Hi everyone, I hope your weekend was wonderful! We (me, Donnie- my boyfriend, and Alligator- my dog) played at the beach all day, and although I am thoroughly sunburned it was a great day!
We went to the loveliest restaurant this past weekend; restaurant Jane on State Street here in Santa Barbara (yep I live in paradise.) Jane has such an elegant, and romantic ambiance, as well as very delicious food. We both enjoyed every bite of our dinners (Donnie practically licked his plate clean!) For dessert we had their famous Coconut Chiffon Cake with Anglaise sauce, it was moist, light, fluffy, and honestly it was the best coconut cake I’ve ever had! I just had to try to make a coconut cake for my next cake decorating class! I found a recipe by Ina Garten and followed it almost 100% although I over mixed it a little bit, and used coconut milk instead of regular milk. The cake turned out more like a muffin and it is fairly dense, probably because I used coconut milk. This cake is perfect with a good cup of coffee since it’s somewhat dry and dense and it is just a tad sweet. Adding a little bit of warmed cream cheese frosting and drizzling on top of is delish!
Coconut Cake & frosting (recipe by Ina Garten)
Ingredients:
3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pans
2 cups sugar
5 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pans
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup milk (I used coconut milk, which I don’t recommend)
4 ounces sweetened shredded coconut
Frosting
1 lb cream cheese; at room temp
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 pound confectioners’ sugar, sifted
6 ounces sweetened shredded coconut
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 (9-inch) round cake pans, then line them parchment paper. Grease them again and dust lightly with flour.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until light yellow and fluffy. Crack the eggs into a small bowl. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl once during mixing. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well. The mixture might look curdled; don’t be concerned.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk to the batter in 3 parts, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Fold in the 4 ounces of coconut with a rubber spatula.
Pour the batter evenly into the 2 pans and smooth the top with a knife. Bake in the center of the oven for 45 to 55 minutes, until the tops are browned and a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a baking rack for 30 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto a baking rack to finish cooling.
For the frosting, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and almond extract on low speed. Add the confectioners’ sugar and mix until just smooth (don’t whip!).
To assemble, place 1 layer on a flat serving plate, top side down, and spread with frosting. Place the second layer on top, top side up, and frost the top and sides.
I made the cake into 3 layers with frosting between each layer, but then I decided to add some blueberries on the bottom layer. I can’t stand just having ONE frosting or flavor in a cake or in any dessert for that matter. I prefer to have a lot of (or at least two) flavors going on. I’m a little ashamed to admit this, but I frosted the cake with the crisco frosting my teacher prefers ONLY because I had it on hand, and I ran out of butter to make real buttercream frosting.
Cakes ready for the oven
First layer, topped with blueberries
Almost done with the layers
And my cake (blank canvas) is ready for class!
First thing – lace on top of cake
Vines and flowers on the side
Adding a shell border at the bottom
Bouquet of flowers on top
The finished product!
*Note- next time I plan to actually make a chiffon cake. I think they are made quite differently than other cakes. Will post pics and directions once I try it!
kj in the kitchen 
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