Pistachio And Coconut Cake -- Celebrating the News That Deserved Something Sweet

Mid-April. The blog readers want to know about the Vietnam trip. I get emails. Comments. A few requests for an interview from food writers who want a follow-up on the Chronicle review. I declined the interviews. I wrote a longer post about the trip — but again, only the surface. The food. The neighborhoods. Mai's reaction. I left the deepest things alone. The cemetery and the brother and the Maker's Mark stay in the family.

Lily came over Sunday with news. The restaurant has been approached by a publisher about a cookbook. A real publisher. New York. They want a Smoke and Nuoc Mam cookbook — recipes, photography, the family stories behind the dishes. The advance is small but the promotion would be significant. Lily and James have not signed yet. They wanted my opinion. I said, "If it tells the story right, do it. If it turns the story into marketing, walk away." Lily said, "How do we tell?" I said, "You read the contract carefully. You meet the editor. You see if they understand who you are." She said, "Will you read it with us?" I said, "Yes." That's another file in my retirement work. I am the family's contract review committee. I have no qualifications for this. I will do it anyway, because the alternative is letting them sign something they shouldn't.

Made a Saigon-style bánh xèo Sunday — the giant turmeric-and-coconut-milk pancake stuffed with shrimp, pork, and bean sprouts, eaten with lettuce and herbs and nuoc cham. It's a Vietnam-trip-inspired dish that I had not made well before but which came out right Sunday because I had eaten the real version twice in Saigon and now my hands knew what to aim for. Mai tasted it and said, "Better than before." The trip continues to influence the cooking. The trip will influence the cooking for the rest of my life. Vietnam is in the food now. Always was, but now I have the corrective.

The bánh xèo batter had coconut milk in it, and even after the pancakes were eaten and the plates were cleared, that flavor was still somewhere in the back of my mind — warm, faintly sweet, unmistakably Vietnamese. When Lily told me about the cookbook offer and the room went quiet in that good, careful way it does when something real might be happening, I wanted to mark it with something more than the meal we’d already had. This cake came together almost on its own: pistachios because they feel like a occasion, coconut because it was already in the air, and a simple glaze because a contract hasn’t been signed yet and we don’t celebrate before we’ve read the fine print.

Pistachio and Coconut Cake

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 55 min | Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut
• 1/2 cup shelled pistachios, finely chopped, plus 2 tbsp for topping
• For the glaze: 3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 3 tbsp coconut milk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat and prep. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the shredded coconut and 1/2 cup chopped pistachios; set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat softened butter and granulated sugar with a hand mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla extract and mix to combine.
5. Combine wet and dry. Stir together the coconut milk and whole milk in a small measuring cup. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk mixture and beginning and ending with the flour. Mix on low just until no dry streaks remain — do not overmix.
6. Bake. Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 32—36 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the edges are lightly golden. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Make the glaze. Whisk powdered sugar, coconut milk, and vanilla extract together until smooth. The glaze should be thick but pourable; add coconut milk a teaspoon at a time to adjust consistency.
8. Finish the cake. Drizzle glaze over the cooled cake and spread gently toward the edges. Scatter the remaining 2 tbsp of chopped pistachios over the top before the glaze sets. Slice and serve at room temperature.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 295 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 15g | Carbs: 38g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 145mg