Friday, August 14, 2009

Is HIS blog burning???- Coconut Lime Layer Cake

On Wednesday night, I was going out to dinner with a friend. So while Mike and Jaycoby were eating their dinner, I was sitting at the table and flipping through a recipe book (something I love to do). This cake grabbed my husband's attention and he said "Mmmm, I'm going to make that tonight!". Sweet! So we made a quick trip to Safeway, to get what he needed, and then I headed out to my dinner. When I got home, I got to dig in to a yummy piece of coconut lime cake. My husband rocks! I love it that he enjoys spending time in the kitchen, like I do, and he even did a great job of cleaning up after himself. Score!


COCONUT LIME LAYER CAKE
Land O Lakes Recipe Collection Magazine

INGREDIENTS

Cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1 c. sugar
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. sweetened cream of coconut (we used "coconut milk" assuming that's what they meant- notice the tips below...we were wrong)
2 t. freshly grated lime peel (we used key limes, because that's all Safeway had...smelled great)
4 eggs
1 c. buttermilk

Frosting:
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/4 c. cream of coconut
1 (3-ounce) package of cream cheese, softened
2 t. freshly grated lime peel
5 c. powdered sugar
4-5 T. traditional or fat-free half & half

Garnish:
1 c. sweetened flaked coconut

DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour 2 (9-inch) round (2-inch deep) cake pans; set aside.
Combine sugar and 1 cup butter in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until well mixed. Add 1cup cream of coconute and 2 teaspoons lime peel; continue beating, scraping bowl often, until smooth. Add 1 egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk. Beat until well mixed.
Divide batter evenly between prepared pans. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and cake is deep golden brown. (If browning too quickly; cover with aluminum foil.) Cool 10 minutes. Invert onto cooling racks; cool completely.
Meanwhile, combine 1/2 cup butter, 1/4 cup cream of coconut, cream cheese and lime peel in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add powdered sugar and enough half & half for desired spreading consistency.
Place 1 cake layer onto cake plate bottom-side up; trim to make flat surface, if necessary. Frost top of cake with about 1 cup frosting. Top with second cake layer, bottom-side down. Frost entire cake and sides. Sprinkle top of cake with coconut.

Tips (which we did not read before writing our grocery list):
* If using dark cake pans, bake at 325 F, for 40 to 45 minuts.
* Cream of coconut is available in the liquor or beverage section of most supermarkets. It can also be foun in Asian supermarkets (we went to the Asian section of Safeway). Make sure you buy the sweetened variety, not unsweetened coconut cream or coconut milk (oops...that's what we got). Apparently, sugar is the main ingredient :).
* Be sure your butter is softened to room temperature when making the cake and frosting. This makes for smooth, creamy batter and frosting.

VERDICT
YUM! However, I think the "coconut milk" mistake affected the sweetness. The lime taste was subtle, the frosting was GREAT, but the cake was....mildy cakey??? It is really good, but it could be sweeter. I guess that's my bad, since I didn't read the directions fully when I wrote up the list for Mike. Oops!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Yum! I think you and I must be a lot alike when it comes to sweets. I'm constantly eating them! And, since I don't work out I'm sure thats why I still have a bit of a baby gut!