Coconut Layer Cake

Coconut Layer Cake

Here is the link to the recipe.

Spring and summer always make me want to make delicious light confections.  Coconut cakes are at the top of that list.  I have tried many a coconut cake/cupcake  recipe and have not found one with enough of the yummy coconutiness that takes you away to an island in the tropics…warm breezes…laying in a hammock…sipping a pina colada…….Sorry, I guess I drifted off there for a minute!

This recipe is another of my attempts at the divine coconut cake.

It starts off pretty simple – preheat oven, butter the cake pans.  I only have two 8 inch pans, so I used these [finding out later that 9 inch ones would have worked better!].

I put all the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into my little bowl and whisked them together.  I like that this recipe tells you to use the “cheat” method of sifting the dry ingredients.  I have made recipes for cakes that request that you sift the dry ingredients 3 times!!!!  [picture angry frustrated flour covered face]  Who in their right mind has the time and the desire to sift something 3 times!               Ok, I think I’m calm now…  I love the cheat of whisking my dry ingredients instead of sifting.  The reason you sift the dry ingredients is mainly to make the flour lighter [by fluffing air into it] and to incorporate the other leavening and flavor ingredients [baking powder, baking soda, salt] together.

I set my dry ingredients aside, and now it’s time to cream the butter and sugar together.  The recipe says to beat the butter, sugar, and coconut crème together – BUT – I think it works better to cream the butter and sugar together [beat in mixer until light in color] and then add the coconut crème. 

whipped up butter with sugar added

pouring the coconut creme into the sugar and butter

Here are my choices for coconut crème:

I love the Coco Real – only because it is in a bottle and you can just toss it back in the fridge if you have leftovers.  And after you lick your measuring cup [preferably after you put the crème in the mixer], you will wonder where this stuff has been all your life.  Yum! 
 Warm breezes…frosty drink…sand in my toes…

Back to reality.  After I beat the coconut crème into the butter and sugar to create a fluffy coconutty, buttery, sweet goodness, it’s time for the eggs.

You need to separate the yolks from the whites [I do this by cracking the whole egg and putting it in my hand letting the white separate from the yolk through my fingers into a separate bowl.] 

Once you have all four eggs separated, you can beat the yolks into the goodness.  Then add in the vanilla extract.  Once this is fully incorporated, I added in the buttermilk.

Set this aside, and now it’s time to whip it, the egg whites that is!  Whipping egg whites can be tricky.  The main problem you could have is that there may be some fat in the bowl from a previous use, or some of the yolk may have come off in the whites when separating.  If there is fat in the egg whites, it will be hard to whip them.  Make sure your bowl is clean and no yolk made it into the whites.  As you can see I whipped mine in a separate bowl with my hand mixer. 

half way through

Whip away!  The second photo above is about half way through.  Below is what you are looking for.  Stiff peaks.  When you pull up the beaters, the eggy fluff should stand straight up.  If it falls over, you need to continue to whip it some more.  Whip it good.  [For the life of me I can’t get the Devo song out of my head!]

Now just fold into the goodness mixture.  I put it in the bowl and use a spatula to fold it in gently.  The whipped egg whites add an airy texture to the cake, so you don’t want to over mix [and pop all the lovely air bubbles we whipped in]. 

Now just divide the batter between the two pans [preferably 9 inch], and bake away!

Chobee likes to help clean… Don’t worry, I actually wash the spatula afterwards!

And this little one likes to watch Mommy baking!  Too bad she can’t lick the spoon yet…Chobee might get a little jealous though!

After a longer than 45 minute bake…due to the smaller 8 inch pans, here is what our cake looks like.  It got a little too brown for my taste on the outside and bottom.

While our cakes cool, it’s time for the delicious Cream Cheese Frosting!  It’s basically a general cream cheese frosting, but yummied up with some coconut crème!  Yum.  Just cream the butter and cream cheese together.  [It really makes a difference to let the cream cheese come to room temp]  Then add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and coconut crème and mix together until it is velvety smooth.

Now it’s time to put it all together!!  I like to even up my cake layers by cutting off the tops [to even up the layers] with a serrated bread knife.  I’ve heard of people being able to use thread or floss to do this too.

Put the cut side down on the cake plate for your first layer.

Put a glob of frosting on the top of the first layer and spread with an offset spatula [here is the one I use].  Then sprinkle flaked coconut on top.  Then place the other layer cut side down on top of the frosted first layer.

