Coconut Cake

My Grandma loved coconut cake. It was her cake of choice for birthday, mother’s day, etc. And usually someone would bring one to Christmas, too. She liked the big, tall kind that you get at the grocery store that comes in the big plastic container with the cherry on top. Those cakes were basically just butter cakes with a marshmallow-type filling that had coconut inside it and then coconut pressed all along the sides.

At the age of 89, my Grandma passed away this past Tuesday morning. She lived a happy, long life. I mean, 89 years! That’s fantastic! And the bulk of those 89 years she was healthy and happy. Having a grandparent around for 28 years is a blessing that a lot of people don’t get in their lives, so, I am very thankful for that. And thankful for all the memories I have of her.

With that being said, though.... this has been a really hard week for me and my family. My heart is completely broken and unfortunately, there really isn’t anything that can make it better, besides time.

So, I’ve tried to figure out how to deal with the grief. And that’s where the coconut cake comes into play… it was a nice distraction… first, I spent an hour or so at work on friday (sorry, boss, I know I should have been working, particularly since I missed a lot of work this week) trying to find just the right recipe (more on that later). And then the recipe took me to the grocery store Friday after work… seeking out the ingredients and then once home: the measuring, stirring, and baking… But, it wasn’t just a distraction, it was also therapeutic.

I entered into the recipe with trepidation… I knew this had the potential to be a disastrous situation. I mean, here I am, mourning the loss of my grandma, trying to bake her favorite cake two days after her funeral. I had to remember, that this cake wasn’t a tribute to my grandma, so it didn’t have to be perfect. It was more of an honor to her memory and a celebration of her life and the way she lived it.

The cake that I finally decided on, seemed like the perfect recipe. It appeared to be much like the simple, basic cakes she loved from the grocery store. It’s not your fancy restaurant type of cake. Though don’t get me wrong, this cake sounds divine and I will certainly be making it one day… it wasn’t the right recipe for this occasion. I wanted to come up with a regular coconut cake recipe to make on special occasions to honor her.

This recipe seemed to headed in the right direction. I didn't want to make a huge cake, so I halved the recipe and tweaked it a bit for my tastes. I ended up with one cake pan layer that I split into half and then iced. It turned out delicious and you know what? It kinda worked. Making this cake and sharing it with my mom and dad made me feel a little better. And I know that this would be a cake that grandma would love.

Coconut Cake - Grandma Style

This recipe is adapted from the above linked recipe for Nee Nee's Prized Coconut Cake on Recipezaar. I only made a half recipe, and half a recipe only fit in one 9 inch cake pan, so instead of a 3 layer cake full recipe, I think this is actually only a two layer cake full recipe, FYI. I'm posting the full recipe.

Also, FYI, this is what I consider a traditional coconut cake. Very sweet and very moist. If you don't like your cakes full of sugar and sweetness, then you won't like this cake.

Oh, and another FYI... this recipe is easy, but it dirties up a lot of bowls!

For the Cake:
2 tbsp boiling water
1 cup butter, softened
1 lb Powdered Sugar
4 eggs, separated
3 cups sifted cake flour
2 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup coconut milk (i used lite)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup coconut
1/4 tsp coconut extract

For the layers: (you might need more of this, depending on how many layers you make your cake)
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Icing:
2 egg whites
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup light karo syrup
6 tbsp of water
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp coconut flavoring
2 cups of coconut (I used frozen kind-defrosted)
Additional Coconut for outside of cake (the dry shredded kind)

For the cake:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans.

In a large bowl, combine boiling water to butter and sugar. Cream well with mixer (2-3 minutes). Add 4 egg yolks (reserve all the egg whites in a separate bowl), one at a time, beating well with each addition. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt together 3 times.

Alternate adding your dry ingredients with the coconut milk to the creamed mixture. Add vanilla and coconut extract. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat your egg whites till stiff and then fold them and the coconut into the cake batter gently by hand. Pour into cake pans and put in the over for about 20-25 minutes.

Take the cakes out and allow to cool.

