Grinch Cake

Note: Double the recipe to make 2 cakes, one red and one green.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, salt, coconut. In another bowl, whisk yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest and vanilla.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Evenly blend. Slowly whisk in vegetable oil, until batter is thoroughly mixed and no flour can be seen.

It is at this time, add the food coloring. (For two cakes, red for first, green for second.) Pour the batter in prepared pan and bake for 50–60 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Take out of oven. Leave in pan for 10 minutes. Then flip loaf over carefully onto wire rack to cook.

For red loaf, slice into 1/2 inch pieces; hearts should be intact. (Sounds awry, but no broken hearts, please.) Use small heart cookie cutter to cut out a hundred hearts (kidding, more like twenty). Stand them upright on bottom right of pan stacked one beside another, leaving room on both ends for green batter to cover.

For green loaf, repeat with same ingredients and tint batter green. Pour over the hearts assembled in loaf pan. Red should not show through. Bake this for 50–60 minutes until tester inserted comes out clean.

Once out of oven, leave in pan for 10 minutes. Flip carefully onto wire rack.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Decorate with fondant heart, buttercream. Slice through to be surprised.

Inspiration from Grinch cake for Christmas, The Barefoot Baker. Recipe adapted from Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten’s lemon yogurt cake.