Coconut Raspberry Cake with Pudding & Whipped Topping Frosting

Oh how I love cake! And, of course so does my husband and family. His favorite cake is coconut. In my past life I was a cake decorator. I made hundreds of cakes and cupcakes for every occasion. My home usually had the aroma of a bakery, especially on Friday when everyone came to pick up their special occasion cake.

What a great dessert for Valentine's Day or any day. This cake is definitely a keeper! This one has a layer of raspberry filling that is so delicious. You could also use any jam (seeds removed of course). It doesn't matter which one you use they all are wonderful. A real winner for the whole family, holidays, birthdays or just any day...

This cake uses few ingredients and also uses a boxed cake with a few ingredients added to make it really moist and tasty. The frosting is made of either instant coconut or vanilla pudding mix with the addition of Cool Whip, or whipping cream makes the frosting so dang good! All in all, this recipe is not only good, but is cost efficient. In these days when everything is so expensive in the grocery store, this one "takes the cake" for being really good and inexpensive to make.

If you like a lighter cake, use the box cake instructions below. If you like a denser cake, use the instructions that adds a few more ingredients to the cake mix. I personally like the denser cake, but either method works well. The denser cake tastes more like a wedding cake texture and holds together very well. 

Time to Make a Raspberry Coconut Layered Cake...

Let's start with the raspberry filling. Combine fresh raspberries, water, sugar and lemon juice to a small saucepan and cook until the raspberries have broken down.

Place the raspberry mixture into a mesh strainer. Push as much of the raspberry flesh that you can through the strainer. Dispose of the seeds.

Return the mixture to the saucepan and bring back up to a boil. Then add the cornstarch mixture to the raspberry mixture and cook until it is thick and bubbly. The color will get darker as you cook it. Cool completely before spreading on the cake.

Follow the instructions for either cake. Once your layers are baked, cool completely. I place both layers in the refrigerator. It makes spreading the raspberry filling easier.

Now it's time to assemble. Make sure that your cake is cooled. Level your cakes by cutting any domed area on the layers. Place your first layer on your cake plate that you plan on using. I use a cake turntable to decorate. You can purchase one at Walmart or any craft store that has cake decorating supplies. They are very inexpensive. It is not necessary, but it sure makes frosting a cake a lot easier.

First spread the raspberry filling on the first layer. Then spread your whipped pudding frosting on top of the raspberry layer. Top with the second layer. Fill the seam between both layers with frosting. This will seal in the raspberry filling so it doesn't show through the final frosting layer.

Now frost the whole cake and top with coconut. This cake does need to be refrigerated. You can remove from refrigerator shortly before you serve.

Coconut Cake with Pudding and Whipped Topping Frosting Recipe...

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 1 pkg. white cake mix (plus ingredients to make cake) - follow cake mix instructions
• 1 tsp almond extract or coconut extract

Directions for Cake Mix only:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray cooking spray on 2 10" round cake pans. Flour the pans for a quick release of cake. You can also use parchment paper to line the bottom of the pans, but be sure to spray sides of pans with cooking spray.
2. Prepare cake mix according to package directions, adding almond or coconut extract. 
3. Pour batter into pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. 
4. Cool 10 minutes. Run knife around edge of cake pans. Cool cake completely. Remove cakes from pans; discard parchment paper. 
5. Place one cake on cake plate. Top with frosting, then with preserves. Place second cake on top of frosting and frost completely. Sprinkle with coconut

For a denser Cake add the Following:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 large eggs = room temperature
• 1 1/3 cup water or milk (room temperature
• 2 T. vegetable oil
• 1 cup sour cream or yogurt
• 2 tsps. vanilla

Directions for a dense Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Grease and flour two 8" cake rounds, line with parchment.
3. Combine all dry ingredients and whisk together.
4. Add wet ingredients and mix until combined.
5. Divide batter between the pans and bake for approximately 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
6. Cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn onto wire racks to cool completely.

Raspberry Cake Filling

Ingredents:

• 12 oz. unsweetened raspberries
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 T. lemon juice
• 3 T. cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup of water
• 2 tsp. raspberry extract or 2 T. raspberry liquor

Directions for Raspberry Cake Filling:

1. Combine raspberries, water, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan and bring to a boil. 
2. Once it has started boiling, turn down the heat and let the mixture simmer until the raspberries have completely broken down
3. Remove from heat and pour the mixture through a mesh strainer to remove seeds.
4. Dissolve cornstarch into 1/4 cup water. 
5. Pour mixture back into the pan and whisk in the cornstarch mixture.
6. Bring the mixture back up to a boil and simmer until it is thick and bubbly, whisking as needed.
7. Pour mixture into a bowl and allow it to cool completely. *Original recipe from the Cake Central website.

