Coconut and Lime Pudding Cake
Sep 14, 2010 General
This cake was so hard to make.
Ha! You say. You’ve made pudding cakes and you know. They’re easy.
Well, make one with this girl:
And you’ll know what I mean. This cake took at least 5 time outs. Long ones.
I’ve been loving the blog Cooking With My Kid and I was inspired to make something with my daughter. I often involve her in the process, but I wanted her to make something with me, start to finish.
It was actually her suggestion to make a coconut and lime cake. I said, “Let’s make a cake.” She responded, “Coconut and lime?” How does she have any idea that coconut and lime go together? She’ll probably be surpassing me as a chef soon.
Pretty much the whole time we were making it I was yelling, “Stop doing that!” because she was poking various things. The egg whites, her brother…
I flipped out when she woke the baby up because it took me FOREVER to get him to go to sleep. He only wants to sleep while being held these days. I held him in the Bjorn for about an hour and I waited until he was really asleep before putting him down. While I was cleaning up the egg yolks she spilled all over the counter I looked over at them and she was mid poking him in the eye. Instant screaming all around when I grabbed her and put her in time out. I was sweating like a pig by the time we finished this cake because it was so hot and I felt like a mad scientist with the mess that was around.
My great idea for some bonding time didn’t work out so well. I have to apologize for the pictures. They’re terrible. But you understand, right?
Oh yeah, the cake. The cake turned out awesome. My girl has some good instincts. The lime was very strong, which is the way I like it. Next time, for the coconut, I’m going to add some coconut extract, because it wasn’t strong enough. The pudding layer was soft and tart and the cake part was a light almost meringue, but not eggy tasting like I was worried it would be. The three of us finished this off very quickly, even though it’s supposed to serve six. We’re a little overboard with our desserts, though.
Coconut and Lime Pudding Cake (adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Lemon Pudding Cake)
- 1/4 C flour
- 2 T cornstarch
- 1 1/4 C sugar (separated)
- 5 T butter (room temperature)
- 2 T lime zest
- 1/2 C lime juice (about 3 small limes)
- 5 eggs, separated
- 1/14 C coconut milk (room temperature)
- 2 quarts boiling water
- Lightly oil an 8” square glass baking pan. Place a kitchen towel inside a 15×9 inch glass baking pan and nest the 8” one inside it. Turn the oven to 325 degrees and put the rack at the lowest position.
- Whisk together the flour and cornstarch in a small bowl.
- Beat 1/2 C sugar, butter, and zest in a bowl until fluffy (about 2 minutes)
- Beat in yolks, one at a time into the butter mixture.
- Reduce the mixing speed to medium low and add flour mixture. Mix until incorporated.
- Slowly add coconut milk and lime juice until just combined. If using an electric mixer, put batter in another bowl and wash the mixing bowl thoroughly. (I just LOVE my juicer. A friend got it for me from a garage sale and it works like magic. I wonder if they still sell them? It’s electric and it just rotates as you press down with the fruit.)
- In a clean bowl, beat egg whites on high speed for 2 minutes until there are soft peaks. While the mixer is running add sugar, slowly, and beat until firm and glossy (about 1 minute).
- Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter, then fold the rest in one scoop at a time.
- Pour batter into 8” glass pan. Place on the lowest rack, and then pour boiling water into the larger pan until it reaches half way up the sides of the cake pan.
- Bake for 60 minutes. Cool one hour before eating. (remove the pan from the water bath while cooling.)
Tags: Bjorn, Brother, Coconut Cake, Egg Whites, Egg Yolks, Hot, Instincts, Lime Cake, Mad Scientist, Meringue, Oh Yeah, Pig, Pudding Cake, Pudding Cakes, sleep, Suggestion, Time Out, Time Outs, Whole Time
Vacation duo
Sep 2, 2010 Cupcakes Bakery
Hello there! I’ve been on vacation since the last post and enjoying every minute of it, which means I’m behind on my blogging. Well on this very rainy day, I’m here to catch up and tell you I will start working and baking regularly again in September. In the mean time I have two cupcakes to show you!
The first cupcake is chai tea with orange icing. I tried a new chiffon cake recipe. I found it tasted very eggy, but that’s partly because the flavour of the chai didn’t come through enough. One of the ingredients listed was water, so I thought I would just infuse the water with tea, but that wasn’t enough. As my brother later suggested, I could have put spices like cinnamon that are in chai tea directly in the cake batter to bring the taste out more. The texture was great, soft and spongy. I will need to give this one another try!
The second cupcake is vanilla with lavender icing. I had trouble getting the lavender flavour in the icing. I tried making a lavender syrup, but that was always too subtle and overpowered by the butter. I ended up chopping some dried lavender flowers and putting that directly in the icing. That did the trick! The cake was a vanilla yogourt cake, the same I used for the mango and pomegranate cupcake.
Cheers 
Tags: Blogging, Brother, Cake Batter, Cheers, Chiffon Cake Recipe, Cinnamon, Cupcake, Cupcakes, Flavour, Hello, Lavender, Lavender Flowers, Mean Time, Orange Icing, Rainy Day, Spices, tea, Texture, Vanilla
It?s all about the relationship ? don?t they get it?
