Easy Coconut Cake Recipe

 Have you noticed that people just don’t seem to make coconut cake as much as they used to?
I wonder why. It seemed like when I was growing up every woman in my neighborhood made this kinf of cake. It was just kind of a tradition, you know?

My mother’s best friend made a fantastic coconut round cake. It was so light and summery; and it was the perfect dessert for a backyard cookout. I can almost smell the burgers grilling and taste that light and fluffy cake.

Not that you have to limit coconut cake to summer barbeques. Wouldn’t it make a unique summer wedding cake? Especially if you were having a beach themed wedding.

Most wedding cake ideas are so bland and all the pictures of cakes in bridal magazines start to look alike after awhile.

A coconut wedding cake, though; that would be a perfect and unique round wedding cake idea. Of course, it would be kind of an interesting idea to serve it for a winter wedding cake too.

Coconut is already white so it would look enough like a traditional wedding cake but would give your guests a nice little tropical surprise when they took the first bite of your coconut cake.

If you’re into funny birthday cakes, though; you can’t beat a coconut cake. There’s so much you can do with coconut when you use it for birthday cake decorating ideas.

It’s so easy to dye with food coloring, which makes it great to use for Easter cake decorations too. When coconut is dyed green it looks just like green grass. Sprinkle on a few jelly beans and you’ve got a sweet egg hunt.

 Free Easy Coconut Cake Recipe

Free Easy Coconut Cake Recipe and Tips:


Ingredients:

1 can cream of coconut

1 white cake mix with pudding

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 1/3 cup coconut

Whipped Topping

Directions:

Make and bake cake according to package instructions in a greased, floured medium pan.

As soon take cake out of the oven poke holes all over the cake. Combine coco cream and 1 can of sweetened condensed milk; pour over it the cake.

Cool and spread whipped topping over top. Sprinkle with coconut.

Refrigerate and serve chilled.

Tips

My favorite coconut cake?

Probably the best coconut cake I’ve ever tasted was actually a coconut and strawberry cake. You use frozen strawberries and flaked coconut in the actual cake batter and then ice the cake with cream cheese icing.

The final touch is carefully sprinkling coconut over the whole round cake and then topping it with fresh sliced strawberries. It takes a little more time than some more simple cake recipes, but the final product is well worth the effort.

It’s the kind of cake that would be great to make for your mom on Mother’s Day or to have when you’re expecting special guests over for dinner. Or maybe, the perfect cake to make on a cold wintry day when you want a taste of summer.

Please let me know how did you like this free easy coconut cake recipe or send your own.

Cake Decorating Equipment

Decorating beautiful cakes is an artistic kind of work.

It means a lot of creativity and skill. Besides this cake decorating equipment is also very significant part I decorating cakes.

No matter if you are a professional baker and cake decorator and are into cake decorating business or you are working it as a hobby the right cake decorating equipment is very important. It will help you make the perfect decoration that will catch everyone's eye.

If you wonder where to find good quality cake decorating equipment, many specialized stores offer all kinds of items needed for decorating cakes.

If you lack of time and not willing to waste your time looking for such stores you can make an online search. You will be surprised to see how many useful information about cake decorating equipment you can find online even shop for them on the Internet.

If you are not a professional baker or cake decorator, decorating cakes is very simple and doesn't require a lot of equipment. Most of the items needed, you already have in your kitchen. Here are some of them: different sizes of knives, bowls of various sizes, baking tins of different shapes and sizes, spatula, kitchen scales, pastry brushes, cake decorating bags, a mixer…

All these items are available at almost every well-equipped supermarket or craft stores. At the beginning, you may not need all the items but as you develop your skill and expend your business, you will have to spread the list of cake decorating equipment.

In order to make lovely cake decorations, you must use your skill, creativity and of course, without the appropriate cake decorating equipment you will not be successful, as you have expected. Attractive cake designs are something people want and are willing to pay without hesitation.
 

Cake Decorating Equipment

Cake Decorating Equipment for amateurs of baking.
Decorating beautiful cakes are an artistic kind of work. It means a lot of creativity and skill. Besides this cake decorating equipment is also very significant part I decorating cakes.
No matter if you are a professional baker and cake decorator and are into cake decorating business or you are working it as a hobby the right cake decorating equipment is very important. It will help you make the perfect decoration that will catch everyone's eye.
If you wonder where to find good quality cake decorating equipment, many specialized stores offer all kinds of items needed for decorating cakes.
If you lack of time and not willing to waste your time looking for such stores you can make an online search. You will be surprised to see how many useful information about cake decorating equipment you can find online even shop for them on the Internet.
If you are not a professional baker or cake decorator, decorating cakes is very simple and doesn't require a lot of equipment. Most of the items needed, you already have in your kitchen. Here are some of them: different sizes of knives, bowls of various sizes, baking tins of different shapes and sizes, spatula, kitchen scales, pastry brushes, cake decorating bags, a mixer…
All these items are available at almost every well-equipped supermarket or craft stores. At the beginning, you may not need all the items but as you develop your skill and expend your business, you will have to spread the list of cake decorating equipment.
In order to make lovely cake decorations, you must use your skill, creativity and of course, without the appropriate cake decorating equipment you will not be successful, as you have expected. Attractive cake designs are something people want and are willing to pay without hesitation.
- See more at: http://www.cakechannel.com/cake-decorating-equipment.html#sthash.lneBYOoE.dpuf