Frosting Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup  cold milk
• 1 large pkg. white chocolate or vanilla instant pudding and pie filling
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 container (8 oz. ) frozen whipped topping, thawed or 8 oz. of whipped cream whipped (or you can add both to make a creamier frosting
• 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

Frosting:

1. Combine milk, pudding mix and powdered sugar. Whisk 1-2 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken. Fold in whipped topping.
2. Spread jam over bottom half of cake. Spread 1 cup (250 mL) of the frosting over jam. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread sides and top of cake with remaining frosting. Sprinkle with coconut. Refrigerate 1 hour. 

One Final Thought...

Well that's it for one of my favorite foods...CAKE! So many kinds to choose from and so little time to make all of them. But, most of these I have tried and they are great. The one I love the best, besides the Coconut Cake is the Lemon Blueberry cake. It is so moist and so good...if you are going to try any of these, try the Lemon Blueberry cake first. You won't be disappointed!

 

  

Crazy Cake (No eggs needed)

Rhubarb Dump Cake

Always remember..."Life's short...eat dessert first!"...words to live by! 

www.handmadebyhoffy.com

Valentine's Day Projects

Well, February is almost here. Thank goodness we can say good bye to January. It's been a cold one up here in the Northland. Winter started out so very nice and then, as always January hits and BOOM...it's frigid. Looks like the whole nation has been dealing with these extremely cold temps. The snowfall this winter has been minor compared to last year. Trust me that's a good thing. My husband decided to purchase a new snow blower this year. I told him that's why we don't have any snow. LOL! Never fails.

So this year for Valentine's Day I thought I would continue making items that are quick and easy and relatively inexpensive. Most of the items I needed to buy for  the Valentine's wreath and candle decoration were purchased from Dollar Tree. I've learned to purchase the items long before a holiday comes. If you wait too long, everything is gone. So, right after Christmas I made my list went to the nearest Dollar Tree in our town and purchased everything I needed.

Last year I concentrated on cake pops, bonbons, and nugget wrappers. If you would like to see those posts, they are located in the sidebar of this post. This year I decided to make a wreath for the front door, a small candle wreath for the kitchen table. Also I made a small quilted mat to put under the candle decoration...and finally a new way of making very simple bonbons. I got the idea for the bonbons after making Oreo cookie bonbons for Christmas. Once again, I changed up the ingredients and I have to say they turned out delicious.

So Let's Get Started...

First off, let's gather what we need to make the wreath. Sometimes people have problems trying to figure out how to make the little clumps of deco mesh, so I have also put a "how to video" on how to make those little clumps.

Shopping List...

• 6 decorative mesh (3 pink, 3 white & red or what ever colors you want) 
• 1 14" wreath form
• 1 8" wreath form (for centerpiece)
• Valentine's embellishments (hearts, ribbon)
• 2 rolls of Valentine's (wide) ribbon
• 1 Valentine door hanging (this will be taken apart and added to the bottom of the wreath
• pipe cleaners (any color) - I purchased these at Walmart
• glue gun and glue
• scissors

All these items can be purchased at Dollar Tree. However, I purchased the pipe cleaners at Walmart.

The wreath form is 14". When you purchase the smaller forms, there are 2 per package.

Dollar Tree has lots and lots of embellishments for Valentine's Day and they are of course only $1.25 each. Their selections are always great.

Time to Make A Wreath...

Start by rolling the mesh over 2 times and cut. You will do this with all the mesh. I used 2 different colors in my wreath and centerpiece. So just keep cutting.

Once you have completed cutting all the mesh, cut all the pipe cleaners in half. At this point if you want to add ribbon, cut them in 6"-7" pieces and trim both sides like a bow end. I believe you will get around 15 cuts out of 1 roll of ribbon. Then start assembling the little bundles. I added ribbons to the white deco mesh and left the pink ones plain.

Once you have all your bundles made, it's time to attach to the wire frame. I forgot to take a picture of assembling the Valentine's wreath, but I made a St. Patrick's Day wreath and the picture above shows how to assemble. Take 1 bundle and wrap around the inner two wires and twist. Don't worry about the pipe cleaners on the back. You will trim all of those at the end.

When all the deco mesh bundles have been put in place, it's time to embellish the wreath with the Valentine's embellishments you purchased. I added a heart at the bottom. I painted it pink and then added glitter and hearts. The Kisses plaque was also purchased at Dollar Tree.

And that's it! I have to say making the little bundles is time consuming, but fun. The finished product looks so cute!

Here is a Video DIY that will help with the placement of the deco mesh bundles... by Bianca Andress   

Now Let's Make the Candle Decoration...

Basically, you are doing the same steps for the smaller wreath frame. Use your leftover deco mesh, ribbons and embellishments to make a smaller version. You might need to purchase 1 or 2 more deco mesh to finish the candle wreath. Add a candle and a cute Valentine's mat under it and you're all set for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day Table Mat...

