What's Wrong With a Little Coconut Lust....

I wanted to get this recipe in to ya'll before Easter hits so you can be sure and get all your supplies in time and not have to fuss around with it.  Today's blog features a yumm-oh coconut cake that you won't want to miss.  It's based on my grandmother's recipe that I tweaked a little and personally, I think it's better than the original.

I have never celebrated Easter in the traditional way, there just wasn't much emphasis on the spiritual aspect of it as I was growing up.  Consequently, I tend to associate Easter with hiding eggs and candy and I'm okay with that.  I can remember dyeing eggs the day before with Meme in the kitchen and the little droppers of food coloring and the smell of vinegar as we dipped them.  She'd drop a few different colors into the cup and to me it was magic.  You had this cup of dark liquid and you dunk a snow white egg in it and minutes later ther's a robin-blue egg or a rosy pink one coming out.  I especially loved it when we had 2 or 3 eggs left to dye and she'd mix some of the liquids together and create a totally different color like lavender or a pale UT color. 

The next day we'd hide them and lose some and then eat what we managed to find.  Do you remember when it was perfectly normal to eat a egg you'd been playing with for 4 hours in 90 degree heat?  Heaven help us, we'd never do that now!

Those were good times with her.  I always knew there'd be egg hunts and I always knew she'd make a 9x13 Cream of Coconut Cake with green coconut grass with jelly bean eggs and a white plastic rabbit on top.  She used that same rabbit on top for as long as I could remember.  I don't know where it came from but it was always sitting on top of the cake. 

She and mama would cook "dinner" (aka lunch) and we probably had the same thing every time but all I remember is the Rice a Roni, rolls and coconut cake.  It was always a 9x13 cake when she made it because of the way it's constructed and the recipe, but I make it as a layer cake because there's nothing in the world more spectacular than a tall, snowy white, fluffy coconut cake.  It's an ethereal sight, no doubt.  Next time I go visit mama I'm going to beg that crystal cake stand from her cause a perfect coconut cake deserves nothing less!  Get your printer all warmed up so you can print this recipe out......enjoy!

 

Cream of Coconut Cake

1 pkg extra moist white cake mix
3 egg whites
1/2 C oil
1/2 C sour cream
6 oz can crushed pineapple, drained and juice reserved
1/2 C coconut, finely processed
1/2 t coconut extract
Whipped cream frosting (below)
Coconut for coating cake
Coconut grass, Jelly beans, marshmallow bunnies, chicks, etc..

Grease and flour (2) 8" round pans, preheat oven to 350.  In mixing bowl, combine cake mix, egg whites, oil, sour cream, pineapple juice, extract and water,  mix 1 minute on low then 2 minutes on medium speed of mixer.  By hand, stir in pineapple and coconut.  Bake at 350 till pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Be careful not to overbake.  While cooling cake make green coconut grass.   When cool, frost with Whipped Cream Frosting, cover with coconut and decorate.


Green Coconut Grass

1/2 C coconut
1-2 drops green food coloring

Place coconut in a small plastic bowl, add food coloring, put on a tight fitting lid and shake till all the coconut is evenly green.  Add more green until it's the color you like. Keep sealed till ready to use.

Whipped Cream Frosting

3 C heavy whipping cream, chilled well
1 1/2 C confectioners sugar
1 t vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat on high speed till med-stiff peaked.  Spread bottom cake layer with frosting and a little coconut, top with second layer and frost the entire cake with remaining frosting.  Coat with coconut.  Refrigerate until ready to decorate.

Use the green coconut grass to make a nest for jelly bean eggs and place a Peeps chick or rabbit next to nest.  Be sure and keep this cake refrigerated or the frosting will be too soft.  Easy and cute!

A summer of fun!!!

It's certainly fun for me, I hope all ya'll like it too.  I have a fully packed summer coming starting with this weekend.  I won a trip for a weekend getaway to The Four Seasons in Las Colinas for Friday-Sunday from the Dallas Observer and it's valued at $450.00.

Not too shabby huh?  It's for 2, but I'm going alone because I really need a break.  The Four Seasons is known for its luxurious rooms and world-class spa and I'm certainly going to take full advantage of all of it and ESPECIALLY the Room Service!!!!  I love room service, love it, love it, love it.  I love having a bottle of champagne in my room waiting on me upon my arrival and drinking it in beautiful glasses and watching TV - all alone.  I adore filling out my breakfast menu and hanging it on the door then the next morning like magic.....*poof*....my breakfast is at my door.  Hopefully by a pretty fella with good teeth, ahhhhh.  Anyway, I like to order all the stuff I won't make for myself at home like:
1/2 broiled grapefruit
2 pots of coffee
Bowl of steel cut oatmeal with dried cranberries and brown sugar
Orange Juice (to go with the leftover champagne)
Sabayon sauce for the oatmeal
That's what I love for breakfast.  I had Sabayon sauce on oatmeal at The Mansion years ago and it has been my favorite elegant breakfast ever since. 

