Homemade White Cake with Fluffy Frosting

We had another Birthday in our home last week. She turned 7! She requested a gumball cake so I thought a white cake with fluffy frosting (remember these cones?) would be great. The frosting is similar to marshmallow taste. I made these Valentine cupcakes using a white cake batter so I went with it again. This time I made two 8" rounds, the sort of puffed up at the end of baking, but once you cool them on the rack (and then upside down) they flatten out.
Let me be honest here, I found this cake to be a little on the dry side, even baking it at 25 minutes it was not done so another 5 it went. I'll probably keep looking for a homemade white cake recipe. The frosting recipe is best eaten the same day, since it kind of melts away after time.

Heavenly White Cake
adapted from Allrecipes

2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups milk (I used 1 C milk + 1/2 C heavy cream)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Measure sifted flour, baking powder, and salt; sift together three times.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add 1/2 cup sugar gradually, and continue beating only until meringue will hold up in soft peaks. Remove from mixer bowl, transfer to another bowl and set aside.
3.Cream butter in mixer. Gradually add remaining 1 cup sugar, and cream together until light and fluffy. Add sifted ingredients alternately with milk a small amount at a time, beating after each addition until smooth. Mix in vanilla. Add meringue, and fold thoroughly and gently into batter. Pour into prepared greased pans. (I made two 8" rounds)
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes. Cool cake in pan for 7 minutes, then remove from pan and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Fluffy Frosting
as seen at Allrecipes

1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

food coloring

1. In a saucepan, stir together the sugar, water and cream of tartar. Cook over medium-high heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is bubbly.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whip the egg whites and vanilla to soft peaks. Gradually add the sugar mixture and food coloring while whipping constantly until stiff peaks form, about 7 to 10 minutes. Frost the cake of your choice.

White cake & fluffy frosting with TWD chocolate ice cream!

enjoy,

Review: Cherishing Sweet Rolls and Family Moments with Pillsbury

Whatever your Sunday morning tradition, it's important to remember to slow down and enjoy the sweetness of the moment with your loved ones. Sandra Lee, home and food expert, shares simple tips to treat yourself and loved ones to special moments.

Take time to recharge.
Caring for the important people in your life is most rewarding when you are relaxed and free to enjoy those special moments. On a bright spring day, open the windows and let the sun's warm rays pour into your kitchen. A sunny morning can lift spirits and set a positive tone for the day. Not sunny? An easy way to get in the Sunday morning spirit is to take a "virtual vacation" by leafing through albums of vacation's past to conjure up memories. You may find this "virtual vacation" almost as relaxing as the real thing. Whatever you do, finding a way to recharge on Sunday mornings makes family time that much more special.

Bake something special.
Smart shortcuts will let you enjoy all the goodness of a homemade treat, and help save precious time for you to spend with your loved ones. Pillsbury® Sweet Rolls are simple place-and-bake morning treats that can be served fresh from the oven, or used as an easy base to many delicious breakfast recipes. They'll think you spent hours in the kitchen, and the best part — you'll have the energy to enjoy breakfast with your family.

Convert your kitchen into an art studio.
The kitchen is where many Sunday morning memories are made. What better way to get the kids involved than by letting them frost their own cinnamon rolls? Encourage them to get creative by giving them pastry bags filled with icing and fun-shaped tips. Let the cinnamon roll be their canvas as they draw initials, flowers and other designs. Icing a pan of cinnamon rolls may be the sweet spot in your little ones’ Sunday morning.

Add your own touch to delicious Pillsbury® Sweet Rolls.
There's nothing like the aroma of a piping hot pan of cinnamon rolls straight from the oven to get the family out of bed. Try adding a few simple ingredients to make a customized creation:

-Sprinkle an extra dash of spice such as orange zest, clove or ginger to rolls before baking for a signature flavor.
-Set out a warm tub of icing and let the family have fun frosting their own rolls.
-Keep a stash of walnuts, candy sprinkles or raisins handy for a special garnish.
-Create a breakfast-in-bed tray for your sweetie with flaky cinnamon rolls, orange juice, coffee and the Sunday morning paper.
-Bring fresh-baked Pillsbury Grands!® Cinnamon Rolls made with real Cinnabon® cinnamon in a pretty baking pan to your next brunch event. The whole group will love the indulgent treat, and you can leave the pan as a hostess gift.

