Coconut Lime Tea Cake

I still had some organic limes in my refrigerator that needed to be used and it is Sunday again. Remember, Sunday, easy and yummy cakes.

So, I was looking through one of my favorite Baking books by Dorie Greenspan and found this Coconut tea cake. It gets its Coconut flavor from coconut milk, shredded dried coconuts and the vanilla extract, which seems to deepen the coconut flavor. Dorie suggests a twist to the basic recipe by adding the lime zest and juice. You could also use lemons or oranges, whatever you have on hand.

I have listed the original recipe including my adaption for the High Altitude in parenthesis. We live at 6500 feet (almost 2000 meters).

This cake is called a tea cake, but also tastes fantastic with a strong cup of coffee. You can serve it with some sour cream or crème fraiche.
Wrapped in plastic, the cake will last up to 4 days.

I added a little frosting made out of lime juice and powdered sugar.

Ingredients:
*  2 cups all-purpose flour
*  1 tsp baking powder
*  Pinch of salt
*  1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk (stir well before measuring)
*  1/2 stick (4 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
*  1/3 cup fresh lime juice
*  4 large eggs, preferably at room temperature  (Kirsten used 5 eggs)
*  2 cups sugar
*  grated zest of 2 limes
*  1 tsp vanilla extract
*  2 tsp dark rum (optional, but so good,  Kirsten used 1 teaspoon rum extract)
*  3/4 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened or sweetened), toasted or not

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter a 9- or 10-inch (10-to-12-cup) Kugelhopf or Bundt pan, or use an unbuttered silicone pan.  Don’t place the pan on a baking sheet – you want the oven’s heat to circulate through the inner tube.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.
Pour the coconut milk into a small saucepan, add the butter and heat until the milk is hot and the butter is melted.  Remove from the heat, add the lime juice, but keep warm.
Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, mix the lime zest with the sugar, beat the eggs and sugar at medium-high speed until pale, thick and almost doubled in volume, about 3 minutes.  Beat in the vanilla and the rum, if you’re using it.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed and stopping just when the flour disappears.
Keeping the mixer on low, add the coconut, mixing only until it is blended, then steadily add the hot milk and butter.  When the mixture is smooth, stop mixing and give the batter a couple of turns with a rubber spatula, just to make certain that any dry ingredients that might have fallen to the bottom of the bowl are incorporated.  Pour the batter into the pan and give the pan a few back-and-forth shakes to even the batter.
Bake for 60-65 minutes (Kirsten's was done in 50 min on 350 F Convection), or until the cake is golden brown and a thin knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean.  Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before unmolding onto the rack to cool to room temperature.

Adapted from my Dorie Greenspan Book "Baking: From My Home to Yours"