Bobby Flay's toasted coconut cake ... trial no. 1

It was my sister's farewell and early birthday dinner at home with family before she left for her posting overseas. I decided to make her a coconut cake since she loves coconut cake. She raves about the one from Lana's and from Delicious (at Scotts Square). After scouring the net, I decided to go with Bobby Flay's throwdown toasted coconut cake.

I made the components 2 days before our party and baked and assembled the cake the day before. It wasn't as labour intensive as some of the reviews said. My sister said she preferred the coconut not toasted so I decided to colour it pink. It's such a happy colour! I found there wasn't enough filling to make 3 layers and I was too lazy to make another batch of coconut custard, wait for it to cool and then whip it with heavy cream. So I decided to just make a 2 layer cake.

I still need practice with my cake writing! Here's the cake cut. Sorry it's not a very nice picture but you can probably see there's not a lot of filling even with one layer.

Here's what I thought of the cake -

1. The syrup was very sweet so I sloshed in quite a fair bit of Malibu rum to dilute it. That made it super yum! I'm adding it to the recipe.

2. I didn't really like the texture of the cake. It was a bit dense but that's probably because it was 2 fat layers instead of 4 thinner layers as it was meant to be. Also because it was quite cold when we ate it. But when I brought it to room temperature, the filling went mushy and wasn't as nice.

3. There was not enough of the filling and too much buttercream. I would make 3 times the filling amount (for 4 layers) and halve the buttercream. Also, the original recipe only uses 1/3 cup of icing sugar to 3 sticks of butter which didn't seem right. Most of the other blogs which reproduce the recipe increase the amount of icing sugar to 2 cups or more. I used 2 cups and it turned out a little too sweet for my liking. I think 1 1/3 cups should suffice. The coconut is sweetened so the buttercream doesn't have to be so sweet.

4. I've got a cold at the moment and can't taste a thing but everyone said it tasted good and was very fragrant. But it didn't get the same raves as Ina Garten's chocolate cake or even my sugee cake so I was a bit disappointed. How did Madam say it compared to her favourite coconut cakes? It was totally different and she still preferred those. I can't eat commercial cakes because I'm allergic to wheat but I think I'm going to have to try them some time to see what's so special about them.

What all this means is that I'm going to have to make this cake again. Maybe I'll substitute the cake with a light chiffon cake. Anyone for coconut cake?

Beatty's chocolate cake by Ina Garten ... chocolate heaven!

I've made this cake a couple of times and it's been such a hit, it's now my favourite special occasion chocolate cake. I was apprehensive at first for two reasons. (1) I love buttery cakes and this one has no butter in it; and (2) that cup of coffee in the batter. But it has rave reviews and has been touted as the best chocolate cake ever so how could I not try it? (And yes, you really cannot taste the coffee).

The first time I made it, it was for a friend's birthday. I used a chocolate custard frosting (ala chocolate dobash cake) because at that time I had had too many buttercream failures and didn't want to risk it. The cake was a hit! It's rich and moist but not heavy and not too sweet.

I'm not very good at decorating cakes so I decided on a simple design. I made the chocolate heart using chocolate candy melts (I don't know how to temper chocolate) and a chocolate transfer sheet and I used strawberries to prop the heart up as well as add a pop of colour. This is how it looked cut but you can't really see the filling as it was quite dark.

The next time I made the cake was for my sister's farewell and early birthday party with friends. I decided to double the recipe because I wanted a tall cake (I had to bake it in 2 batches as my oven is rather small) and I decided to be brave and try making the buttercream. OMG, it was HEAVENLY!!!

I bought the ready made floral spray at Phoon Huat. That is about the limit of my cake decorating skills! Also, that was my first attempt piping words on a cake. Pretty dismal. The sparkler candles were from Australia. Here is the cake cut.

Here is what I used -

~ For the vegetable oil, I used extra light olive oil.

~ I use Nielsson Massey's pure vanilla bean paste and I put more than a teaspoon. More like a tablespoon, maybe more. I highly recommend this. It makes a huge difference!

~ I used good old fashioned Van Houten's cocoa powder but next time I will get a "good quality" one like Callebaut or Valrhona and see if there's a significant difference.

~ For the buttercream, I used SCS salted butter because I like it. Also I left out the coffee because I read some comments that said the coffee flavour was quite strong. I used 56% cocoa chocolate and it tasted fine but the colour was quite light so I cheated and added chocolate colouring *blush*

Of the 2 versions I made, the buttercream version wins hands down because it's slightly salty which complements the cake perfectly. Also, I love the taste of butter. But it's very rich so if you want something lighter, here is the recipe for the chocolate custard frosting -

90g cocoa powder

90g cornflour

1 cup water

3 cups water

350g sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

120g butter

1. Combine first 3 ingredients to make a smooth paste.

2. Bring the other ingredients to a boil.

3. Take off the heat and add in the cocoa paste. Stir thoroughly.

4. Return to heat and stir till thickened. I used a balloon whisk to ensure there are no lumps.

5. Cool, stirring occasionally to prevent a skin from forming on the surface.

Do you know of a better chocolate cake recipe out there? If so, please share it and I'll give it a try.

Introduction

I love poring through cookbooks and the net for recipes and testing them out. There have been a few hits and a lot of misses. I just thought I'd document my experiences here.