Sunday mornings are a delicious stretch of time to be savored with the special people in your life.

Sandra Lee created some easy recipes using Pillsbury refrigerated cinnamon rolls such as Cinnamon Roll French Toast, Apple Walnut Sticky Buns, and Chocolate Raspberry Cream Cinnamon Rolls. These recipes and more can be found here.



We were given an opportunity to have a wonderful sweet morning with a coupon to try the cinnamon rolls, along with some comfy Pillsbury pajama bottoms, that my daughter snagged from me =) . I bought us some of their orange sweet rolls, and a pack of regular cinnamon rolls to make Sandra's Peanut Butter Banana Cinnamon Sweet Rolls below. This frosting is really good! I like the flavors of peanut butter and banana and using it on a cinnamon rolls, makes them a little more wonderful.

Please go check out these other recipes (I'm eyeballing that french toast one), I'm sure you'll find something to make your mornings a little sweeter!


Peanut Butter Banana Cinnamon Sweet Rolls

1 can (12.4-oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing
1 banana
1/2 cup peanut butter

Bake cinnamon rolls as directed on package. (I baked mine 375' for 18 min)
In medium bowl, mash banana with a fork. Stir in peanut butter and reserved icing until blended to create a peanut butter dipping sauce. If mixture is too thick, stir in water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until it reaches desired consistency. Spread on warm rolls.

I wrote this review for "Mommy? I'm Hungry!" about Pillsbury. I received free product to review and keep as compensation for my honest opinion of the product. All opinions for this review are that of myself & family. Info & stock images provided by PR.

enjoy your weekend,

Dark Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting

Our little boy just turned 3 and this is the cake I made for him. I knew I wanted to put Dinosaurs on top, but when I realized the ones I found would be too big for a 9" round cake, I had to rethink a little. I found 2 chocolate cake recipes, the other one only made 2 rounds, this recipe here makes 3 rounds (in the original recipe).

Well I wanted a good thick layer cake large enough for the Dinos, so I used a 9x13 pan, it really makes a full pan worth too! I also doubled the chocolate frosting recipe (4 C) so I would have plenty to pipe and frost with but ran out anyways, so I made some white buttercream frosting so I could color it also.

Going back to my bakery days in decorating style, I used crushed graham crackers for the dirt/sand and food colored writing gel for the water. Since I couldn't find trees that would look decent with the size of the Dinos (I didn't plan on using big ones), I found this stem of leaves in the faux floral dept. (Better Homes & Gardens) that would work.

This cake was great! It's a very rich moist chocolate cake, I think I'll keep this recipe!

click photo collage to see better

Dark Chocolate Cake
adapted from allrecipes

2 cups boiling water
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 1/4 cups white sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
See more at "Mommy? I'm Hungry!" http://ldylvbgr.blogspot.com/
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F for darker pan (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13x2 pan, lined with parchment (for easy removal).
In medium bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at time, then stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 58 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean), may have to cover with parchment to prevent darkening.
Allow to cool 10 minutes in pan, then flip cake out onto a cooling rack and let cool completely.
*TIP: Can freeze cake before using, makes slicing into layers easier (let thaw out for 20 minutes or so) and much easier to frost.

"Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting
found here

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. Allow to cool to thicken.
About 2 cups frosting. (I doubled this and it gave me enough to frost and fill a 9x13 size cake)

Quick Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Recipe by Gale Gand

3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream (I used milk)
*food coloring if desired

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency. Add food coloring if desired.

enjoy,

Apple Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

From Mommy I'm Hungry

Remember these #2 rolls? Well I had an idea to dress up these "cinnamon" rolls. How about if I turn them into more of a fruit danish like sweet roll? I found a recipe for an apple filling here so I adapted it for the rolls. Oooh were they delicious! I really like the pudding mixed in these, keeps them moist for a couple days.

