| One Super and One Plain Cake for Spring (Tested Recipes) |
|
|
|
advertisement
|
 |
|
A championship coconut layer cake goes tropical with a crushed-pineapple filling. (SHNS photo courtesy The Cincinnati Post.)
|
By Joyce Rosencrans
Scripps Howard News Service Last weekend called for a celebration cake. It wasn't anybody's birthday or anniversary, but it marked a momentous occasion for someone near and dear. To observe this person's major move, I felt that a home baking session was called for. After all, any excuse to bake a layer cake from scratch is welcome. The option is exercised so seldom during the year. I've always liked that song that begins, "If I'd known you were coming, I'd have baked a cake, baked a cake, baked a cake ..." By Sunday afternoon, I'd found time to bake four yellow cake layers, stir up a thick pineapple-orange filling and beat a cream cheese frosting to silky smoothness. These were all the components for a wonderful springtime cake, something worthy of hauling out a footed, cut-glass cake stand from a high cupboard. Fresh citrus flavor would be added to the icing with the addition of freshly grated orange rind. And two cups of moist, tender flaked coconut would be this cake's crowning glory. OK, it's not chocolate cake. Some people don't believe in turning on an oven except for a batch of brownies, chocolate chip cookies, fallen fudge cake or a German chocolate cake. Chocolate cakes are truly among the greatest, but it seemed more seasonal to bake buttery golden layers to go with tropical pineapple and coconut. This duo tastes of warm spring sunshine while daffodils are blooming. Coconut cakes are traditional for the Easter season, too. Next month will find people making traditional lamb cakes, some using antique molds passed down in the family. These charming cakes are often frosted and covered with snowy white coconut. Others will bake old-fashioned coconut layer cakes with ribbons of tangy-tart orange or lemon filling between the layers. I used to request a lemon-filled coconut cake for my birthday because it had been my mother's specialty since she was a 10-year-old. However, as she says, who would bother to bake such a cake from her grandmother's recipe these days? This called for several coconuts and a boiled seafoam frosting that she had to beat by hand until it was fluffy and stood up in peaks. She had no KitchenAid mixer then. The liquid from each coconut shell had to be drained first by piercing the three "eyes" at one end by tapping in an ice pick. This watery liquid, which has to be shaken out or the coconut propped up to drip for 30 minutes, would be added to the cake batter instead of water or milk. To avoid the next task of hammering the shells apart, the whole coconuts would be put in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes. Heat usually causes a coconut to crack in several pieces, so the brown-rimmed white meat can be extracted from the hard outer coat. A potato peeler is dandy for peeling off the thin brown layer. Then the white coconut meat can be grated and sweetened with powdered sugar while it's still moist. Whew! While shopping in a very large produce department recently, I noticed that shaggy brown coconuts from the Dominican Republic are being marketed pre-cracked. Granted, all the watery liquid sloshing inside is lost this way, but it's sometimes not top quality and must be discarded anyway because coconuts languish too long in supermarkets. This is not coconut "milk" anyway. That is formed by adding liquid to grated coconut meat, then wringing it out through cheesecloth. This newer recipe for a less complicated coconut cake won a prize in the Softasilk (cake flour) Championship Cake Contest at the Amarillo Tri-State Fair in Texas. The winner, Sheila Junell of Amarillo, said she learned to bake when she was young. Now she has grandchildren who love to taste her creations. "I love having my family around," Mrs. Junell said. "It's a celebration whenever we get together, and I always make a special dessert." Mrs. Junell bakes her layers without baking powder or salt, so the golden layers are more like pound cake than a standard butter cake. For sheer contrast, the other recipe is for a healthier version of carrot cake, yet another springtime cake appropriate for Easter. This one calls for oats, whole wheat flour and honey, much less oil. Many original versions of carrot cake were overly sweet and so saturated with oil you could wring out each slice. For this cake alone, nutrient tallies are given. The coconut cake has countless fat grams from butter, which makes it taste divine.
Pineapple Orange Coconut Cake Recipe adapted from General Mills Inc. Ingredients for Cake: 2 cans, 8 oz. each, crushed pineapple in juice
1-1/2 cups butter, softened (3 sticks)
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
2/3 cup lemon-lime soda pop
3 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. lemon extract
1 tsp. vanilla Ingredients for Pineapple Filling: 2 cups sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
Reserved crushed pineapple
1 cup orange juice Ingredients for Cream Cheese Frosting: 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 to 4 Tbs. reserved pineapple juice
Freshly grated orange rind, optional <> Preparation: Grease four 9" cake pans with solid vegetable shortening, such as Crisco. Line bottoms with waxed-paper rounds. Grease and flour waxed paper; tap out excess flour. Set aside. Drain both cans of pineapple into a measuring cup, pressing the fruit firmly. Reserve all pineapple juice for later use. Set fruit aside. Have oven heating to 350 degrees, with rack in middle position or two racks above and below oven center, if baking all four layers at once. For batter, beat 3 sticks of butter in a large mixer bowl on medium speed until creamy. Gradually beat in sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir together soda pop and 1/3 cup of the reserved pineapple juice. Stir baking powder and salt into the cake flour. With electric mixer on low speed, gradually incorporate flour mixture into butter mixture alternately with soda pop mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. This will be a dense cake. Beat in lemon extract and vanilla just until mixed. Pour into pans, dividing batter evenly. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until a pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire rack and cool. Make Pineapple Filling: Stir together the 2 cups sugar and cornstarch in a 2-quart saucepan. Stir in pineapple and orange juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens. Cool. Place 1 layer on a cake plate; spread top with 1/2 cup filling. Repeat with second, third and fourth cooled layers and remaining filling, leaving 1/2-inch edge on top. Make Cream Cheese Frosting: Beat butter and cream cheese in large bowl on medium speed. When blended, gradually beat in powdered sugar, vanilla and enough pineapple juice to make spreadable. Grated orange rind may be added for fresh citrus flavor. Frost sides of layer cake; pipe a decorative border around top edge of cake, or simply spread frosting at edge rather thickly and press indentations with the bowl of a teaspoon. Gently press 2 cups flaked coconut onto side and top border of cake. Note: Recipe was tested, using just two 9-inch cake pans, so oven was not overcrowded. If doing this, be sure to use double-acting baking powder so leavening in the batter is not spent while first-baked layers are cooling in their pans 10 minutes. Serves: 4-layer cake
Carrot Snack Cake Recipe from Quaker. Ingredients: 1 cup oats, quick or old-fashioned, uncooked
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup canola oil
2 eggs (or 1 egg plus 2 egg whites)
1-1/2 cups grated carrots (about 2 large)
1/2 cup golden raisins Preparation: Heat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly spray a 13x9-inch metal baking pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine oats, both flours, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, combine honey, orange juice, oil and eggs with a wire whisk or fork; mix well by hand. Add to dry ingredients; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Gently stir in the carrots and raisins. Do not over mix. Pour into pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until a pick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Store tightly wrapped up to 3 days. Label and freeze for longer storage. Note: Lacking an oblong metal baking pan, batter may be divided between two 8- or 9-inch baking pans, round or square. Baking time remains the same because the batter would be the same depth either way. Serves: 12 Nutrients: 1/12 of recipe has 200 calories, 6g total fat (of which only 0.5g are saturated fat), 35mg cholesterol, 200mg sodium, 2.5g dietary fiber and 4g protein.
(Joyce Rosencrans is home editor of The Cincinnati Post.)
| 
)
