Piña Colada Cake

I was away last week on vacation and for a conference, so I didn’t get a chance to make this week’s Tuesday’s with Dorie recipe. This week’s recipe was the Coffee Ice Cream Tart, selected by Jessica of Domestic Deep Thought of the Day of the Day. You can get the complete recipe on her blog and you can also check out how the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers fared with this week’s recipe. I’m kind of sad that I didn’t have time to make this, because how could you go wrong with an almond-coffee-chocolate tart?

Instead I made this cake that I had bookmarked a couple of weeks ago. I knew I had to go to the store anyway, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to make this. As it turned out, the only unusual ingredient that this required was the cream of coconut. I used Coco Lopez cream of coconut, because honestly that’s the only type I have ever seen in the store! I had to mix it together, as the oils had separated, but a little stirring was all that was needed. I’d not used cream of coconut before and I can just imagine all of the great things that I could make with this stuff.

I also got the opportunity to use the new dark rum that my husband had picked up recently. My husband and I ate lunch one day at our local brewery and we saw an ad for Rogue Brewery Rum. Well this place can sell the Rogue beers, but because of the alcohol laws in this state we could only buy rum at the liquor store. Luckily, they carried it so we were able to pick it up. I’d been substituting light rum for dark, so it was nice to have the proper ingredient. Enjoy!

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon dark rum
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup cream of coconut
1/2 cup finely chopped pineapple
Additional dark rum, optional

1 cup powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
1-1/2 to 3 tablespoons pineapple juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with a circle of waxed paper, then butter the paper.

In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a large mixer bowl, beat butter and brown sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, and then beat eggs, one at a time, and rum. Add cream of coconut and mix; don’t worry if the batter looks curdled. Add dry ingredients, in two portions, mixing and scraping down bowl between additions. Fold in the pineapple with a spatula.

Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack and discard the waxed paper. If desired, brush the cake with additional dark rum.

Once the cake has cooled to room temperature, make the glaze. In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar and salt. Stir in 1-1/2 tablespoons pineapple juice. Thin with additional pineapple juice if required, to make the glaze pourable. Pour glaze into middle of cake and spread it to the edges, covering the top of the cake completely.

Recipe from Smitten Kitchen