Back in Black, Berry That Is.

This recipe will be the one I mentioned April 9, 2025 when Blackberry Tarts was the main feature. Blackberry Coconut Pound Cake is not exactly what might be found on the menu of a tea shop, but it is scrumptious.  Thank you to our friends at Ja-Roen Thai and Sushi restaurant, and Janet, who works at Blue Mountain Foods, for being my guinea pigs, and reviewing the cake.

 

First off, pound cake vs. cake, is there a huge difference between pound of comfort vs. a dainty delight?  What exactly is pound cake?  Most folks believe that the cake itself weighs a pound, no, but it will add pounds to your waistline.  Pound cake originated in Northern Europe around the 18^th century with a recipe calling for only four ingredients: butter, flour, sugar and eggs.  The ratio was one pound of each, and the baked cake equaled about four pounds.  However, since each ingredient measured out to one pound, it was given the name “pound cake”.  Pound cake is a dense cake, and the batter will be stiff and sticky, so rubber spatulas work well when mixing, and moving the batter to pans.

Most tea shops serve delicate cakes aka sponge cakes, an example of which is angel food cake.  They are light, airy cakes that have a high egg-to-flour ratio.  Instead of using baking powder, the leavening is achieved by beating air into the whole eggs, or the egg whites. This creates a foamy consistency with the eggs, so sponge cake is also known as “foam cake”.  This type of cake originated, in Spain, during the Renaissance period (14^th to 17^th centuries).

While I used whole blackberries for the blackberry tarts, for the pound cake I went with blackberry preserves.  No real preference between jam and preserves, but preserves is what I had in my pantry.  There are differences between jam, jelly, preserves and marmalade, and that may also make a difference in usage when baking.

Jam:

Made with mashed or chopped fruit, along with sugar and pectin. Contains visible pieces of fruit, resulting in a chunkier texture.

Jelly:

Made with strained fruit juice, sugar, and pectin. Has a smooth, uniform texture with no visible fruit pieces.

Preserves:

Similar to jam, but with larger pieces of fruit or even whole fruits. Have a chunkier texture than jam, and contain whole pieces of fruit suspended in the gelled mixture

Marmalade:

A type of preserve, known for containing minced citrus rinds and fruit.

For the coconut, use unsweetened cream and shredded; with the blackberry preserves and sugar, it will be sweet enough.  Coconut cream is richer in flavor and has a high fat content; coconut milk is thinner in texture and does not contain any “meat” of the coconut.

Enough chatter, let’s get to the recipe!

 

Blackberry Coconut Pound Cake

Ingredients:

  Pound Cake

3 and ½ cups all-purpose flour (plus ½ cup for high altitudes)

3 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 and 1/2 cups sugar (or equivalent of sugar substitute)

6 large eggs

3 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 cup unsweetened coconut cream (NOT coconut milk)

1 cup blackberry preserves (or 1 cup jam plus ¼ cup chopped blackberries can be substituted)

1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut, divided in half

Coconut Glaze

1 and ½ cups confectioners' sugar sifted

4-6 Tbsp. unsweetened coconut cream (NOT coconut milk)

1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut     

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F, grease 2-9-inch loaf pan, set aside. (see Note)

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl, set aside.

     

In a large bowl, mix together the butter and sugar on medium-high for 5-7 minutes until mixture is light and fluffy; scraping down sides as needed.  Add the eggs one at a time on low speed, fully mixing in one before the next; then mix in vanilla extract.

Alternating dry ingredients mixture and the coconut cream; add 1/3 of the dry ingredients into butter mixture plus ½ coconut cream.  Continue to alternate until all ingredients are nearly combined. Use a rubber spatula to mix the last bits of flour by hand to avoid over working; batter will be dense, stiff and sticky

 

Separate 1/3 of the cake batter into a separate bowl and mix in blackberry preserves, or jam plus chopped berries. In remaining 2/3s of batter, stir through the shredded coconut. 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Spread 1/3 of the coconut batter into the prepared loaf pan. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, spread the blackberry batter evenly on top. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top with the final 1/3 of the coconut batter, spreading into an even layer.

 

  

 

 

Bake for 75-80 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Check the color of the tops after 30 minutes; if the tops are browning too much, tent lightly with aluminum foil until cakes are fully baked.  Remove from oven and let sit in pans until just cool enough to handle and remove from pans; place on baking rack cool completely.

  

 

 

 

 

 

When cakes are fully cool, whisk together confectioners' sugar and coconut cream to smooth, medium-thick consistency (start with 4 Tbsp. cream, add 1-2 Tbsp. until thickness is correct). Spread over the top of the cake and immediately sprinkle coconut flakes on top. Allow to set before slicing.

Makes 2 cakes.

 

 

 

Note: If using heavy dark nonstick baking pans, the bottom and sides of the cakes will come out darker in color, and be crunchier in texture; while the inside will be moist and tender.  Use lighter aluminum pans to allow cake to bake thoroughly within, and outside, for even texture.

Mary Cokenour