Ok, my layers look a little ridiculous.  This is totally OK!  Don’t freak out if your layers are funky like mine.  Frosting can cover a multitude of sins!  Now time to frost.  I know, it’s is scary to frost a whole layer cake!  But you can do it!

I usually start with the top and then work the sides around.  Put a blob on the top of the cake, and with an offset spatula, push the frosting around until it hits the edges.  Then put a blob on the side of the cake close to the bottom, and then push the frosting up and clockwise.  Continue this motion turning the cake plate clockwise until you meet the first frosted side.  Then you can just tidy up a bit by adding frosting to bare spots and smoothing it out.  Wasn’t that easy!  Ok, maybe not easy, but if I can do it, you can!

Even if you don’t get the frosting perfect, it doesn’t matter because we get to throw coconut all over the cake now!  It will hide any imperfections and make it look super fancy.  Just grab a handful of shaved coconut, and throw it on top.  Now cup it in your hand and push up against the sides of the cake.  Rotate the cake until you have every side covered.  It will look messy!

Now just take a damp paper towel and run it along the bottom of the cake plate to take off any excess frosting and coconut.

And….Voila!  Pretty, fancy coconut cake!

Now to taste…

Overall I think this recipe is the best one I’ve tried yet.  That dang coconut dream is so illusive for me!  Maybe I am too picky, or maybe I just haven’t found the best recipe yet.  [I would love to hear about your recipes!]

How to improve… I would possibly toast the coconut for the outside of the cake.  It changes the flavor a little and I love toasted coconut, but it won’t give you the beautiful fluffy pure white cake.

You can also add some FrontierCoconut Flavor to the batter.  This was recommended to me by Joshua John Russell, the instructor of my Viking Cooking School Cupcakes class I took a few years ago.  He has been on the Food Network a few times in cake competitions!  I know, I got some tips from a celebrity…I’m really very cool. 

So this recipe would be a make again – but I would add some of the flavoring and maybe toast the coconut.

Now, who wants a Pina Colada!!!???

Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

Now that all of the sticky buns are gone, and we only have about a cup of milk left, we have nothing for breakfast!  On a day like this, I usually see what ingredients I have on hand, and whip up something like pancakes or muffins.  Today I had canned pumpkin left over from Thanksgiving and Christmas last year.  I guess I didn't end up making all of those yummy pumpkiny things that everyone wants to make during the holidays.  I would like to say that I did have a pretty good excuse being 9 months pregnant :)  That brings me to today's  breakfast!  Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins!  I searched on the internet and found this recipe on food.com.  I love pumpkin muffins, and I really like the addition of oatmeal.  It adds more chew and some great health benefits [to outweigh the cinnamon butter I made for them...yeah I said cinnamon butter]!  Here we go!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

Here is the link to the recipe.

I don't make a lot of recipes on www.food.com simply because they are are not tested in test kitchens like recipes on Martha Stewart or Food Network.  It's people just like you and me that post their recipes so there can be flaws...but this one actually turned out pretty good! 

Like most muffin recipes, we use the "muffin method" for mixing the ingredients together.  This makes for more of a muffin texture rather than what you would get if you used the "creaming method."  The creaming method is when you add the sugar to the butter and cream the mixture, then you add the eggs, and then the dry ingredients alternating with milk.  The creaming method gives you more of a cupcake than a muffin.  The muffin method in this recipe combines all of the dry ingredients [which I whisked together].  

Then you combine all the wet ingredients. [I used pecans instead of walnuts...yep, I'm a Georgia girl!  We like our pecans!] Then you add the wet to the dry and combine.

Make sure you don't over mix!  You will get flat little concrete balls if you over mix :)  Not yummy!  I just folded the wet into the dry by making large circular motions with the spatula.  Remember to make sure you get all the dry ingredients from the bottom of the bowl...they would get their feelings hurt if you left them out.

Here is what it looks like when it is completely mixed:

When you have all the ingredients mixed together, it's time for the muffin tin!  I used muffin or cupcake wrappers for 12 and then I had enough batter to fill up 4 more with out the wrappers.  I also added a sprinkling of oatmeal to the tops of the muffins.  I think it looks pretty :)

I baked mine for about 22 minutes, took them out, and let them rest for about 5 minutes before turning them out onto the rack. 

While they were cooling, I whipped up some cinnamon butter!  YUM!  All I did was take about half a stick of softened butter and creamed in about a teaspoon of sugar and a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon.  You can do this with basically any flavoring, but I thought cinnamon would be perfect for these!

