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ounces/544 grams
Volume
Ounce
Gram
milk chocolate, Valrhona 40% cacao, Scharffen Berger 41% cacao, or Cluizel 42% cacao, chopped (or 8 ounces 30% to 34% milk chocolate and 4 ounces 60% to 62% dark chocolate)
.
12
340
heavy cream, warm
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (5 fluid ounces)
5
145
unsalted butter (65° to 75°F/19° to 23°C)
5 tablespoons (½ stick plus 1 tablespoon)
2.5
70
pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon
.
.
    Make the Milk Chocolate Ganache
    Heat the chocolate until almost completely melted. Use a small microwavable bowl, stirring with a silicone spatula every 15 seconds (or use the top of a double boiler set over hot, not simmering, water, stirring often—do not let the bottom of the container touch the water).
    Remove the chocolate from the heat and, with the silicone spatula, stir until fully melted. Gradually stir in the cream until it is uniform in color. Allow the chocolate mixture to cool just until no longer warm to the touch, about 30 minutes.
    With a whisk, very gently, so as to avoid incorporating air and lightening the ganache, stir in the softened butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Stir in the vanilla.
    Use at once or cover it with plastic wrap and allow to sit for a few hours. The ganache will continue to thicken at room temperature. It keeps in an airtight container for 3 days at room temperature, for 3 weeks refrigerated, and for 6 months frozen.
    Compose the Cake
    Split the cake in half. Set one layer on a 9-inch cardboard round or serving plate. If using the plate, slide a few wide strips of wax paper or parchment under the cake to keep the rim of the plate clean. Fill and frost with the milk chocolate ganache. If using the paper strips, slowly slide them out from under the cake.
    Highlights for Success
    You can use 100 percent milk chocolate, but, to my taste, it is a little too sweet unless you are using a high-percentage milk chocolate such as Cluizel, Scharffen Berger, or Valrhona. (A lower-percentage milk chocolate will be paler in color.)
    If you are combining a high-percentage milk chocolate (40 to 42 percent) with a high-percentage dark chocolate (over 53 percent), you will need to add a little more heavy cream to ensure a soft consistency (see Ganache Proportions and Chocolate ).
    For slightly softer and less creamy ganache, prepare it without butter. Use a total of ¾ cup plus 3 tablespoons/7½ fluid ounces/7.5 ounces/213 grams heavy cream.

Heavenly Coconut Seduction Cake
    Serves: 8 to 10
    Baking Time: 30 to 40 minutes
    Imagine an impossibly tender coconut cake mounded with a billowy cloud of coconut-imbued unsweetened whipped cream and then a generous crowning of sweetened coconut flakes. The taste is like a gentle explosion of coconut flavor, accentuated with a light spray of sugar.
    Although the cake still has a wonderful, albeit denser, texture when made ahead, it is at its most ethereal when prepared à la minute. In other words: Bake it, cool it, top it with whipped cream and coconut, call the neighbors, and eat it.

Batter
Volume
Ounce
Gram
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons (3 fluid ounces)
3.2
90
canned cream of coconut, not coconut cream (see Notes )
2/3 cup (5.3 fluid ounces) processed in a food processor before measuring, divided
6.7
190
pure vanilla extract
¾ teaspoon
.
.
coconut extract
¾ teaspoon
.
.
superfine sugar
½ cup minus 1 tablespoon
3
88
desiccated unsweetened grated coconut
½ cup
1.2
35
cake flour (see Notes )
2 cups (sifted into the cup and leveled off)
7
200
baking powder
2¼ teaspoons
.
.
salt
½ teaspoon
.
.
unsalted butter (65° to 75°F/19° to 23°C)
8 tablespoons (1 stick)
4
113
    Special Equipment
    One 9 by 2-inch round cake pan, encircled with a cake strip, bottom coated with shortening, topped with a parchment round, then coated with baking spray with flour.
    Preheat the Oven
    Twenty minutes or more before baking, set an oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C.
    Mix the Liquid