Bon Appétit - Jan 2010 - Coconut Cake with Chocolate Chunks and Coconut Drizzle

Yesterday, I made the Coconut Cake from the January 2010 Bon Appétit, page 91.

 Coconut Cake recipe

While searching for the recipe link on line, I noticed that Bon Appétit spelled "coconut" wrong.  Come on guys, my first recipe and we already have a spelling error...it's c-o-c-o-n-u-t.

Anyway, this was a particularly easy recipe to make.  The coconut ingredients are very easy to find.  They made a note that the unsweetened shredded coconut was available at specialty stores, so I went to Whole Foods first instead of Safeway which is my go-to supermarket.  No need.  Safeway had tons of unsweetened shredded coconut, at half the price of the coconut I bought at Whole Foods. 

The recipe calls for shredded coconut in the batter.  I had bought flaked from Whole Foods and I think that may have attributed to the different texture.  Also, the orange zest can get overpowering, so follow the recipe or use a little less, or else you might as well add "orange" to the recipe title.

The topping gets brown pretty quickly, so make sure you loosely cover the top with some foil.

Overall, the cake is very soft and moist, a little crumbly even.  The coconut flavor is subtle, but the glaze is delicious and helps bring some extra sweetness to the cake.