Another dinner party.  Another cake.  A light, fluffy coconut cake with chocolate buttercream and a chocolate ganache filling.  The coconut cake is one of my Mom’s favorite recipes, and the one and only time I attempted to bake this particular cake, prior to this, resulted in one of my most memorable baking disasters.  My family has yet to let me forget it.  It was meant to be my sister’s Birthday cake, and while it looked fine on the outside the moment we bit into it you could immediately tell that something had gone drastically wrong.  The cake had the consistency of sawdust, tasted even worse, and it was pretty clear exactly what I had done wrong from the first bite.  For as long as I can remember I have associated baking soda with a rectangular box and baking powder with  a cylindrical can, so when I reached into the cupboard to grab the baking powder, I simply pulled out and used the cylindrical can without reading the label.  Unfortunately, the can had been full of baking soda.  They had started selling baking soda in cylindrical cans.  Who knew?!?  From that point forward I have become an avid label reader.  It just takes one big mistake.

I figured that it was about time for me to step up and brave this recipe again.  This time I was successful.

My brother, by the way, saved the day.  He ran down to the store, bought a Funfettie cake mix, and proceeded, with little effort, to produce a perfectly edible cake.  When I pointed out that using a mix was cheating, he aptly responded “Well, at least this cake is edible.”

Coconut Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) Butter (room temp)
• 2 cups Powdered Sugar
• 4 Eggs
• 1/4 cup Canola Oil
• 1 tsp Almond Extract
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 3 cups Flour
• 3 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 cup unsweetened Flaked Coconut
• 1 cup Milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F (~177 C).
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in the eggs, one egg at a time.
4. Beat in the canola oil, salt, and extracts.
5. Shift together the baking powder and flour.
6. Gradually add the flour mixture to the other ingredients.
7. Beat in the coconut.
8. Beat in the milk.
9. Divide the cake batter evenly between two greased 9″ circular cake pans.
10. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes.
11. Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream

• 3 oz unsweetened baking Chocolate
• 2 tbsp Butter
• 2-3 cups Powdered Sugar
• pinch of Salt
• 2-3 tbsp Milk or Cream

1. Chop up the chocolate.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter together.
3. Beat the sugar and salt into the melted butter and chocolate.
4. Add the milk and cream until the consistence is right.
5. Fill piping bag, and pipe the frosting along the edges of both overturned cakes so that the flat cake bottoms are facing upwards.

Chocolate Ganache

• 4 oz semi-sweet baking Chocolate
• 1/4 cup Cream
• 2 tbsp Butter

1. Chop up the chocolate.
2. Melt the chocolate, butter, and cream together.
3. Pour the ganache evenly out over both cakes.  The chocolate frosting should create a barrier to keep the ganache from dripping down the cake sides.
4. Let the ganache cool for a few minutes before carefully setting one cake on top of the other.
5. Sprinkle the cake with flaked coconut.