Then later in the month I'm headed back to Caye Caulker to pay taxes on my new property. I'm looking forward to lying on the beach, drinking Belizean rum and blogging. 

I want ya'll to experience my paradise in Belize and I'll do my best to represent it for you.  I want to describe it so succinctly that you can feel the ocean breeze and smell the lobster on the grill, right along with me.  There's not much about native Belizean cooking that is high tech or haute cuisine, but it's somewhat difficult to master in its simplicity.  The fact that there are very few ingredients is the most difficult thing to wrap your head around.  Take, for instance, their potato salad - it's a ridiculously simple combination of boiled russet potatoes, english peas, hard boiled eggs and salad cream.  It's so good it makes your eyes water.  The recipe came from a good friend of mine who lives in Belize City - Olympia, Albert's mom. I tweaked it a little but it's still true to her and I think she would approve.  Give it a try, you'll like it better than any other you've had.

Olympia's Potato Salad
(makes 6 servings)
3 large russets, peeled, cubed
3 large eggs
2/3 C frozen english peas
1 medium onion, diced smallish
Salt and pepper to taste
3/4 - 1 C Heinz Salad Cream (international stores have it or use coleslaw dressing and a little mustard mixed)
Put potatoes on to cook in boiling, salted water.  When water comes to a boil, drop in whole, shell-on eggs and let them hard boil in the potato water.  When potatoes are fork-tender, remove eggs to ice water bath and set aside.  Add frozen peas to the still-boiling potato water and cook for 2 minutes.  Drain potatoes and peas well and set aside.  Peel and chop eggs, add to potatoes.  To that, add rest ingredients and toss to coat, seasoning as desired with salt & pepper.  Chill slightly and serve.

Enjoy!!

Caramel Pie Anyone???

I haven't posted anything in a while, I have to be inspired or have an event that triggers my creative juices to be able to write...or at least be able to write something somewhat interesting.  I was lying in bed last night and I was thinking about my grandmother, Meme, and there's always things that I see, smell and feel in my memory that I associate with her.  It's most often triggered by food.  She was a really good cook and she loved to cook for family and friends.  On some Sunday and Wednesday nights after church we'd have a potluck supper at the church annex and, while all the ladies were excellent cooks, I would wait to have Meme's dessert.  I had smelled it cooking and licked the bowl the day before and walked past it for an entire day, just waiting for the supper so I could eat it.  She was known for her desserts, especially her Caramel Pie.  I didn't usually get a piece at the supper because it would be gone before I got any but she always saved me a bowl of the extra filling.  That was almost as good. 
Many people confuse Caramel Pie with Butterscotch Pie.  They are identical except for one ingredient: white sugar vs. brown sugar.  Butterscotch calls for brown sugar which gives it that slightly bitter, burnt flavor from the molasses which can be a good thing in small doses.  The Caramel version uses white sugar and therefore has a much milder flavor and none of the bitterness of the Butterscotch which means it's smooth and creamy and the taste never gets to be too much.  That's why it's my favorite.
I can still see her standing at the stove with her long gray hair coiled into a bun, secured with bobby pins, stirring the sugar and butter until it was deep golden brown, the smell of caramelized sugar so thick in the air you could taste it on your tongue.  It was magical to watch her pour the milk mixture into the caramelized sugar and stir until there was only soft, caramel pudding.  It smelled heavenly, like sugar and milk. She'd pour it into the crust and start on the meringue.  Now, she NEVER used a mixer for her meringue, it was always in a metal bowl and always by hand.  I could be all the way in the back of the house and I'd hear the unmistakable metallic whisking noise and know there was meringue being made. She'd spoon that soft egg white cloud onto the caramel filling, brown it in the oven and we had pie!! 
It's exactly as she gave it to me,  I hope you make this and enjoy it as much as I always have. 

Meme's Caramel Pie
3/4 C sugar                           4 heaping T flour
1/3 stick oleo                        2 1/2 C milk
4 egg yolks                           1 T vanilla
1 egg white                           1 (10 inch) pie crust, cooked
3/4 C sugar
Beat yolks and white, 3/4 C sugar, stir in flour and milk, set aside.  Brown 3/4 C sugar and oleo in skillet, watching closely. Pour in milk mixture and stir until caramelized sugar is dissolved and mixture is thickened.  Add vanilla pour in crust. Top with meringue.

Meringue
3 egg whites
2 T sugar
1 t vanilla
1/2 t cream of tartar
In bowl, beat egg whites till frothy. Add rest ingredients and beat till stiff peaks form. Top pie with meringue, sealing edges well, brown in 300 degree oven till brown.