Coconut Pineapple Cake

 

The Duncan Hines Dolly Parton coconut cake mix has become a recent favorite of mine and I'm finding even more ways to incorporate it into my baking.  I wanted to thank a friend for a recent act of kindness and I thought the cake would be a nice and delicious gift.   This time I took a tropical turn and made a Coconut Pineapple Cake.  Who doesn't love the combination of coconut and pineapple?  [You have the right to remain silent if you don't!]

 

 

The first time I made Dolly's coconut cake I filled and frosting it with cream cheese ermine frosting.  While that cake was delicious, to reduce the sweetness on this cake and let the pineapple flavor really come through, I made a small batch of vanilla pastry cream for the filling.  I then added homemade pineapple compote which was spread between the cake layers.  On top of the pastry cream layer I also applied another thin layer of the pineapple compote.  You can never have enough pineapple in my book.

Lightly sweetened mascarpone whipped cream enveloped the cake which was then finished with a flurry of dessicated coconut.  As I was gifting the cake on Easter Sunday I added a few holiday themed sprinkles.  I can attest that this coconut pineapple cake not only looks good, it tastes amazing!

Dolly Parton's Coconut Cake

Maybe you're familiar with the expression, "What Would Dolly Do?" Well, I think I know.  Dolly would bake!  When I initially heard that Dolly had partnered with Duncan Hines to create a limited edition baking collection I was definitely intrigued.  Dolly is apparently an excellent cook and baker so it seemed a foregone conclusion that her products would be delicious.  

 

 

The challenge was actually finding them in stock.  Due to its immense popularity the mixes were sold out everywhere.  Serendipitously I found the coconut cake mix at a Walmart store in my hometown and immediately snapped up a box.  The coconut cake was the one I really wanted to try so I was very happy that the store had this flavor. 

   

 

Instead of the usual vegetable oil and water that most cake mixes call for, Dolly's cake used milk and butter.  Right off the bat I knew this was going to be rich and decadent cake.  Never a bad thing in my book.  I chose not to use Dolly's buttercream because I find most prepared frostings to be sickly sweet.   Rather, I opted to make cream cheese ermine frosting, which is lightly sweet with a texture similar to a European meringue buttercream.

 

 

Frosting the cake was easy breezy since the sides were covered with sweetened coconut flakes; they hide a myriad of decorating sins.  One taste of Dolly's cake with the cream cheese frosting and I was in heaven.  The cake layers were soft and fluffy with just the right amount of coconut flavor to balance the tangy sweet frosting.  You can be sure I will be making this cake again!  And if I find the banana cake mix I will give that one a go too!

Chocolate Chip Cake

 

This Chocolate Chip Cake came about because of a recent baking failure.  But I've learned that out of defeat one can find victory.  I had seen a post on Instagram for a chocolate chip cake that looked so delicious and was super easy to make, i.e., no appliance needed, so I gave it a go. Sadly I was disappointed with the results.  Instead of chocolate chips that were evenly distributed among the cake I got chips that sunk to the bottom of the cake like an anchor.  On top of that, the cake part was nothing to write home about.  

 

Never one to give up I persevered and decided to apply the chocolate chip concept to a tried and true cake recipe that I've made before.  The three layer cake you see in this blog post is the end result of that adaption and it tastes amazing!   

 

 

The recipe for the white cake and American style vanilla buttercream comes from Cake by Courtney.    If you've never heard of Courtney before I highly recommend you follow her.  Her cakes not only look beautiful, but they also taste incredible.  I think her white cake is the best "from scratch" one out there with an amazingly tender and tight crumb.  My only update to her recipe was the addition of chocolate chips to the cake batter. 

 

While I normally frost my cakes with Swiss meringue buttercream, for this cake I went with Courtney's American-style whipped vanilla buttercream.  American-style buttercream contains no eggs and is made with butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream, vanilla and salt.  Due to good amount of beating using a stand mixer the texture of the frosting is light and fluffy, similar to SMB. Be forewarned though it is a lot sweeter than European buttercreams.  Moderate application of this buttercream was key to avoid a sickeningly sweet cake.

Speckled Egg Cake

 

The centerpiece for my Easter dessert table this year is a Speckled Egg Cake.   Around spring time you'll see cakes similar to this as it's perfect for the Easter holiday or spring season.  Even better, it couldn't be simpler to make.  All you need is a frosted layer cake along with some vodka and brown food coloring for the "speckles."

I made four cake layers (by doubling this recipe of Martha Stewart's one-bowl chocolate cake) and then filled and frosted them with blue-tinted Swiss meringue buttercream.  To achieve the "speckled" effect I mixed a little bit of vodka with brown food coloring and used a pastry brush to splatter the mixture all over the cake. 

If you don't want to use vodka I've also seen recipes that used 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract mixed with 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder.  For the cute bird's nest topping I combined about 1 cup of toasted coconut flakes with 1/3 cup of melted chocolate chips.  Form into a nest shape and place a few Cadbury's mini eggs in the center.  Chill until firm and then place at the top of the cake.

HAPPY EASTER!