I bake, it's what I do. I never really started baking until I had my own home; as a matter of fact, I really did not become domestic until I had my own home, but that's besides the point. Today I am baking a cake. It's my brother-in-law's birthday. Around here I like to call him Brother John, again besides the point.
My baking really took off when I decided to host, what has now become an annual event, my holiday cookie exchange. Every year I ask friends to join me in rolling up their sleeves and rolling out the dough, more on that at the end of the year.
So this weekend we are celebrating Brother John's birthday. I always asked the birthday boy/girl what kind of cake they want. Brother John requested my Coconut Cake.
Hmmm, maybe he is inspired by all this snow we have, the cake is frosted in seven minute frosting (I use corn syrup) ,mounds of white fluffy goodness. Or in my opinion, he is thinking of summer time, because while the cake bakes the smell of coconut and vanilla waft through the air and the warmth of the oven whisk you off to daydream-land, where you are sitting on a sun kissed beach, and you'll find a tube of banana boat in each beachbag speckling the shoreline. Then you're back to reality as the kitchen timer goes off; cakes are done!
I love to bake cakes for people, it's my little way of thinking of them and what they bring to my life. To me it's a big ol' hug around the neck, which I'm sure Brother John approves of - we're not really the huggy huggy type! So a hug delivered by way of fork it is! Now don't get me wrong I gladly accept the hug of a store bought cake too, but there is just something special about homemade. The time it takes, the effort put in to it, the memories it makes - good stuff!
This past year my son requested a pink cake, for weeks all he could talk about was "my pink birthday cake." You want pink, you got it! Good thing I'm crafty like that, here is the perfect way you give Stink Butt the cake he wanted with out having to explain why my 3 year old boy is eating a pink birthday cake. A Monster!
The cake itself was inedible lemon flavored box mix doctored up and store bought cherry frosting, because it was pink already. GASP for the love of God ,what was I thinking? Oh, I was following my golden rule "work smart, not hard" my Dad taught me that. Big mistake, the cake itself was not bad, but the frosting made it every little sugar junky's dream-bleh. I've learned my lesson. From now on I will make my own frosting or at least forbid cherry flavored, canned frosting to cross the threshholds of this home. The best part was the guts of this cake, if you're gonna make a monster cake, ya gotta go all the way. I don't have good pictures of the inside of Stink Butt's cake, but here is one:
This is a how-to guide if you're feeling up to it. Pretty cool huh? So not only did he get the PINK cake he wanted in the form of a fun loving monster, but he got a pretty cool surprise inside! Because, let's be honest, aren't all monsters a swirly sea of colors inside? So too bad for Brother John, that he did not request a swirly sea of colors cake. He'll just have to savor the taste of the tropics as he hoists a big ol' fork full of boring white cake with coconut cream filling and toasted coconut sprinkled atop white fluffy goodness, as he devoures his coconut cake; Happy Birthday, Brother John.
How do you roll in your household? Are you the queen of slice and bake? Are you a "from scratch" girl? Or is the last ingredient to your cake or cookies paper or plastic at the check out stand? Baking is easy, if you can read you can bake. As I mentioned earlier "work smart not hard." If you want to bake or think you are not a good baker this is where I started, you can't go wrong, The Cake Mix Doctor. I picked it up at Costco and I haven't looked back. I do stray from time to time, but more often then not the recipe is from this book. Every single recipe in this book starts from a box mix-LOVE IT! So it fits well with my golden rule! Try it out and bake up a big ol' hug by the fork full for someone you love!
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