Croquembouche French Wedding Cake Recipe

This is the epitomé of the classic French wedding cake decorated with spunsugar and decorated with violets. If you can get fresh violets for the base of the cake it looks spectacular. It means crack in the mouth and is a tower of melt in the mouth choux pastry filled with crème pâtissiere and stacked as a pyramid and then elaborately decorated with spun sugar.

Despite the fact that the cake looks intimidating to make, it can be done in stages. However if you have never worked with spun sugar before I would recommend that you have a practice run to play with the sugar. It is more difficult to explain how to do it than it is to do it, but it will be beneficial and cheap to have a practice.

When making choux pastry ensure that all the ingredients are assembled and ready before you start. When the flour is tipped in it has to be done at once. In its raw state it is far too soft to be rolled out, which is why it is always piped. When piping for this recipe make all the balls slightly different make some ½ inch in diameter and grade them up to ¾ of an inch, this will look prettier when you come to stack the cake.

Marta Stewart Croquembouche 

Pate Sucrée

This is a rich sweet pastry usually made on a marble surface.


Ingredients:


100g (4oz) flour pinch of salt
50g (2oz) caster sugar
50g (2oz) butter at room temperature
2 egg yolks.

Sift the flour and the salt on to your work surface; make a well in the centre. Add to the well the butter sugar and egg yolks. Work them together with your fingertips until well blended. Knead until smooth. Refrigerate for at least half an hour, but it is will keep overnight.

Pate a Choux

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Water.
12 Tbs. Unsalted butter.
1/4 Tsp. Salt.
2 Cups All purpose flour.
9 Large eggs.

Crème chantilly

900ml (1 ½ pts) double cream
300ml ( ½ pt) single cream
90ml (6 tablespoons) caster sugar

Caramel

4 Cups White granulated sugar.
1 Cup Water.



Preheat oven to 425° F.

Method

To make the choux buns combine water, butter and salt in a large heavy sauce pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove the pan from the heat, and add the flour in one motion. Stir vigorously sly as if your life depends on it, until the mixture starts to pull away from the side of the pan. This always happens but you do have to stir for about two minutes.

Reheat for about two minutes and then cool for five minutes. Beat in 8 eggs one at a time and blend well. This recipe will produce 50 to 70 dough balls, depending on the size you make them.
Balls may be piped using a 1/2" plain tip, a tablespoon measure or, I use a 1 1/2 tablespoon ice cream scoop, partially filled. Place balls 1 inch apart to allow for
expansion.

Beat the remaining egg and gently brush all the balls this will give them a lovely caramel color when they are cooked. Place the trays in the oven and bake until puffs are light brown, about 10 minutes. Lower heat to 350° F. and continue to bake until well browned, about 15 minutes.
Remove trays from oven and carefully place puffs on a cooling rack to cool. The cake may be prepared all at once in which case you continue.

If you are going to assemble the cake the next day, store overnight loosely
covered with foil. Put the pastry back in the oven that has been heated to 350°F. oven for about 5 minutes to re-crisp-up.

Or you may freeze the balls for up to a month. If frozen defrost completely and place in pre-heated 350° F. oven for 5 to 10 minutes t o crisp-up.

Crème Chantilly

Whip the cream until it holds its shape and then add the caster sugar.

To assemble the cake:

Roll out the pate sucrée to a nine inch round, prick gently with a fork.
Bake in the oven at 1800C OR 3500F for twenty minutes until it is a light golden brown. Cool and then place on your cake stand. Whilst this can be assembled on a plate it looks spectacular on a cake stand. Fill puffs with pastry cream with a pastry bag fitted with a plain 1/4" tip. Gently poke a hole, in the flat bottom side of each puff. Fill pastry bag with pastry cream. Do not over-fill.

Make the caramel:

Place pan over medium heat, let the sugar warm and begin to dissolve. Allow sugar and water to gently boil until the sugar begins to change color. Brush the inner-sides of the pot with a pastry brush dipped in cold water to prevent any build-up of sugar crystals. As soon as the sugar begins to change
color (This is a hard-crack stage and occurs at 300 to 310°F .) remove from stove and place on a heatproof surface near your counter top.