Layer Glaze:
Combine the coconut milk and powdered sugar in a bowl. Whisk till smooth. With a pastry brush, brush the mixture over each layer before you but a layer of frosting down. The more generous you are with this glaze, the moister your cake will be.

Icing:
Combine egg whites, sugar, syrup, walter, salt and cream of tartar. Place in a double boiler over boiling water. Beat with a hand mixer until mixture stands with peaks (approximately 7 minutes or so). Remove from heat, add vanilla and coconut flavoring and continue to beat until thick enough to spread. Place a layer of the icing on top of the glazed layers and then sprinkle with the defrosted frozen coconut before placing the next cake layer and repeating process.

Frost entire cake in icing and cover with shredded coconut. Put in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours. The cake gets better the longer it sits in the fridge.

TWD: Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler

Fruit, fruit, fruit… I loves me some fruit. So, I’ve been excited about a lot of the Tuesdays with Dorie selections incorporating seasonal fruit. Yum.

This week, I was especially excited, because the recipe that I originally had picked out was chosen: Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler. You see… I had this recipe picked out for months, there hadn’t been any cobblers chosen yet and I love cherries and was so curious to find out how rhubarb tasted with cherries… But, then, a couple of weeks before my turn came up… someone picked a cobbler and I decided to try out a pie recipe instead of having cobbler recipes back to back. So, I was totally psyched when this recipe was chosen.

I happily paid $7.25 for my 1.24 lbs of sweet Rainer cherries at the grocery store last week and it was all I could do to keep from eating them all. Dude, I totally forgot how dadgum delicious fresh cherries are! And especially sweet ones!

I whipped up the cobbler on Saturday morning and took it over to my parents house. It came together easily. I used fresh cherries and frozen rhubarb, which I thawed and squeezed additional water out of.

And, I’m not sure if I didn’t do the topping correctly or what, but I just didn’t like it. The topping had a weird flavor to it, I can’t help but think that it was the whole wheat flour. I mean, I love being able to use whole wheat flour (heck, I even used the white whole wheat flour that King Arthur makes), but it just had a weird "wang" that I wasn’t happy about. And the fruit filling… well, it was good, but it didn’t get as thick as I would have liked. Maybe it could have used more cornstarch? I found myself wishing that I hadn’t used all the cherries in the recipe. I’d rather had them raw.

Well, anyway… I’ll stick to my clafouti-type cobblers from now on, I think. I'm starting to feel like an ingrateful TWDer... it seems like I haven't really loved many of the recipes in awhile (including the one I chose!). I'm in a dorie slump methinks. But, at least I'm getting to try a bunch of different things that I normally would never make! And the experience of trying lots of different things can only make me a better and more informed baker. (Even if I am one picky beotch sometimes).

I’m sure everyone else’s was good and if you like a hearty biscuit topped cobbler, give this one a try… the cherries and rhubarb complement each other pretty well. And be sure to check out the recipe at Amanda's blog: Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake and all the other TWDers (who are hopefully less picky and easier to please than moi) at: Tuesdays With Dorie.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars

Something random happened to me this week… in anticipation of the new season premiere of Project Runway (one of my favorite shows), I decided to bake something. It happened rather suddenly, so I didn’t have a lot of time to plan (otherwise I would have gone to the craft store, bought some cute cookie cutters in fashion shapes and made and decorated sugar cookies!)… so, I just opted for a quick and easy bar recipe.

I think, I have decided to make this a kind of regular thing, so… I need to start thinking about the premiere of Mad Men in 10 (long) days and figure out what perfect thing to bake for it’s new season. Maybe cigarette shaped sugar cookies? Ha ha. I kid, I kid. Seriously though, that would be fitting. Hmmmm…

Back to Project Runway… these cookies are pretty much the antithesis of Project Runway. They are easy, homey and hardy.

