Coconut Cake Gone Rogue

I know it sounds silly to call it Coconut Cake when clearly that is a strawberry cake in the picture, but like most things in my life there's a back story.  A coworker brought this amazing coconut cake for us all to share one afternoon.  I work for the state and nothing motivates a group of groggy state employees through the afternoon like free cake.  So Ms. J brought this cake that I was sure took her all morning to make. It has been my experience that a good coconut cake takes several hours, and 7 minute frosting takes a heck of a lot longer than 7 minutes. Turns out that is was so easy and delicious, so I am going to share it with you.  I'm sure if she ever reads this she will see that I took out a good deal of the sugar, half in fact, and helped the recipe go rogue a time or two.

Coconut Cake

1 Butter recipe yellow cake mix
1 cup coconut
1 16 oz container of sour cream
1 8 oz bowl of whipped topping
1 cup of sugar

Prepare the cake mix according to the directions. I like to divide the mix into 3- 9 inch round pans, but you can see I have made it in 1- 9x13  pan cut into 2 layers before.  Bake and let cool.  Whisk together  16 ozs of sour cream and sugar in a large bowl until sugar is no longer gritty.  Add coconut to the mixture and reserve 1 cup for frosting for between the layers.  Fold the 8 ozs of whipped topping into the remaining one cup of sour cream and coconut mixture and frost the top and sides of the cake. 

 

Viola!!! That's it I promise.  Now for the rogue part. If I am using a 9x13 and I am not worried about supporting the weight of several layers, I don't reserve any I just mix it all together like the rebel I am and go to frosting.  I know...I'm a wild woman right? We have an amazing bakery in Baton Rouge that is known for their strawberry cakes.  I got to thinking this would be great with strawberries.  I cut the 9x13 in two layers, then sliced a container of washed strawberries with my PC (pampered chef) egg slicer and folded them into the frosting instead of coconut.  Boy howdy was it good! Sorry local bakery but this one was so good and cost so much less.  I could have gotten out the pastry bags and made fancy edges and wrote goodbye to the coworker I whipped this up for, but sometimes you need to keep it simple and tasty.  

Oh one more thing, in a hurry once I mixed up half a batch of frosting with blackberries that I frosted onto a Sara Lee frozen pound cake sliced lengthwise.  I am telling you the possibilities are endless. Enjoy, and remember to share with a friend.

Hello out there in blog land.  My name is Marta and I am so excited to share with you some of the things that cross my mind from time to time.  I am a working mom in the south using my talents and ingenuity to have the life of my dreams on a budget.

They say the first step is always the hardest, it's more like a leap of faith. So here I go taking that giant leap and getting the first post out of the way.

I live in Tiger Country with my husband and two handsome boys. By Tiger Country I mean LSU Tigers, yes that's right I bleed purple & gold.  This is a beautiful part of the country with majestic oak trees, amazing food & music, and good people at every turn.  I have lived in a few other places but this is by far my favorite. 

My husband is what I call the good baptist boy from central Louisiana and I am that crazy catholic Italian girl from down south, and some how the two of us came together to create the most amazing family. We are raising two boys eight years and eight months and we are truly blessed.

As you have no doubt surmised I am the only girl in this house, heck even the dog is a boy.  But I am okay with that, it makes me the queen of my makeshift castle. I wouldn't know what to do with a fancy girl anyhow.

So please do come by from time to time, I am looking forward to sharing all the wonderful things that help make this house a home, and this family the greatest blessing and one I have always dreamt of.