Featured Foodie Friday: Chef Dennis

Have no fear, this Friday the 13th is your lucky day. Why? Because we have an AWESOME guest blogger here today with an amazing recipe for Featured Foodie Friday, Chef Dennis. If you missed it, I guest posted for him a while back with my Potato Gnocchi w/ Jerk Chicken on Green Pea Puree recipe. If you are not already following his blog, you need to. He is full of great advice and wonderful recipes.

As for this cake? For all of you who are stuck in rainy/snowy/cold/cloudy weather or didn’t get the chance to take a vacation this spring break, this cake is your way to indulge and transport yourself here with me in Hawaii. I do have to admit, I had indulged in my first Pina Colada since being here last week and it has me wanting to bake this cake ASAP.

 Pina Colada Cake

To all of you that don’t know me, I’m Chef Dennis and it’s my great pleasure to be here today guest posting on Jenny’s blog, Savour the Senses!   I don’t get to do too many guest posts because of the time constraints of my job, my blog and well you get the picture….hectic is not the word!

When Jenny asked me about guest posting and told me the date, I was overjoyed because it fell right into my spring break, let’s call it perfect timing!

When thinking about what to make for my guest post, I knew I wanted something to help transport me to warmer climate, or at least give me that feeling.   So I took a chance and made a dessert that felt a just a little tropical to me, a Pina Colada Cake!  Coconut is not something that you see on my blog, because my wife hates coconut, and as any man that has lived as many years as I have will tell you, “If Mama Ain’t Happy…… Nobody Happy!”

So I made this lovely cake, and even added a little more coconut to the topping (I was feeling reckless!)  Took my pictures and devoured a slice (or two) and promptly gave away the rest to neighbors…..just like it never happened….sigh.

Well you get the idea!

It was a very tasty cake, the flavors of coconut were subtle, and the fresh pineapple went perfectly with this not overly sweet cake.  The Frosting had hints of coconut, and as I mentioned in the recipe, I think toasting the coconut would not only have helped the flavor but also the appearance of the cake, adding some contrast.

I also think that a good brushing of pineapple juice and dark rum would have kicked up the cake another notch, so I would definitely advise doing that too. That was mentioned in the original recipe by Smitten Kitchen.

Thanks so much for sharing your blog with me today Jenny, I hope your readers enjoy the cake as much as I did!

Pina Colada Cake w/ Mascarpone-Coconut Frosting

5 from 3 votes

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Servings 8

Ingredients

  

• Cake Ingredients:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ¾ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 stick 4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
• ¼ cup light brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. dark rum
• 2 large eggs - room temperature
• 1 cup cream of coconut*
• 1 cup chopped fresh pineapple – medium diced*
• Frosting Ingredients:
• ¾ cup Mascarpone cheese
• ¾ cup Cream cheese
• ¼ cup Cream of Coconut or remainder of can
• ¼ cup flaked coconut for topping frosting
• ½ cup confectioners’ sugar 10x
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• ¼ tsp. salt

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Prepare a 9-inch round cake by buttering the pan completely
• Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
• In the bowl of your mixer, beat the softened butter and brown sugar at medium to high speed until pale and fluffy.
• Add the eggs one at a time, then add the rum.
• Add cream of coconut and blend well, ( the batter may look curdled, don’t worry it will come together)
• Add the dry ingredients, one third at a time, mixing and scraping down bowl between additions. Do not overmix, mix only long enough to incorporate the dry ingredients..
• Spread batter evenly in the prepared pan. Bake until golden and a tooth pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes.
• Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan to loosen and invert on your serving dish.*
• For the frosting, in the bowl of your mixer, whip the cream cheese and mascarpone until light and fluffy.
• Add the confectioners ’ sugar and salt then continue to mix until well blended
• Add the cream of coconut, and vanilla whip at high speed until fully blended
• Spread a liberal amount of frosting on the cooled cake and sprinkle the coconut over the top of the frosting as a garnish*

Notes

*Coconut milk is not a substitute for cream of coconut
*canned pineapple may be substituted

*If the cake will not come out of the pan easily, place it on one of the burners of your stove for about 15 sec (depending on how hot the burner is), this will loosen the cake from the pan.
*I did not do this but the original recipe suggested brushing the cake with a combination of pineapple juice and dark rum, this would have helped the flavor.
*toasting the coconut would help not only the appearance of this cake but the flavor.

1 Year Ago: French Onion Cheesesteak Sandwich

This is the perfect guest post for my Hawaiian adventure. Thanks for being a part of my Featured Foodie Friday Chef Dennis, I am so happy you were able to stop by! If you or somebody you know would like to be a part of Featured Foodie Friday please e-mail me at savourthesenses (at) gmail (dot) com and we can get you scheduled!

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