Rolls:
½ cup warm water
2 tablespoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
3 ½ ounce package instant vanilla pudding (made into pudding)
½ cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
8 cups flour

Apple mixture* (below)

Frosting: (directions below)
8 ounces cream cheese
½ cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk
dash cinnamon


In a small bowl combine water, yeast and sugar. Stir until dissolved. Set aside.
In large bowl (or kitchen aid), take pudding mix and prepare according to package directions. Add butter, eggs and salt. Mix well. Then add yeast mixture. Blend.
Gradually add flour; knead until smooth. Do not over flour the dough! It should be very soft but not sticky.
Place in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled.
Then roll out on floured board to 34 X 21 inches in size. Take 1 cup soft butter and spread over surface. Sprinkle apple mixture over the top of the dough. You can also sprinkle additional cinnamon over this too.
Roll up very tightly. With knife put a notch every 1 1/2 inches. Cut with thread or serrated knife. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet 1 inch apart (or place in a 9x13 pan). Cover and let rise until double again.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Remove when they start to turn golden (don’t over bake).

Frost warm-cool rolls with the cream cheese frosting (*combine butter and cream cheese and mix well, then add vanilla and sugar and cinnamon and mix again, then add milk for desired consistency).

Makes about 24 very large rolls. See this post for the (pudding) cinnamon version. Roll Recipe adapted from here.


*Apple Filling:
4 Fuji or other baking apples, peeled, cored, and cut into tiny pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice + zest (1 bigger lemon was all I needed)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 Cup chopped pecans

Toss all ingredients except butter in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat until slightly nutty in color, about 6 - 8 minutes. Then add the apple mixture and sauté until apples are softened and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. Pour the cooked apples onto a baking sheet to cool completely before using, sprinkle nuts over the apples.

From Mommy I'm Hungry

From Mommy I'm Hungry

enjoy,

A Rainbow Birthday Cake

From Mommy I'm Hungry

click photos for full view

Earlier this month we celebrated a Birthday in our family. Brooke from Conversations With A Cupcake blogged about her colorful fruity cake, and I knew I had to make one for my little girl who's now 6! How fun is this cake?

This was a HUGE hit! She didn't know about it being rainbow until I cut into it! I shared a preview of this on Facebook, and everyone loved it. It was the tallest cake I have ever made! So tall I had to remove shelves in my fridge! Even though the layers aren't a full layer size, the cake still equals out to being 4 regular layers tall, each cut in half, get it?
Each layer has it's own wonderful fruity flavor! *I used a 16 oz bag of frozen berry medley which had the berries I needed.
I used a double batch of frosting, and it wasn't enough. As you can see it's pretty much plain, I didn't have enough for piping and such. So make a triple batch if you want to decorate all out.

*Here's a cake support tip: stick a cake dowel rod in the middle of the whole cake to keep it in place!

(I just noticed, you can see how tall it is, sitting next to a gallon of milk in the fridge!)

From Mommy I'm Hungry

Double batch of boxed white cake mix -2 boxes (or homemade batches if you prefer minus the egg, water, oil below)
6 eggs
1 c. water
2/3 c. vegetable oil
Zest of 1 orange + 2 T. juice
Zest of 1 lemon + 2 T. juice
Zest of 1 lime + 2 T. juice
1/2 c. fresh or frozen raspberries, mashed
1/2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries, mashed
1/2 c. fresh or frozen blackberries, mashed
Wilton's gel icing colors in red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple

6 bowls
6 disposable round 8" foil cake pans (square pans would be fun too, check the $1 store!)

Make the batter for the cake as directed using the eggs, water and oil. Scoop 1 Cup of cake batter in each of the 6 bowls.

In the first bowl, mix raspberries and 1/4 tsp. red coloring in the batter.
In the second bowl, mix orange zest and juice, and 1/2 tsp. orange coloring.
In the third bowl, mix lemon zest and juice and 1/4 tsp. yellow coloring.
In the fourth bowl, mix lime zest and juice and 1/4 tsp. green coloring.
In the fifth bowl, mix blueberries and 1/4 tsp. blue coloring.
In the sixth bowl, mix blackberries and 1/4 tsp. purple coloring.

Prepare six 8 inch cake pans by greasing and flouring each generously. Using a spatula, spoon and spread each color of batter into its own cake pan. Bake in an oven, preheated to 350 degrees for 17-20 minutes, or until tops spring back when touched lightly. Allow to cool completely. Frost.


Cream Cheese Icing (For this cake, I doubled it -to the right)
1/2 c. butter (softened) -1C.
8 oz. pkg cream cheese (softened) -16 oz.
4 c. (1 lb) confectioner's sugar -8 C. (2 lb)
1 tsp Vanilla or lemon extract

Cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and extract. Beat on high speed until smooth, light and fluffy. Frost cake.

