Looks Aren't Everything

I love to bake. I mean really love it. In another life I may have been a pastry chef. How cool would that be? Creating beautiful yummies all day? Seeing beautifully crafted cakes and pastries inspires me. My kitchen shelf is a mini-library of baking related cookbooks: Homemade Decadence, Joy the Baker, a couple King Arthur Flour books and of course Three Sisters Bake. To name a few.

This past weekend, I decided to try out the Three Sisters Bake “Raspberry and Coconut Cake”, and I now clearly see one problem with my pastry chef dream. When you see the picture of the final product, you’ll know what I mean!!

This recipe called for another previously unknown to me ingredient: desiccated coconut. In case you’re like me and have no idea what this is . . . it just means that the coconut meat has been dried so that it contains much less moisture than in its original form. It comes in sweetened and unsweetened and really just looks like super dry shredded coconut. I could have tried substituting regular coconut into the recipe, but I am a rule follower and went to Amazon and am now the proud owner of 5lbs of desiccated sugar!! I didn’t check the size of the bag – I now have desiccated coconut in profusion!!

The cake itself mixed up very easily. The batter was quite thick, but still easy to divide into the two cake pans. They baked up in about 30 minutes and looked perfect.

I may have jumped the gun a bit on turning them out on the rack to cool. The first one cracked almost down the middle when I flipped it. So I was more careful with the second one!

Assembling the cake was where I had some trouble and needed to think more like a pastry chef DURING the process instead of an hour later!! I had my raspberries at the ready, and some raspberry jam on hand. I toasted up some of the coconut for a decorative touch at the end. And I followed the directions.

On the bottom layer, you’re instructed to spread on the jam first, and then the frosting. I’m not sure how they do it, but it ended up a big mess for me!! It did not affect the taste, just the final presentation. The jam and the frosting all mixed together! And perhaps I used too much since it dripped down the side of the cake. Maybe the frosting was too thin? A bit of a mess. And this is where the pastry chef dream sort of falls apart . .

The top layer was fun to put together though!! Just some icing and decorative raspberries and shredded coconut. From the top the cake looks just like in the cookbook!!

Next time I’ll either spread the frosting first and then the jam – or spread the jam on the bottom layer, and frost the bottom of the top layer and put that down on top of the jam side. I don't think the Three Sisters would put this one out in their shop! They might keep it out back to nibble on themselves!

I had two ready and willing taste testers – my husband and son. So despite that the cake looks like a hot mess, it tastes great. Would be perfect with a cup of tea. The only real negative was that the cake itself was a bit dry (probably why it cracked). The recipe calls for baking the cake for 25-30 minutes. I left it in for 30 minutes because I find my oven usually takes a few minutes longer to completely bake anything. So other than being kind of crumbly, it tasted really good! They’ve been doing a good job on it the past couple of days!

And while I'm at it . . . may I say this jam is just YUM!

When we started this blog, I admit to wanting to go all in – to make the recipes and take beautiful pictures of the end product. Nicki and I have started going shopping at the Raleigh Flea Market and other Antique shops to for some vintage accessories for photographs. The weekend before I made this cake we went to Granddaddy’s Antiques in Burlington, NC. I was on the hunt for a proper cake stand – and found this beauty!! Surely, she’ll be making more appearances on this blog!

In use . . . so fancy!

Well that's all for now. So until next time . . .

BAKE ON my sweets!!