Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Pina Colada Cake



Preheat Oven to 325 degrees.

Cake:
2 1/3 Cups All-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon Baking Soda
1 Cup drained crushed pineapple (about 1 1/2 large cans - Drain it really well through a sieve)
1 1/2 Cups sugar
4 Eggs
1 1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Tablespoons Dark Rum -OR- 1 1/2 teaspoons artificial Rum extract (this has no alcohol)

Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl, stirring well to combine. In the mixing bowl of your electric mixer, beat eggs lightly. Add sugar, oil, and Rum and mix on low speed to combine. Add dry ingredients, then add pineapple last, stirring it in by hand.

Pour batter into two greased 9" pans or three 6" pans (I use parchment paper). Bake at 325. I usually start to check for doneness after 35 minutes, but sometimes this cake takes 40-50 minutes. You want to bake it at the lower temperature and watch it carefully because, similar to banana bread, this cake has a high sugar content with the crushed fruit in it, so it will brown more quickly than other cakes.

Frosting:
1 lb. Confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup softened butter
2 Tbsp coconut milk* (see note below)
1/2 tsp coconut extract (this is optional for a stronger coconut flavor)

Beat with an electric mixer on medium until fluffy. Add more coconut milk to thin it if necessary.

*Note about canned coconut milk: it generally has quite a bit of solidified milk on top when you open it. Use the solids for the 2 Tbsp in the recipe and then find the liquid in the can to use as your thinner. If you open the can and there is a lot of liquid, adjust the recipe accordingly, adding a little at a time.

Let the cake cool completely before filling and frosting it. After frosting it, gently press flaked coconut onto the sides and top of the cake.