Time to smooth that yummy cinnamon butter onto the warm muffin! [Drool]

After tasting these, I actually like the ones that did not have the wrappers.  They got this yummy caramelized crust on them that was chewy and delicious!  So I would suggest not using the wrappers and going naked into the muffin tin! 

I would say that these are a make again, but maybe a little on the underwhelming side.  The pumpkin flavor isn't that prominent.  Maybe add a little more pumpkin and some more cinnamon to bring out the flavor?  Over all, I would give it a B.  But still yummy for Sunday morning!

Let me know what you think!

Leah

Easy Delicious Cinnamon Rolls

I was walking through the mall the other day and was hit by a waft of buttery, sugary, spicy goodness...of course it was the cinnamon roll store!  Yummmm.  The cinnamon rolls are the size of a child's head and probably contain a pound of butter and and at least a pound of sugar.  Not to mention the flaky yet chewy pastry...  It's like heaven!  But the only thing worse than having to pass by the cinnamon roll store [looking longingly at the sweet delicious pasties] is waking up on Saturday morning and wanting a home made cinnamon roll hot out of the oven.  Of course you don't want to have to make the complicated yeasty pastry, so you end up popping open a can of refrigerated rolls.  Thankfully, Ina Garten has come to our rescue and developed this easy, quick recipe for delicious cinnamon rolls! 

Project Easy Puff Pastry Cinnamon Rolls

Here is the link to Ina Garten's recipe.

You can make this recipe with things you probably already have in your pantry.  If you don't keep a package of puff pastry in your freezer, it might be a good time to think about it.  Puff pastry is a great shortcut for so many things [chicken pot pie, easy apple tart, fun roll up appetizers...]  The hardest thing to do in this recipe is remembering to defrost the puff pastry.  You can defrost it over night by just placing it in the frig, or you can just set it out on the counter for 40 minutes.  [I always forget and end up putting it in the preheating oven for about a minute to get the frost off.] 

I actually halved the recipe since Matt and I don't need 12 cinnamon rolls sitting around calling our names...we only need 6 doing that.  Ha.  We start with mixing the glaze that goes into the muffin tin.  Ina says to use a mixer, but if your butter is soft enough you can just use a fork like I did.  Once the butter and brown sugar are combined, refrain from spooning it directly into your mouth and divide it equally between the muffin tins.  Then sprinkle the chopped pecans on top of the sugar butter mixture.  This will melt down and caramelize into a sticky, sweet gooey goodness. 

Now it's pastry time!  Pull out your thawed puff pastry dough and put it on a clean floured surface.  I use a large cutting board since I have granite tile counter tops.  Unfold the pastry so that the fold lines lines are vertical.  Ina doesn't say to, but I rolled it out a little with a rolling pin to smooth out the fold lines a little.  Then you brush the pastry with the melted butter, sprinkle on the sugar, cinnamon, and raisins, and you are almost done! 

Roll the dough up from the bottom to the top into a log.  Then use the fold lines as your guide to cut the log into three sections.  Then cut each of the three in half making 6 rolls.  Ina says to trim the ends off, but I just left mine on.  No reason to throw out perfectly good puff pastry!  Now you will put the rolls into the muffin tin spiral side up.  Put them in the oven and in 30 minutes or so, we have our yummy rolls!

Now time to wait...and check on my little cutie.  She's being so good in her swing!

Ina says to bake for 30 minutes until golden to dark brown.  I checked mine at 25 minutes and they looked pretty much done.  I took them out at about 28 minutes.  This is what they looked like...

Don't freak out [like I did] that the caramely spill-over will be stuck there for eternity...it comes of easily when you flip them over thanks to all that butter!

Time to flip!  Ina says to flip them out onto parchment paper, but I used a cookie sheet and a Silpat.  You can use anything to flip these onto...foil, wax paper, a platter...anything you want.  Oh, almost forgot.  You need to wait 5 minutes before you turn them out.  Here is what they look like.

You will need to scoop out some of the topping and redistribute to the rolls.  And here is the final product!  Yummm.

Upon first bite, I thought I had over cooked them because some of the sugar had gotten a little too caramelized and was a little bitter.  Other than that, these were delicious!  What a great easy way to get the delicious taste of cinnamon rolls or sticky buns without the can or the long complex recipe!  The only thing I would do is possibly add more cinnamon and maybe a cream cheese glaze [if I really wanted to OD on the sugar].  And as Ina would say, "How easy is that!"


I would definitely make this one again!  Thanks for reading.  I would LOVE to hear your feedback and any suggestions on things to make.  Leave me a comment :)