Pink frosting makes everything better...

Yesterday I had one of those very, very rare full days off, and I got into some trouble.

As I mentioned before, my husband and I are saving for some very important items, and I find that the best way for me to save money is to remain in the confines of my big, fluffy robe.  Well, it is not so fluffy anymore.  I flee to it's permissive comforts way too often.

C'mon!  Don't we all have a fluffy robe?  Scrubs?  Fat pants?  Our husband's sweatshirts? Are these comforts not our modern day moo-moos?  Gasp!  The horror!

So comfy!

But I digress.

In my robe I tend toward the kitchen.  This soft commiseration is like a time warp, straight back to 1999, when my friend and I spent our nights with a tube of cookie dough or tub of "cream cheese frosting."  2AM jaunts to the Waffle House were the norm, along with stuffing leftover biscuits into our apron pockets on the way out of work.  I mean, they wanted to charge us 15 cents.  Ridiculous, right?

Oh boy.

So, at 8AM yesterday morning it began, first with a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  Chocolate chip cookies are in the same category with brownies for me.  They can be a thick, chewy success; or a flat, crispy failure.

Note: there are no cookie pictures in this post.

Beaten down, but not broken; I searched through my cabinets for some flavor combination- something that was light and airy- something that reminded me of Spring or Summer.  Most of all, I searched for something that would not involve stripping my robe off, shaking me out of my sugar delirium.  I found one, small Persian lime, and some leftover desiccated coconut.  I came up with this:

Pink, fuzzy deliciousness!

Coconut Cake with Lime Cream Cheese Frosting.

This little 6" cake- I intended to give a few slices away, but then I intended to greedily eat all that remained.

Well, gradually.  My tummy is aching now from a too big slice.  I wrapped it up and put it in the freezer.

But what I have tried was very delicious going down.  And the icing is pink.  And pink frosting makes everything better.  I say that I "got into trouble" because I cannot resist eating every spare dollop of fluffy pink frosting.  I looked around to be sure that P wasn't watching as I wiped the remaining creaminess clean from the bowl.  I felt like a kid, sneaking Cheetos from the pantry when my parents weren't looking.

Mmm...Cheetos- I mean, frosting...

Coconut Lime Cake

And another...

Lumpy, I know.  

A recipe?  Sure.  Why not?

Coconut Cake (adapted from Joy of Baking)

Enough for 2 6" rounds.

2 eggs, separated (separated when cold, but be sure they are room temp)
1 3/4 c cake flour
2 t baking powder
1/4 t kosher salt
1/3 c desiccated coconut
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar, divided
1 t vanilla
1/2 c coconut milk
1/4 t cream of tartar

Cream butter and 1 1/2 c of sugar for 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl occasionally.  Cream until very light and fluffy.

In the meantime, sift together the flour, soda, and salt.  Stir the coconut into the mixture.  Set aside.

To the butter, add the egg yolks one at a time, and beat until they are fully incorporated.  Stir in the vanilla.

Beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk.  Scrape down after each addition.  Don't get it?  OK.  Here we go...

Add 1/3 of the dry to the butter mixture.  Incorporate, scrape.
Add 1/2 milk.  Incorporate.  Scrape.
Add 1/3 dry.  Incorporate.  Scrape.
Add 1/2 milk.  Incorporate.  Scrape.
Add 1/3 dry.  Incorporate.  Scrape.

OK.  Now, in a separate bowl, add the two egg whites, and beat on high until foamy.  Add your cream of tartar.  Continue beating, gradually adding the rest of the sugar until you have very stiff, shiny peaks.  Add a third of this to the batter, to lighten it.  Then, gently fold the rest of the whites, fully incorporating them into the batter.  Divide and place in two 6" pans, with parchment circles on the bottom.

Place in an oven, preheated to 350.  Bake for @25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Don't move them around too much if you are not sure they are done, as they will sink in the middle.

Set on a baking rack to cool for 10 minutes.  With a small knife, scrape around the sides of the pan.  Turn out onto the rack, and cool completely.

Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

1 package cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
zest of one lime
juice of one lime
1 t vanilla
3 c powdered sugar, sifted

Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add the lime juice, zest, and extract and beat until incorporated.  Add the powdered sugar and stir until all mixed up (soooo tired of the word "incorporated")

Add food color if you desire.

And I did.

There you go.  It feeds 4-5 adults in jeans, or two girls in moo-moos.

Don't judge the crookedness of the dots.  Just stop.  STOP IT, NOW!

Yum.  Have a beautiful day.

Rachel Bee