Hawaiian Coconut Cake

Last week I was in Honolulu, giving a talk about Ansel Adams at the Honolulu Museum of Art.  (If you're curious about the exhibition I was speaking with, here's a link: Ansel Adams and Georgia O'Keeffe: The Hawaii Pictures)  One of the exhibition sponsors was the Halekulani Hotel on Waikiki Beach, and part of the sponsorship was rooms the museum could use.  I got two of those hotel nights, and let me tell you, the Halekulani is one of the most amazing hotels I've ever visited.  It was gorgeous.  I had a stunning view from my 14th floor room.

My first night, I ate at one of the hotel restaurants, House without a Key, and had delicious barbecued sea bass.  (The restaurant is right along the water's edge, next to the non-palm tree, to the right of center in the above picture.)  When I saw a coconut cake on the dessert menu I couldn't help myself.  

I was eating alone (which I don't particularly like to do) so I had been availing myself of entertainment on the iPhone.  Once I had ordered the cake, I wondered if I could find the recipe online.  A few seconds and a google search later and I had the ingredient list and instructions in front of me.  It's a sponge cake with an amaretto custard filling and a whipped cream frosting.  It was incredibly light with a beautiful texture.  I felt the amaretto flavoring in the custard could have been more pronounced (although maybe the mai tai I was drinking was clouding my taste buds, or my perception).

So, this is a preview of cake to be attempted in the future. 

In case you want to try it too, here's the recipe: Halekulani Coconut Cake from Food.com