I thought I was doing a good deed last week when I went in search of a good use for coconut cream. It turned out — two cakes and a lot of frosting later — that the reader I was trying to help was actually trying to find uses for sweetened condensed coconut milk, not the canned coconut cream that I’d stockpiled.
But that’s OK. In the end there was a lovely coconut- chocolate cake with a creamy filling, and it turned out that my correspondent, Jeanette Wong, also has regular coconut cream in her pantry waiting to be put to good use.
In addition I learned much about coconut cream. Go ahead, ask me anything.
To start, all brands are not created equal. For extreme coconut goodness you want a thick cream, otherwise you may as well get the cheaper coconut milk. I like Mae Ploy, which I found at Seafood City, a Filipino market in Waipahu. To test cans at the store, shake them gently; the less sloshing you hear, the thicker the cream.
And don’t confuse coconut cream with cream of coconut, which is sweetened and often used in cocktails.
Coconut cream is really just coconut milk with less water. If you have a good-quality coconut milk (many cooking websites suggest the Thai Kitchen brand), you can just refrigerate it overnight and let the solids rise to the top of the can.
This chocolate cake uses a boxed cake mix, which makes it simple and fairly goof-proof. If chocolate is not your thing, interchange a white or yellow cake mix. The coconut taste in the cake is subtle; to bump it up add a teaspoon of coconut extract. But most of my tasters were fine with the light flavor in view of the coconut-packed filling and topping.
Back to Wong’s original request — for uses for condensed coconut milk — I haven’t found recipes that use that specific ingredient. If anyone has a good suggestion, please send it here.
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Choco-Coconut Cream Cake
>> 1-3/4 cups coconut cream
>> 1/4 cup vegetable oil
>> 3 large eggs
>> 1 box devil’s food cake mix
Filling:
>> 3/4 cup sour cream
>> 1/4 cup sugar
>> 1 tablespoon coconut cream
>> 3/4 cup toasted shredded or grated coconut
Topping:
>> 1 cup whipped cream
>> 1-2 tablespoons coconut cream
>> 2 tablespoons toasted shredded or grated coconut
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottoms of 2 9-inch round cake pans with baking parchment. Grease parchment and sides well.
Whisk together coconut cream and oil, then whisk in eggs. Add cake mix and whisk until well combined. Pour into prepared pans. Bake 25-30 minutes, until a pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake pans on racks.
Meanwhile, make filling: Combine ingredients and taste, adding more sugar or coconut as desired. Refrigerate while cake is baking.
Place 1 cake layer on serving plate. Top with filling. Filling will be soft, so don’t spread it to the edges; it will smoosh outward when you add the top layer. Put top layer in place.
To make topping: Combine whipped cream and coconut cream. Spread over top of cake. Sprinkle with coconut.
Nutritional information unavailable.
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