equal billing

Generally when a cake is made, there's an ingredient as the focus--German chocolate cake, carrot cake, pineapple upside-down cake, and on it goes. Sometimes, however, several components end up sharing center stage in such a way that you can't quite put your finger on what, if anything, is meant to stand out.

This is one of those cakes. Something about the quantity of each special ingredient combined with the texture of the cake makes each bite a bombardment of flavors.

Are the blueberries the star? Certainly, if you're only looking at the beauty. Does the coconut cream steal the spotlight? Not really--it just delivers a subtle hint of that tropical tang. What about the vanilla bean and vanilla yogurt--is that the first strong taste that you detect? My palate would argue that it's not and that the vanilla just enhances the complexity of the mouthful.

Deb called this her Yogurt Anything Cake. I'd say that's a pretty apt name, as the three random things I decided to add all danced together quite nicely and many other combinations would undoubtedly do the same.

Diva-less Cake
(based on this recipe)

1 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
1/4 cup cream of coconut

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 9x5-inch loaf pan.
Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, eggs, coconut extract, oil, and vanilla bean seeds. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour, and fold them very gently into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before flipping out onto a cooling rack. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the cream of coconut over the cake and allow it to soak in (a pastry brush works great for this, as does using a toothpick to make tiny holes into which the sticky sweet stuff can flow). Cool.