Pina Colada Cake

This cake is soooooo good. Very light in texture; perfect anytime.

It's base is a boxed cake mix (cake snobs: do not flog me with your wood spoons). The rum in the cake will make you oblivious to the cake mix base.

The frosting's base is Cool Whip (frosting snobs: do not come at me with your hand mixers twirling at the highest setting). The rum in the frosting will make you oblivious to the Cool Whip base.

While you're eating a piece, you'll feel the warmth of the tropical sunshine on your face. You'll hear the surf pounding into the beach. And, then you'll say 'I'll have another drink, I mean piece, please'.

I bring you Pina Colada Cake.

Life is good..............................


Pina Colada Cake

350 degrees
2-9" round cake pans, buttered and floured

Cake:

1 pkg (2 layer size) white cake mix
1 pkg (4 serving size) Jell-O Coconut Cream Flavor Instant Pudding
4 eggs, room temp
1/2 Cup water
1/3 Cup dark rum
1/4 canola oil

Blend all ingredients in mixing bowl. Beat four minutes at medium speed. Pour into prepared pans.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, until cake springs back when lightly pressed. If you insert a cake tester or toothpick in middle of cake, it should come out clean.

Cool in pans on cooling rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pans and continue cooling on rack, until completely cooled.

Frosting:
1 can, 8 oz, crushed pineapple, with its on juices
1 pkg (4 serving size) Jell-O Coconut Cream flavor instant pudding
1/3 Cup dark rum (I used 1/4 cup)
1 8 oz container Cool Whip (I used the Extra Creamy), thawed
Sweetened coconut

Combine the can of pineapple (do not drain), pudding and rum. Beat until well blended.

Fold in the thawed Cool Whip.


Assemble:

Place one layer on serving plate. Top with frosting.

Place second layer on top of first. Frost top and sides.

Sprinkle coconut over top and sides; use as much or as little as you like. It's easy to get the coconut on the top of the cake. See below for how I got the coconut on the sides.

Chill.

Refrigerate leftover cake.


My Notes:

I rarely make cakes, but I have to tell you: this cake looked like I bought it from some 'best of' bakery . It is a thing of beauty. Your family/guests (and remember, treat family like guests and guests like family) will be impressed when they see this fluffy cloud put down in front of them.

This is a Bacardi Rum recipe, so the recipe calls for Bacardi. If you have other rum, use it.

Really important to mix the cake batter for the full four minutes. It really builds up the volume.

No problem making the cake early in the day. Just keep it in the fridge until ready to serve.

I did not butter and flour the pans. I buttered the bottom of the pan and then placed a round of parchment paper over the butter. Worked very well. When I took the cake out of the pan, I removed the parchment paper and let it continue to cool sans parchment paper.

The 'how to' of the coconut application. History first. This recipe came to me from my neighbor, out here in the Happenin' West Valley. First, this cake gets your attention with its appearance, then it gets your attention with its taste. So, when she handed me a piece, I immediately noticed the coconut on the side of the cake.

'How'd you get the coconut on the sides of the cake', I queried. Her response: I held the plate over the sink and just threw the coconut at it.

That's exactly how I did it. I held the cake over the sink. I did not measure out any amount of coconut. I just kept reaching into the bag. Putting the coconut on the top of the cake is EASY. Sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle. Getting the coconut on the sides required the throwing technique. It worked very well. And, it was fun to do.

Blueberry Crumb Cake (coffee or otherwise)

Am mesmerized, watching the video of the US Airways plane, in the Hudson River.

Lots of guardian angels in Manhattan, today, both heavenly and of this earth.

Life is good......................

Turning to why we're here, Blueberry Crumb Cake. This is a recipe adapted from Baking From My Home To Yours, by Dorie Greenspan. It is a fantastic cookbook. It has become my 'go to', not only for the excellent recipes, but for all the tips she offers. I highly recommend it.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

350 degrees
8" square pan, buttered

Crumb mixture

5 T. unsalted butter, room temp
1/4 cup sugar (I use C&H Baker's sugar, ultrafine)
1/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 t. salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Put all ingredients, except the nuts, in food processor and pulse until mixture forms clumps and curds and holds together when pressed.

Scrape the topping into a bowl, stir in nuts and press a piece of plastic against the surface.

Refrigerate until needed. (covered well, the crumb mix can be refrigerated for up to 3 days)


Cake mixture

1 pint (2 cups) blueberries (fresh is best, but frozen - not thawed- are ok)
2 cups, plus 2 t., all purpose flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/8 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cake spice, optional
2/3 cup sugar
grated zest of 1/2 lemon
6 T. unsalted butter, room temp
2 large eggs, room temp
1 t. vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk

Using your fingers, toss blueberries and 2 t. flour together in a small bowl, just to coat the berries; set aside.

Whisk together the remaining 2 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda, salt and the spices. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or another large bowl, rub the sugar and zest together with your
fingertips until sugar is moist and aromatic ---- ohhhhhh, it smells so good.

Add butter. Using the stand mixer or a hand mixer, beat the sugar and butter at medium speed until light, about 3 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each addition.

Beat in vanilla extract. Batter may well look curdled -- not to worry.

Reduce mixer speed to low and add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately. Flour in 3 parts and buttermilk in 2 parts. Begin and end with the dry ingredients.

With a rubber spatula, gently stir in the berries.

Scrape batter into buttered pan; smooth top gently with a spatula.

With fingertips, break crumb mixture into small crumb pieces. Scatter over the batter. Press them down, ever so slightly.

Place pan on a baking sheet or jelly roll pan.

Bake 55 to 65 minutes, or until crumbs are golden and cake tester inserted into center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer pan to a rack and cool.


My Notes:

Crumb mixture calls for a food processor. I don't have a formal food processor. I have the original food processor ---- my hands. I put all the ingredients except the nuts in a bowl, and just used my hands to get it all combined.

The sugar: regular sugar is fine to use. Awhile ago I read about using 'baker's sugar' which is ultrafine. Supposed to give a finer 'crumb', so I tried it, and it does. So now when I bake I generally use 'baker's sugar'.

Cake spice: strictly optional, not in the original recipe. I found the cake spice at my favorite spice store in Wauwatosa. I throw some into just about every recipe that calls for cinnamon and/or nutmeg. If you find cake spice, buy some. It adds just that little extra taste.

Buttermilk: I 'make' my own buttermilk. 1 T plain vinegar in a measuring cup, then fill the
measuring cup to 1 cup. Stir. Let sit for about 5-10 minutes. This is heresy to many bakers, but I am heresy-resistant. Now, if I knew I would be using lots of buttermilk in a short period of time, I'd buy a container of it. But, you'd probably still find me throwing it out after Mr. Restaurant Quality found it languishing in the back of the frig.