A piece of coconut cream birthday cake, to be more specific.
I had the privilege of baking my daughter's birthday cake this past weekend, and we decided on coconut cream.(I had a craving and she indulged me.)
It was pretty close to perfect, if I do say so myself.
A light and fluffy, yet moist, white cake, with coconut cream filling done the easy way, with a simple package of coconut cream pudding, coconut buttercream frosting covered lightly with shredded coconut, and three variegated sizes of little pearly candy sprinkles for added shimmer.
I had actually planned on doing toasted coconut for the frosting, but I simply cannot seam to master the toasting part to save my life, no matter how many times I try. I always manage to turn away from the oven at just the exact wrong moment. This time, I had a complete brain lapse and put the oven on broil, instead of bake.
(How did I manage to do that?)
(As I said, it was a complete brain lapse....)
I slid the cookie sheet filled with a layer of fluffy white coconut into the oven on the top rack, and waited about thirty seconds. I peeked in...nothing happening yet that I could see...looked again fifteen seconds later (give or take one minute...) and discovered huge flames disco-dancing all over the cookie sheet of blackened-and-charred coconut remains. The flames were literally more than a foot high as I pulled the sheet from the oven, and doused it with water in the kitchen sink. The smoke alarm went off (of course) and it is out for debate as to whether or not my cookie sheet can be salvaged for further baking use.
I then changed my plan to un-toasted coconut out of the package for the frosting, and lit some vanilla candles in hopes of covering the smell of incinerated coconut.
Oh well. you can't be the best at everything.
Onward and upward, I opted for sheet music punched hearts for the cake-top decor, rather than the expected birthday candles. (once you pass a certain age, you are not always as thrilled with seeing that many candles ablaze at one time on top of your dessert, and I for one, had seen quite enough flames for the day, thankyouverymuch.)
I was happy with the finished product, and I think the birthday girl liked it too.
