attendance, no matter the age!
Happy Friday the 13th, y’all!
xoxo