My family welcomed our second child Hannah, who was born last February. It feels like yesterday, but as I remember with my son, the time goes by so quickly! As I feared, in the blink of an eye, my maternity leave was over, and I headed back to work this past week.
While I was on my maternity leave, I had the pleasure of dropping my son off at his preschool, a seemingly boring task for most, but as a mom who always missed drop-off, I loved! After drop-off, Hannah and I would go for a walk through Southport, Connecticut, enjoying all the beautiful houses and boats in the harbor. I would frequently stop at SONO bakery and pickup a chai latte and, if I was lucky, a slice of their coconut buttermilk pound cake that they occasionally have. The recipe below is my attempt to recreate it, with lemon added for some freshness. As I eat it back in the office in NYC, I’m reminded of those past few weeks with my kids and those pretty walks in Southport.
Cake
¾ lb [1 ½ sticks] unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup buttermilk
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup lemon zest (3-4 large)
1 1/4 cups sweetened shredded coconut
Frosting
4 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
2 oz cream cheese, softened
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ teaspoons lemon zest
1-2 tablespoons milk
½ cup sweetened shredded coconut
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour a 8×4 inch loaf pan.
Once oven is preheated toast the shredded coconut for the cake and frosting (1 ¾ cups) for 8-10 until golden brown, set aside.
To make the cake – In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter with a electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar in gradually and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk, lemon juice and vanilla extract, beat well after each addition. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, scraping the bowl down when necessary. Fold in the lemon zest and 1 1/4 cups toasted coconut into the batter. Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 60-70 minutes. Remove the pound cake from the oven to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the frosting – In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add the powdered sugar and beat on low speed until smooth. Add 1 tablespoon milk, vanilla extract and lemon zest and beat until combined. If the frosting is to thick add additional tablespoon of milk to thin it out. Spread the frosting on the cooled cake and top with 1/2 cup of the toasted shredded coconut.
Baked Wishes, Laura 