Dip puffs in the caramel making sure your caramel is soft and liquidy.
If not, gently reheat a bit. Form the base row with 12 to 14 glazed, cooled puffs, sticking them together with dabs of caramel. The caramel will act as glue when it
dries.

Continue the gluing and stacking, working inwards layer-by-layer
(slightly indenting and using fewer puffs at each level) to form a hollow cone shaped affair as pictured.

Dip a small wire whisk or a large fork into the still molten caramel and twirl it quickly about, in the air, over the top and sides of the croquembouche. You should see fine golden, web-like strands of spun sugar settle. It might take a little practice and slightly re-heating the caramel to achieve the proper effect.

Decorate with crystallized and fresh violets.

Chocolate Wedding Cake Recipe

My Favorite Chocolate Wedding Cake Recipe

Don’t forget to gather all of your supplies together first.

You’ll need:

Butter for greasing the cake pans. This is very important, do don’t forget!

9 ounces chopped butter
7 ounces of chopped white chocolate
1/2 C. milk
2 C. sugar
2 eggs; beaten slightly
1 orange zest; grated finely
1/3 C. Grand Marnier
1 3/4 C flour

Frosting:

2 C. powdered sugar
3 C. cream, thickened
14 ounces chopped white chocolate
18 ounces chopped cream cheese

Instructions

First, grease and line 3 -8 inch or 9 inch round cake pans. Next, preheat oven to 320 F.

After this, combine chocolate, butter, sugar and milk in a sauce pan. Use a medium heat. Stir until melted and remove from heat. Then, pour melted chocolate mixture into a large bowl and allow to cool.

Stir in the flour, eggs, orange zest and Grand Marnier using a wire whisk, until smooth.

Pour batter carefully into buttered pans. Bake until knife inserted into the center of cake comes out clean. To prevent cakes from over browning; cover halfway with foil.

Allow cake to cool in cake pan for a few minutes.

Frosting Instructions:

Melt chocolate in a double boiler and allow to cool for a few moments.

Using half the cream cheese and powdered sugar, mix in a small bowl with electric mixer until smooth. Next, stir in the melted chocolate and beat until mixed.

Whip the cream until you see soft peaks form. Fold it through the cream cheese mixture.

Next, cover and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours or until firm enough to spread on the cake. Tip: You may need to stir the mixture just before icing the cake.

The next step will be to begin assembling and icing the cakes. Place the bottom layer cake on a plate or cake board and smooth the top with 1/4 C. icing; leaving about a 1/2" border around the edge with no icing.

Next, carefully place and center the second cake on top and repeat the same procedure.

Finally, you will place the top layer cake, center it and frost it completely.

Special Tip 1: You will need to invert the top cake layer so that there is a smooth surface for icing. Use three cake skewers to secure the cake.

Special Tip 2: You may need to cut the skewers down to the right size to keep them from protruding from the cake; so that you can ice over them smoothly. Ice assembled cake completely.

Special Note: You can ice this cake the day before you plan to serve it as long as it is kept refrigerated or you can make it up to three months in advance and freeze it; then ice it on the day you plan to serve it.

My Favorite Chocolate Wedding Cake Recipe




Don’t forget to gather all of your supplies together first.

You’ll need:
Butter for greasing the cake pans. This is very important, do don’t forget!
9 ounces chopped butter
7 ounces of chopped white chocolate
1/2 C. milk
2 C. sugar
2 eggs; beaten slightly
1 orange zest; grated finely
1/3 C. Grand Marnier
1 3/4 C flour


Frosting:
2 C. powdered sugar
3 C. cream, thickened
14 ounces chopped white chocolate
18 ounces chopped cream cheese


Instructions
First, grease and line 3 -8 inch or 9 inch round cake pans. Next, preheat oven to 320 F.
After this, combine chocolate, butter, sugar and milk in a sauce pan. Use a medium heat. Stir until melted and remove from heat. Then, pour melted chocolate mixture into a large bowl and allow to cool.
Stir in the flour, eggs, orange zest and Grand Marnier using a wire whisk, until smooth.
Pour batter carefully into buttered pans. Bake until knife inserted into the center of cake comes out clean. To prevent cakes from over browning; cover halfway with foil.
Allow cake to cool in cake pan for a few minutes.
Frosting Instructions:
Melt chocolate in a double boiler and allow to cool for a few moments.
Using half the cream cheese and powdered sugar, mix in a small bowl with electric mixer until smooth. Next, stir in the melted chocolate and beat until mixed.
Whip the cream until you see soft peaks form. Fold it through the cream cheese mixture.
Next, cover and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours or until firm enough to spread on the cake. Tip: You may need to stir the mixture just before icing the cake.
The next step will be to begin assembling and icing the cakes. Place the bottom layer cake on a plate or cake board and smooth the top with 1/4 C. icing; leaving about a 1/2" border around the edge with no icing.
Next, carefully place and center the second cake on top and repeat the same procedure.
Finally, you will place the top layer cake, center it and frost it completely.
Special Tip 1: You will need to invert the top cake layer so that there is a smooth surface for icing. Use three cake skewers to secure the cake.
Special Tip 2: You may need to cut the skewers down to the right size to keep them from protruding from the cake; so that you can ice over them smoothly. Ice assembled cake completely.
Special Note: You can ice this cake the day before you plan to serve it as long as it is kept refrigerated or you can make it up to three months in advance and freeze it; then ice it on the day you plan to serve it.
- See more at: http://www.cakechannel.com/chocolate-wedding-cake-recipe.html#sthash.ZLHzeQBF.dpuf

