Emily Dickinson’s Coconut Cake

• Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour and cream of tartar + baking soda OR baking powder.

• In a medium mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together till the mixture is light and fluffy, and the sugar is well incorporated into the butter. I did this by hand, the old fashioned way, like Emily Dickinson would have. It took several minutes. You can do it much faster with an electric mixer.

• Mix in the eggs, then the milk.

• Add liquid ingredients to dry and stir till just incorporated. A thick batter will form. Do not overmix.

• Fold in the shredded coconut. If your shredded coconut is dry (not fresh), rehydrate it with a little warm water and drain well before mixing it into the batter. Again, don’t overmix.

• Spread the batter into a small loaf pan.

• Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes on the middle rack of your oven till cooked through and golden brown around the edges. Test with a skewer or toothpick for doneness in a few places– if the toothpick comes out clean (no wet batter sticking to it), it’s done.

• The cake is not overly sweet, which was perfect for me (I don’t like my desserts too sweet). If you want to sweeten it up, use a bit more sugar, or use sweetened coconut instead of regular coconut. Enjoy!

Now for the bad news… the nutritional breakdown…. This is using Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten Free flour and Blue Diamond Original Unsweetened Almond Milk.  Shield your eyes:

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 8
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 388.9
• Total Fat: 19.0 g
• Cholesterol: 77.3 mg
• Sodium: 161.7 mg
• Total Carbs: 53.4 g
• Dietary Fiber: 4.1 g
• Protein: 5.7 g

Go ahead… go ahead and cry over that piece of coconut cake.  It’s still delicious.