I made, as advertised, Paula Deen's recipe. I didn't have self rising flour in the house and made a last minute executive decision to use the all purpose I did have. The cakes tasted good but were definitely more dense than Paula intended. I now know that self rising flour really does make a difference!
The bigger problem was with the frosting. I followed the recipe, improvising a double burner that I don't have, and beat the ingredients for exactly seven minutes. By the time those seven minutes had passed, I had something that very nearly resembled frosting. Unfortunately, it was still a little thin and runny. Paula Deen doesn't note what to do in this case — does it thicken upon standing? The concoction is hot at this point, so maybe it gets stiffer as it cools? Who knows? Well, now I do: it does not get thicker upon standing or cooling. In retrospect, I think I probably needed to keep beating it to get more air in it, but I didn't want to over cook the ingredients. This means that despite tasting pretty good, my cake looked a bit like a hot, runny mess.
I love coconut cake, but I don't love this recipe. In addition to the trouble listed above, I thought the filling was a little weird. I would have preferred something a little sweeter. I'm glad I gave this one a shot, but I'll attempt a different coconut cake next time around.
The filling
The troublesome frosting
Assembled but not frosted
Final, ugly cake
7 comments:
Oh, I'm so disappointed for you! Coconut cake has never been on my radar, so I thought you came up with a great challenge, and I had great results. I'm really glad I didn't go with the 7 minute frosting-it seemed like way too much work, and knowing your results I would have been mental to have it turn out icky. Maybe we just shouldn't trust those Southern cooks!!
Sorry it didn't turn out well for you. I had posted about self rising flour in my post. You can make it yourself if you have baking powder.
I liked the recipe I used which is also from Paula Deen. I would recommend it if you are going to try again. I hope it tasted good at least :)
I'm so sorry yours was bleh looking. However, it doesn't look burned, lopsided, stuck to the pan, or like your 7 minute miracle frosting ended up in a blizzard all over your kitchen - so I'm thinking it's actually damn successful.:)
How did it taste?? I imagine with the oodles of frosting mixed with the coconut it was pretty scrumptious!
It doesn't look ugly to me! It looks like I want to dip my finger in the frosting!
I feel like Gina. That frosting dropping down is darn appealing. I would dive right in. Forgot, I don't like coconut. You might have convinced me to like it.
I'm sorry you didn't love this! I'd never had coconut cake before so I had no expectations. At least it was a good learning experience!
7 minute frosting can be a stinker. I sometimes have to beat it for 12 minutes or so. Provided you have done everything else correctly, keep beating and it should work for you. Of course, if it's humid outside, no amount of beating will make it work; believe me, I've learned that one the hard way, grins.
Post a Comment