Wedding Cake History

What in the world is a wedding cake, depends very much on where you got married.

The multi tiered wedding cake originated in the U.K. The name "fruitcake" can be

traced back to the Middle Ages, it stems from the latin fructar fruit.

The wedding cake as we know it today, with its successively smaller layers, supported by pillars, with its fancy icing, had its origins in a confection that commemorated the marriage of one of Queen Victoria's daughters in 1859. Even then, a few refinements were missing, only the base tier was actually cake, and the rest were dummies. The reason for this is that the Victorian bakers could not separate the layers successfully, the heavier top layers sank into the cake.

The wedding of Prince Leopold in 1882 was the first time guests could enjoy an entirely "cake" wedding cake, and another 20 years before the tiers were separated by columns, which were initially disguised broom handles.

In medieval England, guests would bring small, home-baked cakes to the ceremony and present them as a gift to the bridal couple. It was traditional to pile the cakes in as high a stack as possible,  making it a difficult challenge for the newlyweds to kiss one another over the top of the cake. If the couple managed the kiss, it was considered an auspicious symbol of prosperity. It is from this "over-the-top" kiss that little bride and groom cake toppers evolved.

It was not until the reign of King Charles II that it became customary to stack the cakes neatly and frost them. This, of course, was the forerunner of today's tiered wedding cake.

Usually multi-tiered and imposing, the wedding cake in Great Britain today, functions more as a symbol than as a dessert. The cake is a centerpiece for the reception. It is elaborately decorated and given a position of honor.

The French also assert that the wedding cake tradition began in their country. Wedding cakes in France and Belgium tend to follow one of two styles.

The more traditional style is the croquembouche, a cone made of round cream- filled pastries which is dipped in hot toffee. When the toffee cools, it hardens to

form a solid structure upon which decorations are placed.

The manner in which this cake is served is interesting and unusual,

for each guest is served several pastries which are actually broken out from the main structure. The second style is baked as multiple round sponge cakes of

graduated diameters. The cake is stacked with the largest on the bottom,

tapering up to the smallest on the top. There can be as many as ten layers. With a cake this large, a center support through the middle of the cake is necessary to keep it upright. Presentation of the cake is reserved for the late hours of the reception, as a glorious ending to the meal.

Although we must admit that much of the tradition of the wedding cake may have its roots in European tradition, particularly in England, in our country we have taken the wedding cake to new extremes and made it the focal point of creativity and individual expression. The wedding cake, in the hands of a creative cake designer, can be a mechanism through which the bride and groom can reflect their individual lifestyles and their personalities. Wedding cakes in our country appear in a myriad of sizes, shapes, colors and flavors.

Wedding cakes in Australia also have their roots in the tradition of Great Britain, which probably explains the similarity in style between the Australian and the British wedding cake. Also multi-tiered, decorations on the Australian cake tend to have softer edges which, in turn, give the cake a rounder look. The top of the cake, usually free of decorations, sets the Australian cake apart from its British cousin. The base of the sides of the cake is generally piped with decorations.

In India, particularly in the southern part of the country, British influence is also obvious. The multi-tiered fruit-based cakes typical in the Christian population, take on a somewhat new twist. To avoid some of the expense of creating a large wedding cake, a high, "dummy cake," covered in sugar icing may be used. The cake cutting ceremony is still an integral part of the wedding, so a slice of real cake is inserted into the dummy cake for purpose of cake cutting. What the guests get to eat is not the cake, but instead, a piece of the icing.

Traditional Japanese wedding cakes take on an entirely different form.

Because cakes were much too expensive to make, in their stead artificial cakes, with "icing" of hard wax were used. So as not to eliminate the cake cutting, a slot

was created in which the bride and groom could insert a knife, creating a

symbolic cake ceremony.

For added effect during cutting, some cakes were designed with a lever, which when depressed, would emit a burst of steam as the knife entered. Nowadays a sponge cake is more in the United States common. In Southern Europe in Italy and Spain an uncooked chocolate cake is not unusual. Mexico favors little biscuits as the mainstay of their celebrations and this is also typical in Southern Italy where a wedding cake is a pyramid of mixed biscuits.