Coconut Sour Cream Pound Cake

Around this time last year, I baked a pound cake with wonderful taste and texture, but I lamented that it felt like a template, crying out for additional flavor.  Now that spring has come around again, I'm taking my own advice and playing with this coconut variation.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups vegan sugar
• 3/4 cup vegan butter
• 8 Ener-G eggs
• 1 and 1/2 cups vegan sour cream*
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 and 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
• Cooking spray

1. Combine the sugar and butter in a stand mixer and beat at medium speed for about 5 minutes, until blended.  I just love this photo: who says a vegan can't have butter and sugar?

2. Whisk 1/4 cup Ener-G egg replacer into 1 cup warm water until foamy, to make the equivalent of 8 eggs.  Add the Ener-G eggs to the sugar mixture and beat until combined.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream and baking soda; set aside.

4. Lightly spoon the cake flour into dry measuring cups and level with a knife.  Sift through a fine-mesh sieve or flour sifter over a bowl, and stir in the salt.  Add the flour mixture and sour cream mixture alternately to the sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.  Stir in the vanilla and coconut extracts.

5. Spoon the batter into a 10-inch tube pan coated with cooking spray, and bake at 325 degrees for about 1 hour and 30 minutes - a wooden pick inserted in the center should come out clean.  Cool the cake for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack; remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack. 

*Note: my favorite non-dairy sour cream for baking is We Can't Say It's Sour Cream - it's lighter in calories and fat than other brands on the market.  Do note, however, that it is not as well suited for dolloping over a baked potato or other, non-baked sour cream applications.  

Nutrition Info:
24 servings (1 slice), Calories 250 

Tasting Notes:
What a difference an ingredient makes!  The coconut flavor brightened this whole cake up, but the wonderful things I remember from last year - the moist crumb in the interior, the brown-sugar like crunch of the exterior - stayed just as pleasing.  Although I served with berries, the cake is practically beginning for a tropical fruit salad on the side.  If you want to play up the coconut factor, try shredded coconut sprinkled on top or in the batter, or a drizzle of coconut icing on top.  But even with just the touch of extract, the coconut smell whisked me far away to a Caribbean isle as this baked.

Rating:
4