Jun 1, 2010 Bakery Prices
I was out on my daily morning walk yesterday and found myself reflecting on the value of relationships – personal and professional. Due to the growth spurts of my 2 boys I often find my daily walk includes a stop at a well known bakery and our newly adopted local fruit shop. This is where my story about the power of substantial relationships has its anchor point.
For the past year I have been trying to find a new greengrocer. You see my old green grocer, Sam retired last year after 44 years in the same shop much to my and others dismay. Many of us who shopped there were happy for Sam to finally retire but bereft at the loss of a fabulous weekly / daily relationship. I mean (being very selfish) who was going to replace the 21year relationship I had with Sam. I loved seeing him and talking to him – I saw his children grow up and he saw me become a parent amongst other things and we even barracked for the same footy team. Upon reflection we shared a deep and long-standing relationship based on something of real value and substance. It wasn’t just me being a customer or him being a greengrocer, it was so much more than that.
So back to my walk. In the last 12 months I have shopped at another greengrocer shop near the bakery but it just wasn’t the same. They were not interested in me in any way. No eye contact, just gruff grunts and empty words – it felt like they had a ‘empathy bypass’.
About 2 months ago I had had enough. I decided to walk up to another Greengrocer shop not too far away and to my absolute pleasant surprise found that the new owners and their staff knew about the value of relationships, not just selling fruit and veg. I love going there and building new friendships. And how’s this for coincidence, they know my Sam and his brother (who also had a fruit shop). Sam’s brother has recently retired too and many of his customers now go to this fruit shop. And the new owner of my current greengrocer is called SAM. HOORAY!
But wait there is more.
In the past 2 weeks who turns up working there 3 half days a week? My SAM. He was bored and needed something to do. When I saw him we hugged and were so happy to see each other. It was a great reunion.
I cannot speak for all people, however a number of my friends and colleagues are voicing the same views. We want to deal with real people who not only give us good quality at reasonable prices but people who value us as human beings in an integrated relational world. Not just in the retail world but in business relationships too. Have a look at www.cluetrain.com.au and see what I mean.
It got me thinking about any business and how we cannot have a business without some form of relationship with others. Here are some questions you might like I consider:
How does your business value relationships with its customers and suppliers? How genuinely do you and your team connect with people who come into contact with you? What do they remember you for? What do your customers say about you when you can’t hear them?
I don’t know if your feel like me but for what it is worth I really don’t like going to large shopping centres and I am sick and tired of having to explain my entire banking and business history to the NEWEST business banking person each time I want to speak to the bank about my business needs. There is no relationship to speak of. No value creation and no value communication. The big banks and the large shopping centres might as well just be big warehouses full of stuff now.
A colleague and friend of mine, Debra Templar, has written a book on ‘How women like to buy?? and according to her research:
over 85% of retail buying decisions (including cars, mortgages, homes, etc.) made in Australia are made by women. In the USA and Europe approximately 41-47cents in the dollar is spent in independent retailers and in Australia only 21 cents in every dollar goes to the independants with 79 cents going to the big corporates.
In my opinion many big corporations have become so systemic in their way of thinking and acting that they have stripped out the intrinsic qualities so essential for value creation and communication and building of longstanding loyal relationships.
And what do many of us value? For one thing we rate authentic relationships very high on the agenda. I don’t know how much money Sam made a result of our relationship – I don’t care really because I got much than I paid for.
Many of my friends are voting with their feet, wallets, hearts and minds by going back to local shops and businesses where they can, not only get what they want and need, but can also develop real relationships based on something of value and substance.
By the way the latest medical research says that good relationships are not just good for our wallets they are very good for our health too. Here’s a link you might like to read as well.
www.cardioresearcher.com/Importance_of_Relationships
Relationship Dos and Don’ts
DO form relationships that benefit both parties.
DO revaluate the relationships you have to better understand the relationships you need.
DO leverage infrastructure. If you have commonality on the hardware side, it’s easier to get to the so-called “soft side.”
DON’T focus only on the financial benefits of a relationship.
DON’T make the relationship one-sided.
DON’T forget to evaluate the culture-fit between you and your partners.
Table from http://www.infoworld.com/articles/su/xml/01/06/18/010618supartners.html
Related Blogs
- Turkey Trophies « Anchorpoint Blog
- How to Create a Simple Button Icon in Adobe Illustrator « IconEden …
- Photoshop For Beginners: The pen tool | WeGraphics
- Events Calendar – May 26
- Three Books on Anchor Point (Alaska) « Alaskan Librarian
Tags: 12 Months, About, Anchor Point, Bakery, Brother, Coincidence, Dismay, Don`t, Empathy, Eye Contact, Footy Team, Friendships, Fruit And Veg, Fruit Shop, Green Grocer, Greengrocer, Grunts, Professional Growth, Reflection, Relationship, Relationships, Surprise, They
