Coconut Bundt Cake

What a tricky month for me to start on! My husband doesn't like coconut at all, and I wasn't about to eat an entire cake by myself...but I also was determined to not wuss out on my very first month as a member of this group. At first I thought I might make bring coconut cake to Thanksgiving, but couldn't quite figure out when I'd have the time to bake for it. And then I realized -- my department at work was having a Tea the day after Veteran's Day! I wasn't _going_ to the Tea, but I could still bake for them.
I also remembered that I have a pan for mini bundt cakes, which gave me the opportunity to sample my baked goods without donating a cake minus one slice. So, I went searching for a recipe, and found this one at Epicurious.

Coconut Bundt Cake with Powdered-Sugar Glaze
Ingredients:

• 3 cups cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
• 1 1/4 cups canned unsweetened coconut milk
• 2 cups (packed) sweetened flaked coconut (about 7 ounces)

• 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
• Additional sweetened flaked coconut (optional)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter 12-cup Bundt pan; dust pan with flour. Stir 3 cups cake flour and salt in medium bowl to blend. Beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add 2 1/2 cups sugar, beating until well blended. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then both extracts. Beat in flour mixture in 4 additions alternately with 1 cup coconut milk in 3 additions. Fold in 2 cups flaked coconut. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake cake until top is golden brown and tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool cake in pan 5 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack; cool completely.

Whisk powdered sugar and remaining 1/4 cup coconut milk in medium bowl to blend. Spoon glaze over cake. Top with additional coconut, if desired.

The Result
The batter mixed together very easily, although like somebody before me, I had some fun with my electric mixer and the butter. The butter kept wanting to jerk my mixer away from me. But I prevailed. There was a LOT more batter here than I had predicted -- I wound up making not 6 mini cakes, but 12!

For the glaze, I found that the proportion of coconut milk to sugar was a bit...thick. It was very gloppy. So I just kept adding coconut milk until it seemed more like a proper glaze consistency.

I had never had coconut cake before, but was very pleased with how this came out. For the great quantities of coconut related ingredients, the flavor was surprisingly mellow -- I was worried it would be overwhelming. And they went over well at the Tea, too -- my librarian told me that when he left, there were only two left, and he had quite enjoyed the one he ate!

~Veronica