Coconut Cake

Hi! Remember me? I love to cook and share my recipes with you.  Sorry I have been away for so long, but moving is such a pain and the unpacking is taking forever.  Our new house did not come with a dishwasher or a working oven so things have been difficult to say the least

Today I have a recipe for Coconut Cake. I actually made this cake for Christmas dinner but I thought it would be fitting to share today. You see, I gave up chocolate for Lent and I have to ignore recipes containing chocolate for 40 days.  Anyone else giving up anything for Lent? I'm not Catholic but I decided this year to give up something and given my love of chocolate it was a no brainer.

I couldn't find the perfect recipe online when it was time to make a coconut cake for Chritmas so this is kind of a Frankenstein cake, I made using 3 different recipes. For the cake I started with a recipe from Duncan Hines.  For the filling I looked to Emiril.  And for the frosting I was inspired by the Barefoot Contessa.



Ingredients

For the Cake

1 box White Cake Mix
1 1/2 cup Coconut Milk
4 large Egg Whites
4 oz Sweetened Shredded Coconut



For the Filling

1/2 cup Butter
4 oz Cream Cheese
3/4 lb Powdered Sugar
1 Lemon, zested,
2 tbsp Lemon Juice
2 tbsp Milk



For the Frosting

1 lb Cream Cheese, at room temperature
1/2 lb (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
3/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 lb Powdered Sugar, sifted
6 oz Sweetened Shredded Coconut



Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour two round cake pans.





In a large mixing bowl, blend the cake mix, coconut milk and egg whites. Beat at low speed until moistened (about 30 seconds). Beat at medium speed for two minutes. Pour batter evenly among the prepared pans. Fold in coconut.



Bake for 18 - 21 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool layers in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Turn out of pan to cool completely before frosting.

Now it is time to work on the filling.

Using an electric mixer, cream the remaining butter with the cream cheese. Add the powdered sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of the milk. Mix well. Spread a thin layer of the filling on top of each cake. Place the layers of cake on top of each other.





And for the finale, the frosting.

Add cream cheese, butter, vanilla and almond extracts to a bowl and mix on low speed. Slowly add in the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.





Frost the tops and sides of the cake.



Sprinkle the top of cake with coconut and gently press onto the sides of the cake.





Yum, you wind up with this delicious coconut cake.

Coconut Macaroons

I love this time of year even though it is the busiest time of year.  Today I spent the day volunteering preparing packages to ship to our soldiers overseas.  But I did find time to bake some cookies today, Coconut Macaroons.  I think these may be my mom's favorite cookies. Whenever I make them  for her I have to remind her to share them. This is the just the basic recipe you can find on the back of the bag of coconut, with a few embellishments.



Ingredients
7 oz flake coconut
1/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp flour
1/8 tsp salt
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp amaretto or almond extract



Directions

Preheat oven to 325 F

Mix coconut, sugar, flour and salt in a large bowl.



Stir in egg whites and amaretto (almond extract) until well blended.





Drop by tablespoon on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.



Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on wire racks.



For an extra special treat you can the macaroons in melted chocolate. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until chocolate is firm.



Makes between 15 - 18 cookies.