Baked Coconut French Toast with Tropical Fruit Compote

The French toast is plain and easy, just like the many other you can find easily. What's special lies with the fruit compote. The tart sweetness of the marinade is perfect for the tropical fruits, not to mention the crispy coconut flakes. I also sprinkled some almond flakes to the French toast prior to baking. Feel free to experiment with other fruits such as papaya for a more colorful display.

For a balanced morning breakfast, I served up a Scrambled Egg with spinach, sun dried tomato and goat cheese with sprinkle of chopped thyme.

Ingredients:

(makes 2)
Fruit Compote:

• 1/4 cup chopped fresh pineapple
• 1/4 cup chopped peeled mango
• 1/4 cup chopped dragon fruits
  
• 1/4 cup chopped peeled kiwifruit
• handful of dried blueberry and raisins (option)
  
• 1 tablespoons agave nectar (or honey/ maple syrup/ sugar)
  
• 1 tablespoons fresh lime juice

French toast:

• 4 (1-inch-thick) slices diagonally cut French bread baguette
  
• Coconut oil
  
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 egg
• 2 Tablespoon maple syrup
  
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinches of cinnamon powder and nutmeg (option)
  
• 1/4 cup flaked sweetened coconut

1. To prepare compote, combine all ingredients. Cover and chill overnight.
2. To prepare the French toast, arrange bread in a single layer in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Combine coconut milk, egg, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg (if using) stirring with a whisk, and pour evenly over bread. Turn the bread over to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 175°C.
4. Remove bread mixture from refrigerator, and uncover. Turn bread slices over, and sprinkle evenly with flaked coconut. Let stand at room temperature 15 minutes. Bake, uncovered, at 175ºC for 30 minutes or until coconut is golden. Serve warm with fruit compote.

The Carrot Cheesecake that brought me Homemade Pizza and Brownies

The idea of putting carrot into a cake troubled me. First of all, I'm not usually big on carrots. Second, why would anyone be making pastry with a root vegetable? Apparently, there is a bit of history to it: Early on in the history of Europe, sugar was an insanely expensive commodity and was rarely available to the masses. In order to sweeten cakes, people looked for the sweetest ingredients available. Carrots, which are the second sweetest vegetable (sugar beets have the most sugar, hence the name), were always at hand. So it made sense to use carrots to sweeten a cake. Carrot cake was/is usually topped with a cream cheese-based icing and it was only a matter of time that someone decided to top a carrot cake with cheesecake, which is also usually made with cream cheese. And that's the kind of carrot cake I'd eat.
I'm a big fan of cheesecake. It's such a delightful treat. I like its creamy texture and tart sweetness. It's the way to pamper one's taste bud.

Carrot Cheesecake
I mus thank Pee Wee for her carrot cupcakes. It reminded me of the carrot cheesecake back in KL that I liked so much. It always gave me idea of what to do with the carrot that I had left from the Butternut Squash Apple Soup.
The recipe calls for coconut but I didn't find it at Central Tops. How bizarre; no dried coconut at Thailand supermarket, the land where coconuts are aplenty? Never mind. I substituted it with dried blueberry. Instead of crushed pineapple, I could only find sliced pineapple. I figured they must be not that different?

Ingredients:
***Cheesecake***
16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon flour
3 eggs

***Carrot Cake***
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 1/2 ounces can crushed pineapple, packed in juice, drained well, reserve juice
1 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

***Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting***
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon reserved pineapple juice

In large bowl of electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Beat in flour, eggs and vanilla extract until smooth. Set aside. Meanwhile prepare Carrot Cake.Carrot Cake:
In large bowl, combine oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract; mix well. Stir in dry ingredients; mixing well. Stir in drained pineapple, carrots, coconut and walnuts.

Spread 1 1/2 c. carrot cake batter over bottom of greased 9 springform pan. Drop cream cheese batter over carrot cake batter by spoonfuls; top with large spoonfuls of remaining carrot cake batter. Repeat with remaining cream cheese batter, spreading evenly with a knife. Do not marble with a knife. Bake in preheated 175C oven for 50 to 65 minutes or until cake is set and cooked through. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. When cake is cold, prepare Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting.

Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting:

In a bowl of electric mixer, combine cream cheese, butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and reserved pineapple juice. Beat until smooth and of spreading consistency. Frost top of cheesecake. Refrigerate 3 to 4 hours before serving.

What I like most about this carrot cheesecake, deliciousness aside, is that it brought me and Adrian a homemade pizza and chocolate brownies. I took a slice of the cake to my neighbor, Divya, whom, by the way is a great mom and cook. She was making dinner for 6 guests (on top of her two sons and husband). I was asking about making pizza dough and she offered to show me. The demonstration turned out to be my dinner.

It wasn't an ambitious night for us. I even told Divya not to give us too much brownies because we kind of had too much sugar from the night before (friend's birthday). But they were so good that despite the sugar rush up in my head, I couldn't resist having more. I especially like the chewiness. And who would have guessed it's vegan?
And the thin crust spinach sun-dried tomato pizza was a real bomb! If there's any food that would turn two not hungry yogis into eating, this is it. Good words aside, Divya later text me and said she forgot to add basil to our pizza.