4. Cambodia Part I

Today was another full day of domesticity. I love to cook and craft, but I never seem to have time once the semester kicks in -- so breaks tend to be dotted with overambitious projects. Since school let out, I've reupholstered a chair, sewed a dozen Christmas stockings, and started this wonderful culinary adventure. It feels great to get out some creative energy!

Because we were already chopping veggies for Bosnian night, I decided to prep vegetables for tomorrow nights' dinner, as well as make a few treats for New Years: Cambodian Coconut Pound Cake and my mom's amazing artichoke dip. We tasted mini-cupcakes of the pound cake - yum! Many of the "authentic" recipes I found used flake coconut, but my husband doesn't like the texture.. so I added a brown sugar glaze to spruce it up instead. Part 2 of Cambodia will be tomorrow night - sweet and sour veggies over rice. I must admit - we're pretty pumped to start on Asian food, as it tends to rest well with our under-cultured American palates :). 

Another great part of this recipe? We already had the ingredients on hand!  

 



Num Tirk Doung  (Coconut Pound Cake) 

Cake:
1/2 c butter, melted
1.5 c sugar
4 eggs
3/4 c light coconut milk
2 T vanilla
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
2 c all purpose flour 

Non-authentic Glaze:
equal parts brown sugar and butter 

Preheat oven at 325 degrees. In a mixing bowl, creamed together butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix well. Add vanilla, baking powder, salt and coconut milk. Blended all purpose flour (and shredded coconut, if used).
 
Grease cake pan with Pam. Pour the cake batter in to the cake pan, and bake for 60 minutes. Remove from the oven, and cool before removing from the pan. To top with glaze - melt butter, stir in brown sugar, and pour over cake, then return to oven for a few minutes. Serve with tea or coffee.