From Mommy I'm Hungry

I am sharing a piece with Tina @



enjoy,

Chocolate Oreo Cake

When I saw this cake posted, I knew I wanted to make it for Father's Day. It was a huge hit! You have to make this for your next big event!
Yes it's taken me that long to blog about it, but I was remembering it today and hurried to post about it.

Chocolate Oreo Cake found here

For cake:
2 c. sugar
1-3/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. Hershey's Cocoa
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c. boiling water
10-15 oreos twisted to separate cookies and reveal cream center
15 oreos, chopped directly in half through cookie

For icing:
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, melted
2/3 c. Hershey's Cocoa
3 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

For filling:
1/3 c. whipping cream
2 tsp powdered sugar
small dash vanilla extract
1/8 c. oreo cookie crumbs, made from reserved oreo sides

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 9-inch round baking pans, lining with parchment. -On one layer of cake, place cookie halves that have been separated into the bottom of one pan, cream side up. Repeat for second layer.
-Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.
-Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes.
-Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).
-Pour batter very carefully into prepared pans.
-Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
-Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans and place onto wire racks.
-Remove parchment and cool completely.

-Meanwhile, make frosting:
-Stir melted butter into cocoa.
-Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
-Add small amount additional milk, if needed. -Stir in vanilla. (About 2 cups frosting.)

-Meanwhile, make filling:
In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the cream, sugar and vanilla until stiff.
-Gently fold in the cookie crumbs.
-Scoop the mixture into a piping bag (or gallon sized ziploc bag).
-When cake is completely cooled, make icing dam around the top edge of the layer of cake that has oreos baked into it.
-Fill icing dam with a layer of cream filling.
-Place other cake layer on top, and frost with chocolate frosting.
-Place oreo halves around bottom edge and top of cake.
-Serve or store in refrigerator.






saving a piece for:



enjoy,

July Cookie Carnival: Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze

This month we all voted on Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze for the Cookie Carnival.

These are great little bite size, cake-like cookies! Full of Summertime flavor! These were gobbled up quickly.

With my little scooper I was able to get lots of these, more than the recipe called for. If you do to, you might want to double the icing recipe, because I ran out. I also found near the end, that dipping the tops of the cookies in the icing was a little easier than dribbling it on.

You can find the recipe here, from Giada De Laurentiis. To find more Summertime lemony recipes on my blog, click here!

enjoy,

Tuesdays with Dorie: Perfect Party Cake

Carol of mix, mix… stir, stir wanted Perfect Party Cake this week. This is one recipe that always caught my eye when flipping through Dorie's book. I was so excited to get to make it! You can find the recipe on Carol's blog.

I went with the flavors Dorie wrote, lemon, raspberry and coconut shavings. This took a little bit of time to prepare, you had to mix for so many minutes (and please note, it does not say beat at full speed for 3 minutes! ha! I read it wrong and had my mixer almost dancing away, when I realized it said Medium speed for a full 3 minutes!) It was ok, I caught it after 1 minute. My cake baked beautifully for 30 minutes. When done it was only 1" tall though.

Next came the meringue butter cream frosting. 3 sticks of butter!! This took some cooking time, and about 10 minutes mixing time also. Well I am embarrassed to admit this, but maybe someone can learn from my mishap. My mixer dripped some greasy substance into the frosting while mixing! I got what I could out, and was so worried about eating it. I tasted it and all I could taste was the lemon. I decided to use a whipped cream for the filling as Dorie suggested, and the buttercream for the outside layers. Plus that way I would have plenty to frost with. Well I had lots leftover. I added some shaved coconut to finish it off.

Because I used whipped cream, I had to store it in the fridge. When it came time to slice it, the frosting had hardened and pretty much peeled right off the cake. Well I guess that was some relief to my worry of eating it. I did taste it, and it was velvety smooth, like a stick of butter! Was not my Fave. Then I wasn't crazy about the jam in it. The cake part was excellent though! Plus, Mr. ate some, and he's not a coconut fan. It went over well with them, just not me. I was so bummed I ended up not liking it all together. I would love to try the cake part another time with some fresh fruit and a light frosting perhaps.