This is another easy project if you like to sew. I purchased a 1/4 yard of 2 different Valentine's day fabric. I had some pink scraps of fabric to make the hearts. I then cut 18 5" squares (9 of one fabric and 9 of the other fabric. I made a heart template and cute out 10 hearts. Then it was time to place the hearts on each one of the squares. I zigzagged around each heart two times to make them look clean. 

Then it was time to sew the squares together for both sides. I added a low loft batting between both and stitched down each seam to hold everything in place. Then the binding was added. This was a quick project to make and definitely added to the candle and wreath decoration for the table.

So much for the crafty portion of this post and on to the yummy Bonbons...

Have you ever made the Oreo/cream cheese bonbons? For Christmas I made them for the first time. I usually  make cake bonbons, but these looked so easy and less time consuming. I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious they were. It gave me an idea. Why not try making different flavors?

So it was time to gather the few ingredients needed and try to change the flavor. The Oreo bonbons naturally use Oreo cookies and cream cheese. I decided to try using Great Value brand Vanilla sandwich cookies. I added strawberry extract to the crushed cookies, then the cream cheese and finally a little gel food coloring. I used my food processor to make sure the cookies had no large pieces remaining in the mixture.

Grocery List:

• Vanilla Great Value Sandwich cookies
• 1 8 oz. package cream cheese
• Strawberry extract, or you could use strawberry cream cheese)
• Gel food coloring-pink (can be purchased at Walmart in the cake decorating section
• Candy melts - for outer shell

Equipment needed:

You will need a dipping tool. I use the curlyQ tool above to take the bonbons out of the candy melts. It works really well and can be purchased on the internet. They are very reasonable. I also use a 1" scoop to make all the bonbons uniform.

I also use these silicone candy melt containers. I've tried a lot of different ways to melt the chocolate, but these little pots are the best. There is no waste, which is a great thing. I purchased mine at Michael's. Again, very reasonable and if you have a coupon they're even cheaper.

So Let's Make Some Bonbons...

First, you'll need to put the cookies into the food processor and make sure that the cookies are really finely chopped. Then add the cream cheese, strawberry extract, and a few dabs of gel coloring (pink). Mix until everything is incorporated.

Now it's time to make the bonbons. I believe I got 38 bonbons out of the mixture. Once rolled, place in the refrigerator until you are ready to dip. Place the candy melts in a container to melt. I highly recommend the silicone bowls. 

I noticed after I dipped the bonbons, that there were little holes in the bottom of the bonbon. I just took a little chocolate out of the silicone bowl and placed it over the opening. It fixed the problem.

Now it's time to add some pink and white squiggles on the top of the bonbons. Just to add a little color.

And here they are... Such an easy recipe. My experiment worked out very well. They taste like strawberry...and who doesn't like strawberries and chocolate. 

This was a fun experiment. The more I thought about it, the more flavor ideas I got...lemon, blueberry, vanilla, raspberry...the sky is the limit. If you have some time, you might want to try these. They are so delicious!

Strawberry Bonbon Recipe...

Ingredients:

• 36 vanilla sandwich cookies (I used Walmart brand)
• 1 8 oz. package cream cheese (you could also use strawberry cream cheese)
• pink gel good coloring (can be purchased at Walmart)
• strawberry extract
• candy melts (can be found in the cake decorating isle at Walmart)

Directions:

1. Crush vanilla sandwich cookies to very fine
2. Add cream cheese
3. Add 1 tsp. strawberry extract
4. Add 3-4 drops of (pink) gel food coloring
5. Mix until you have a pink mass.
6. Keep pulsing until everything is incorporated
7. Use 1" scoop to make round bonbons
8. Place in refrigerator until ready to use
9. Place candy melts in microwave and heat for 30 seconds. Then pinch the bowl a little to kind of mix the candy melts. Repeat for another 30 seconds and stir or squeeze again. From this point heat in microwave in 30 second intervals at 50% power until everything is melted and is almost the consistency of Hershey syrup. Now it's time to dip. 
10. Take 5 or 6 bonbons out of the refrigerator and dip and place on waxed paper or parchment paper until set
11. If you notice small holes on the bottom of the bonbons, place a small amount of candy melts for the whole and place back on parchment paper until set
12. I used vanilla and pink candy melts to decorate. You will only need about 25 melts for each color. Follow the same instructions for the candy melts above.
13. Place candy melts in a plastic zipper bag and cut a very tiny hole in the corner and drip over bonbons. Repeat with second color.

One Final Note...

I do hope you enjoyed this post. It was a lot of fun making the wreaths, the mat and the bonbons. I do hope you have a chance to make at least one of the crafty items or try the bonbons. You won't be disappointed. The bonbons would be a fun craft to do with the kids.

Always remember..."Life's short...eat dessert first!"...words to live by! 

www.handmadebyhoffy.com