project 122.....baking a coconut cake......

I must admit, I have only overseen this one!  My 14 year old decided he felt like a coconut cake....he then googled a recipe....and baked it himself!  I helped a little with the mixing of the frosting, as we did not have cream cheese and did not feel like going to the shops just for that.  We replaced it with half the amount of coconut cream, and we used roasted coconut for the topping in stead of normal white ones.  My domestic helper decided that she wanted a cake like this for Christmas!  Ans oh yes....I helped to cut the cake in three layers!

For the cake:
(So by the way...he even went to the Internet for the diversions from ounces and pounds to grams and milligrammes!  Quite handy I'd say, as I normally just go for another recipe!)

115 grams of coconut
1 cup of milk
3/4 cup of butter
2 cups sugar
5 extra large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 spoon almond essence
3 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Mix as you normally mix your cake and pour into two round cake pans.  Unfortunately I only have square ones and they are larger than the normal round ones, so we poured everything into one pan and sliced it in three layers afterwards, in stead of having four layers. For the two round ones, bake it at 180*C for 50 minutes.  We baked it for 1 hour as ours were thicker.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes inside the pan.  Allow to cool properly once removed from the pan. 

When it has cooled down totally, cut each layer in two layers.  If you struggle with a knife, use a thick piece of cotton thread(MY OWN TIP) and slowly move it through the cake.  It cuts it perfectly!

Now mix your frosting.  Don't over mix it as it will look like it is separating and you don't want that!

Mix:
1 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
3/4 tsp vanilla essens
1/4 tsp almond essens
1 cup confectioners sugar(I personally think you can use 1/2 cup more, but maybe if you make a smaller round cake, it will be enough)

Spread it between the layers, on the top, and around the sides.  Then press your coconut all around your cake.  Serve at room temperature.  Yumm!

The other day he made this chocolate cake.....the caramel could have been more, but the cake was excellent!  He surely does bake better cakes than his mom!  I can do other things, but baking a cake is not my speciality!  Maybe the reason I don't even have round baking pans!