Chocolate ~ Coconut Pound Cake

To age gracefully is a virtue; however we are all under constant pressure to live up to the hype and sometimes get lost in the hustle. I read somewhere that years may wrinkle the skin but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. How true ! The trick, I guess is to enjoy the journey and live fitfully. Why this sudden spouting of philosophical babble ? Well, yours truly joined the swag club of '40' two days back and was sloshed with wishes ranging from funny to downright serious. And hence the need for introspection and reflection! Armed with a joyful spirit , I look forward to the year ahead and yes hopefully strike down a few things from my bucket list. 

Coming to the post for today, I baked a Chocolate ~ Coconut Pound Cake adapting the recipe from  Bon Appetit to make way for the ingredients in my pantry. While, I waited a generous hour and a few minutes for the oven to do its magic, I brushed upon my cake trivia and learnt that pound cake refers to a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. 

Too lazy to step out for getting butter, I substituted the same with sunflower oil. Adding butter would have given the loaf the extra oomph factor but nevertheless the bake was a thumping success and was devoured. 

What's in it :-

•  3 to 4 tbsp of sunflower oil plus for greasing
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ cup coconut oil, 
• 1½ cups 
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ⅔ cup buttermilk
• ¼ cup coconut flakes ~ freshly grated

Here's How :-

Preheat oven to 160° C. Grease a loaf pan and line it with parchment paper (if you have). Whisk flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder in a bowl and set aside. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat oil,sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating to blend between additions; beat until mixture is very light and doubled in volume. Add vanilla. Reduce mixer speed to low and add dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Scrape batter into prepared pan and sprinkle with coconut. Take care not to overmix the batter !

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  Bake cake, tenting with foil if coconut browns too much before cake is done until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 70–80 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack; let cake cool in pan 20 minutes before turning 
• I enjoyed a sumptuous tea with the freshly baked slices drenched with home made chocolate sauce. You can also sprinkle some powdered sugar or glaze it up and enjoy your slice.