I think I would have liked them better if I had taken them out of the oven a little quicker. Usually, I undercook my bars. This time around, I slightly overcooked them. The oats definitely lend a chewy, interesting texture to the bars… but, I’m beginning to think that maybe I don’t care for peanut butter in bar cookies. It makes them a little sandy for my tastes. I like gooey bars, not sandy ones.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars Recipe

Dorie's Perfect Party Cake

The actual act of preparing and baking a cake is very easy. There isn’t too much more involved in making a cake from scratch than there is from making a cake from a box. But, in my experience… I’m finding a huge difference in the texture and taste of a homemade cake vs. a box cake. And folks… I’m not going to lie… the box…. Well, it’s kicking the homemade cake’s ass.

For my own sake because my memory is god-awful terrible, I’m going to review some of my past cake making experiences…

The Bad:
Butter Cake with Chocolate Buttercream : This is the cake I made for my brother's birthday. (Again, I'm sorry, Mike). This was possibly my worst cake attempt ever. Seriously… the cake was dry with no flavor and the frosting was crunchy and bland.

Caramel Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting: This cake, I think I overcooked. The crumb turned out dry and kind of tasteless. But, the frosting…. Ohhhh the frosting… The frosting belongs in the Top Shelf Category for sure.

The Good:
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Butterfingers: Good, but not as good as expected. I mean, with chocolate, peanut butter, cream cheese, and butterfingers, you'd think you hit the motherload of all cakes, right? But, it didn't live up to the awesomeness of all it's ingredients. Tasty, but not mindblowingly good. Next time, I would add more peanut butter to the actual cake.

Amy Sedaris's Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting: This cake was good. A good vanilla cake recipe. The frosting…. Not my favorite, though.

Especially Dark Chocolate Cake: A very good, moist, rich chocolate cake.

Italian Cream Cake: A good cake. Again, I may have overcooked the layers, but this isn’t your moist light cake. The frosting is amazing and I plan on making this cake again and see if I can’t get it to come out a little moister (is that a word? More moist?).

Top Shelf, The Creme De La Creme or whatever:

Bill's Big Carrot Cake: Holy Moses, this cake is delicious! And I didn't even think I really liked carrot cake that much! The perfect carrot cake recipe.

Chocolate Guinness Cake with Chocolate Guinness Cream Cheese Frosting: Ummm... Is there anything else that needs to be said here? This will be my go-to chocolate cake recipe. I can't wait to make this in a huge layer cake.

So, in review… I have an excellent chocolate cake and carrot cake recipe. But… not everyone likes chocolate or carrot cake. I need a go-to delicious white/vanilla cake. And, I’ve found it. Thanks to Dorie Greenspan.

I made cupcakes out of her Perfect Party Cake Recipe this weekend and it was delicious. Light and tender and moist. It would have been perfect as a cake with the suggested fruit filling. But, since I was making cupcakes and wanted to get a taste of the actual cake… I kept things basic and simple. No fruit filling. Just cake and frosting.

Speaking of the frosting… this was the first time I’d ever had a meringue buttercream, let alone make one! And while I thought my arm would fall off while cooking the meringue on the stove, the recipe was fairly simple and it turned out delicious! I’m definitely going to try out some more meringue buttercream frostings in the future.

So, if you’re making this recipe… I suggest adding something to it. Fruit filling or flavored frosting… because as a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting, it’s a bit boring. Delicious, but boring.

I halved the recipe for the cake and made cupcakes and cut the frosting recipe into thirds. I didn’t have any buttermilk, so I used light sour cream instead in the cake and I didn't use the lemon extract, but used Vanilla Extract instead.

Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake
From: Baking: from my Home to Yours

For the Cake:
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups whole buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

For the Buttercream:
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup fresh lemon juice

For Finishing: (Which I didn't do this time, but recommend)
2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable
About 1 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Whisk together the buttermilk and egg whites in a medium bowl.

Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the buttermilk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the buttermilk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.

Divide the batter between the pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean.Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

To Make the Buttercream:
Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream.

Remove the bowl from the heat. Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes. During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again. On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more. You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.

To Assemble the Cake:
Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half. Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. Spread it with one third of the preserves. Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream. Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream leftover). Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top. Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.

