Thursday, January 18, 2018

Coconut Cream Birthday Cake #recipe @lucyburdette




Birthday girls by Bill Carito
Lucy Burdette: I don’t mind sharing a birthday celebration, in fact I like it. I trace this back to my experience growing up. My older sister Sue (older by 11 months, two weeks) and I shared our January celebrations. We often had a joint party, though maybe we had individual cakes on the actual day? I don't remember for sure.

This year and last year, I was pleased to share birthdays with my friend Barbara Ross, who reaches all the milestones eight days before I do. This year I promised to make this coconut cake. However, I got sick and couldn’t attend the dinner nor make the cake. My solution was to make a cake for our two birthdays together. The rub was, I had a good old friend visiting who loathes coconut. So I made a coconut cream cake, only sprinkling the coconut on the icing so I could leave a little section coconut free. (You will note the little toothpicks which are used to remind myself not to put coconut on this triangle of cake. It turns out at this age, I can agree to do something with myself and forget it instantly, so I decided a physical reminder would help.)


This cake is found in Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott. I changed a few things around, like making the coconut unsweetened – the cake was plenty sweet anyway. And I added some chopped strawberries between the layers and strawberries on top for color and decorations. When I put the batter into the pan, I was worried. It did not fill up the pans as many batters do. It also came out looking quite flat. But after the whipped cream and strawberries and coconut were added, it was beautiful, and everyone agreed, delicious!
Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder, low-sodium for me
1/4 teaspoon salt
Three eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups whipping cream

1 1/2 cups whipping cream
3 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
Shredded or flaked organic coconut
Strawberries

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease the pans, followed by inserting rounds of parchment paper. Stir together the dry ingredients. Beat the eggs with 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat the cream to stiff peaks, using a KitchenAid or handheld mixer. 

three sets of ingredients
And the egg/vanilla mixture and beat that in briefly. Add the dry ingredients and stir until the flour disappears.
nice fluffy batter


Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until lightly browned and the cake springs back when touched.

uh-oh, not covering bottom of pan


Cool the cakes completely. (I made these the day before and covered them with plastic wrap.)

a little skinny


Beat the cream with confectioner's sugar until stiff. 



Spread whipped cream on the bottom layer, sprinkle this with coconut flakes and chopped strawberries. 

Settle the second layer on top and again, sprinkle with coconut and decorate with strawberries.
note the toothpicks demarcating coconut-free zone

Make sure to refrigerate if you are not serving this right away, and refrigerate leftovers if you have any. I can’t emphasize how good this cake tasted and how fast it disappeared!



Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mysteries--find them wherever books are sold! Find her on FacebookTwitter, and Pinterest--Instagram too...DEATH ON THE MENU will be in bookstores on August 7! Here's a pre-order the book link from Amazon--and here's a link to preorder a hard copy from RJ Julia in CT, where you'll be able to get a signed copy. I'll post others as they appear. 

13 comments:

  1. This looks really delicious! Happy birthday to both of you! My Dad would have loved this - his favorite type of cake was coconut and he always requested it for his birthday.

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    1. thanks Kay! this was a good one, not too coconutty but enough. My mother-in-law's fave was coconut too

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  2. Sounds fabulous! Happy birthday to you and Barb.

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  3. Happy Birthday! You are so much more gracious than I am. With a Christmas birthday, I hated never having my own celebration!;)

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    1. Oh Denise, a Christmas birthday would be truly a challenge! I would struggle with that too

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  4. I love sharing birthdays with you, Lucy. The cake was fabulous!

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  5. Happy Birthday to both of you! The cake looks wonderful!

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  6. Thanks Krista--your mom would like this cake too!

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  7. A great big YUM! And a happy birthday. I hope you make up for being sick by celebrating three times as long. XO

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  8. Happy Birthday! This looks good with & without the coconut.

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  9. Beautifully done.
    The tooth picks are a great idea.
    I write myself notes and then forget to check them!

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