Do you like our new TWD logos? Pretty spiffy huh!




enjoy,

May Cookie Carnival: Almond Macaron Sandwich Cookie

This month's Cookie Carnival is the Almond Macaron Sandwich Cookie from Williams-Sonoma you can find the recipe here. As you may know, macarons have been on my to-make list since forever ago. I have always been intimidated by them, reading many blogs, tips and tricks about them, so that one day I could suck it up and just try them. I never did, until this month's challenge was sent out. I am happy to say I can now cross these off my list! I couldn't help but think that maybe somewhere in Paris, real French macarons were being made and eaten the same time I was making them.



They are nothing perfect, they need more practice. Lots more. lol. C'mon, you can laugh outloud! I know they look silly! I managed to find a few that were the same size and looked ok for photos.
I was kinda rushed and dealing with a cranky boy, I wanted time to read over notes I've found, but just didn't have time.

Here's what I did:

-used a 1/4" tip instead of a 1/2"

-used a small 9" vinyl bag instead of my big canvas pastry bag *tip fell through it

-piped assorted size 'coils' instead of uh, 1 1/2" puddles? *next time draw circles to follow

-let them sit out for 1/2 hr prior to baking to 'harden the shell'

-I used frozen-thawed egg whites (lots of leftovers from TWD --next time let them sit out 24 hrs)

-ground up toasted almond slivers instead of hazelnuts

-to make super fine sugar, I pulsed granulated sugar in the processor

-used semi-sweet chocolate chips for the ganache, *Nutella next time!

-I forgot to tap the pans to help flatten them

-baked them for 11-12 minutes on both a silpat and parchment

-they stuck on the silpat, but came off beautifully from parchment

-my batter seemed to be thicker than what I've seen before -Hmmm?

So, they may not be smooth or shiny little things, but it's my first time, and next time I know. They have cute little feet though! So I used a wet finger to smooth the points down, should I smooth the whole thing out next time? Or find a bigger tip?? They stuck to my silpats, about ripping out the insides. The ones baked on parchment came out nice and with a bottom.

They had a nice delicate crunch and they were very delicate piping the filling! I LOVE the flavor of them alone! We all did. I think that the ganache was a bit much for them, or maybe I put too much on. Anyways, I'd love to try these again after refreshing my mind with tips and tricks. I'm glad this was our challenge. I may have never attempted these otherwise! They weren't really hard to make either, maybe a little extra work, but hey, if you love baking....

See the round up here!

Some sites to peek at for more tips:

Tartlette

YouTube 1 -how to pipe, now I know, lol

YouTube 2

La Video

enjoy,

Recap: German Chocolate Cake

A couple of years ago, I posted about this cake. You can look there if you like, but these photos are much better, haha!

I've made this for my Husband's birthday twice now, and the one thing I remember the most from it is, the frosting! It. is. so. good!
I just wish the cake was more chocolaty brown in color. See, it's not so photogenic when sliced. It's not a dry cake, it's delicate I guess, it just crumbles when sliced, and the colors meld together. I wish I could've photographed a piece for you.
Another thing about this cake, it is HUGE! 3 layers tall. Yes, the cake has been hanging around here all week, it's that big. The recipe for the frosting yields enough to go between the layers and on top, as show. I would double it if you want to frost the entire cake. Or double it, so you can have a bowl of it yourself! ;) haha.

1/2 cup water
4 (1 ounce) squares Baker's German sweet chocolate (Baker's green box)
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Grease and flour 3 - 9 inch round pans.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat water and 4 ounces chocolate until melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
In a large bowl, cream 1 cup butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in 4 egg yolks one at a time. Blend in the melted chocolate mixture and vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, mixing just until incorporated.
In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter, then quickly fold in remaining whites until no streaks remain.
Pour into 3 - 9 inch pans Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto wire rack.

Filling/frosting: (May double to frost entire cake)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup butter
3 egg yolks, beaten
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut, lightly toasted
1 cup chopped pecans, lightly toasted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon shortening
1 (1 ounce) square semisweet chocolate

In a saucepan combine 1 cup sugar, evaporated milk, 1/2 cup butter, and 3 egg yolks. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in coconut, pecans and vanilla. Cool until thick enough to spread.
Spread filling between layers and on top of cake. In a small saucepan, melt shortening and 1 ounce of chocolate. Stir until smooth and drizzle over of the cake.

~ allrecipes and found here also.

enjoy,