Serving:
The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but I think it’s best to let it sit and set for a couple of hours in a cool room – not the refrigerator. Whether you wait or slice and enjoy it immediately, the cake should be served at room temperature; it loses all its subtlety when it’s cold. Depending on your audience you can serve the cake with just about anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.

Storing:
The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to two days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. If you want to freeze the cake, slide it into the freezer to set, then wrap it really well – it will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer; defrost it, still wrapped overnight in the refrigerator.

TWD: Chocolate Pudding

Alright, so chocolate pudding isn't one of my favorite things. I mean... sure, I'll eat the snack packs and when dieting, I'll opt for the sugar free pudding, but it's just not something I ever sit around and think... damn, I'd love me a bowl full of chocolate pudding.

So when Melissa of It's Melissa's Kitchen chose Chocolate Pudding for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie, I was kind of like... hmmm.. chocolate pudding. Not bad, but not something to jump up and down about, right?

I didn't get around to making the pudding this weekend, but I did read the recipe and I noticed that a food processor was a key component in the recipe. I don't have a food processor, so I just thought... well, I can just use my Mixer (Betty) and she'll do a fine job.

Last night rolled around and I still hadn't made the pudding. I thought... well... I've made like 4-5 TWD's in a row... maybe it's time to take a break. So, yes, I decided to take a break. But, then I got home from work and I started to feel a little guilty.... I mean, I did have all the ingredients on hand...

So, I sat down with the recipe and broke it into a quarter of recipe and made two little cups of pudding. I must admit, this recipe is easy... but, I advise you measure out all your ingredients and have them ready before you begin... I was caught off guard how quickly my pudding mixture started to thicken once I put it on the stove.

And, as I was taking pictures of the pudding... I took a little taste... and then I took another little taste... and then I decided... wow... this is a lot better than snack pack pudding. And I kept sneaking spoonfuls in, until the entire cup looked like this...

So, a big thanks to Melissa for picking a recipe that I normally would have NEVER tried. If you are a big pudding fan, you'll love this recipe and even if you don't think you like pudding that much, you should give it a try. Yum.

Recipe Notes* The only change I made, was using 2% milk. I love milk. I usually drink 2% to be somewhat healthy... but if I have some leftover whole milk sitting in my fridge, I drink it up in one sitting. So, I try to stay away from buying whole milk. I thought that the 2% worked great! Very rich and creamy.

Monster Cookies

Imagine this... a cookie with all your favorite things...

Chocolate Chips
M & Ms
Reese Pieces
Oatmeal
Peanut Butter

I know what you're thinking... Favorites overload, right?? But, amazingly... it's not! Somehow, these cookies with way too much stuff in them are well balanced and delicious. The peanut butter is mild, the oatmeal isn't too heavy. It works in a harmonious blend to create a super yummy, easy cookie.

And there's no flour (although, I'm sure the calories that would be in the flour, are just lurking in the peanut butter or the m & m's or whatever). So, this is a yummy cookie recipe. One that I will definitely make again.

Monster Cookies (I quartered this recipe, and it still made about 12 HUGE cookies, so keep that in mind).

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pudding Dessert

I'm going on record to officially call it a rut. That's right... I'm in a baking/sweet making rut. Maybe I'm getting pickier? But, I just can't seem to make anything mindblowingly tasty lately. What's the deal?

Sure, I've made some delicious bar cookies... but, as far as pies and cakes and regular cookies go... I'm consistently striking out. And that sucks. Like really, really sucks, ya know?

This dessert was supposed to be mindblowingly good. But, it missed the mark. I mean, sure... it's tasty.... but, it's not quite there. You know what I mean? Like, it's on the cusp of being excellent... I served this as the anti-fruit dessert this weekend. (My brother Mike doesn't like anything fruit for dessert) and alongside the white goo infested blueberry pie it was good. But, it wasn't great. It was creamy, and peanut buttery.... but, it was too much like a pudding for me. I needed some contrast. I think that a layer of oreo cookies between the peanut butter layer and the chocolate layer would have been delicious. I love it when crunchy things get soggy. (Weird, I know).

Hopefully, I'll get my mojo back soon.


Peanut Butter Chocolate Dessert.