Food Network's Tiki Cocktail Cake

There's immense pressure upon telling people that you bake cake. It leads to a sort of mandatory demo- preferably to ease your own mind, than others'- when they know you do, yet have never had a chance to actually see a snippet of the battalion you've baked within your amateur CakeBoss existence.

Often in such predicaments, providence ushers in  a bounty of opportunities for cake gifting.

Like when Kiddo Two's social life takes on scores higher than any report card he brings home and he believes no pool party is a party without him. To his credit, as most living in a residential desert, inferno temps do require regular dips into backyard lagoons. If you don't have one, you amicably comply to jump in someone else's.  

Which could be bane or boon to my time in the kitchen. Just for the record, I believe I am indefinitely pressed to one- up any and all potlucks/mealshares/bringalongs that come to my attention. Add to that, wowing a bunch of teenagers while keeping them well fed is no mean feat.

Tiki cake is certainly the baking experiment for when you're rushed off your feet. It's easy to make, with cutting and pasting techniques leveling skills of fourth grade Art class.

Common cake art theory involves the minimum input of half a day's work. Not so in this demo from a 5 year old issue of Food Network mag. Multiple slicing does not affect structural integrity and your less-than-two-hours make you look like a Michelin star boss.

Most of us can agree, a no-frills, no-fuss chocolate cake/ frosting combo deal is an ideal for such crowd pleaser situations. It most definitely elicits unmatched glee from buddies who see peeling apart a frosty, two sizes their face as a magnificent affair.

In today's story, melty marshmallow fondant made the beverage, while toasted coconut thatched its sides. In hindsight, and in less hurry, crucial things like chilling after icing between layers could've  made Tiki taller.

While we still have quite a few more days left of 110°F + weather, I might be on a frenzy of tiki cocktail concoctioning.

And, of course, I  mean cake. 

Right ?

(My Black Forest Cake recipe adapted from AllRecipes)
( FN's Instructions for Tiki Cocktail cake)

Ingredients:

• 2 1⁄8 c all-purpose flour
• 2 c sugar
• ¾ c cocoa powder
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ¾ tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 c milk
• ½ c vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 °F. Grease and flour two cake pans. I used 1 six inch round cake pan and 2 1 quart oveproof  proof for this project.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour, sugar, and the rest of the dry ingredients.
• Add in wet ingredients; beat on medium speed until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pans.
• Bake for 35 minutes, or when toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool layers in pans for 5 minutes. Carefully remove from pans. Cool on wire racks completely.

Additionals:

Chocolate frosting recipe, right here

Marshmallow fondant, used to make  the "drink" was melted at 50% power, 1 minute intervals.

2019: Kiwi, cream and mango pudding

2018: Ela appam

2017: Rhubarb lemonade

2016: Chili lime roast

2015: Vermicelli pudding

2014: Ghee

2013: Savory crepes with shrimp

2012: Fish en papillote

******
"Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:4

White vanilla cake with berries, cream cheese frosting and whipped cream

The keen desire for a pastry such as this got stuck in my head while I was having waffles the previous morning. The lightbulb moment wasn't a minor flicker, but burned from the the moment I consumed breakfast the others left behind. Mounds of berries and giant puffs of fresh cream that would have left the whole show bereft had they been taken from the scene.

White cake tends to bring about two conflicting views after you've been introduced to it at some point of your life. One would be the flavor is as plain as vanilla, which is precisely what it should be, and, meh, you'd most likely not be the one to fuss for subsequent servings. The second train of thought, and where I'm boarded, looks at splendor from inception, of order of ingredients and egg beating execution. A moist, sponge-in crumb, becomes the target for adulation, stemming from one too many voids in a lifetime. The latter truth may or may not be what I've experienced on quite few counts. 

Thick, tender slices reveal insides similar to a cumulus cloud and  unbelievably light. Cream cheese adds punch and spruces up the fruits. When dressed with whipped cream, an option I favor,  the finished product yields the best, plated, beyond-world experience.

This is the perfect holiday dessert, even if it might never bear allegiance to one.

With as much going on, mouthfeel-wise, a natural question could be whether various formats/ flavors/textures diminish the milder knowns of the whole. Most definitely not. The nuances that spring from a layered cake- dessert transforms it into something beautiful, elements build upon one another, and only intensify the need to grab another piece. Like my older child put it, "it is so WOW!" ( this would be her junior year in college and let's be grateful she' s not an English major).

Moreover, in our current universal situation, where most of what we do involves wearing masks and indulging in takeout, confined within the walls of homes, let's deliberate on the idea that festivities, fireworks, the boardwalk and merriment are a mere few reaches of the kitchen pantry.

In other words, let's party, albeit quarantined and in pandemic's midst, like it's 1999.

Recreate, commemorate, and don't forget to take this cake.

Painting desserts the color of the country's flag has always been one of my more loftier passions.

Happy Fourth of July, friends!

God bless you, America.

White vanilla cake:

(Adapted from Sugar Spun Run, Best White Cake)

Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
• ⅔ cup canola oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 ⅔ cups all purpose flour
• 3 ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 6 large egg whites (¾ cup)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Butter and flour 2 8" round pans and line bottoms with parchment.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, pour in egg whites and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently transfer beaten egg whites to a large bowl.
• Wipe stand mixer bowl clean and beat butter, in the same bowl, on medium high until pale in color. Add in oil, sugar, vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. 
• In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt.
• Add flour and milk, alternatively in three increments into the batter, beginning and ending with flour.
• Scrape down bowl with spatula often.
• Using the spatula, gently fold in egg whites into the batter. Scrape down sides and incorporate all the ingredients, using your hand being careful not to overbeat.
• Pour batter into prepared pans. Smooth tops with spatula.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes. 
• Cool in pans on wire racks for 5 minutes. Invert cakes onto racks, remove parchment paper and allow to cool completely.
• Frost with a double batch of cream cheese frosting.

Notes:

I like to frost between layers and coat once with cream cheese frosting. A coat of fresh whipped cream frosting is what I like as the final guild. Doesn't it look better that way? It tastes better, no doubt.

Other July Fourth desserts:

Red white and blue cake

Crostata do marmellata

Fourth of July tarts

Star spangled meringues

******

"Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace

you will rejoice in your inheritance.

And so you will inherit a double portion in your land,

    and everlasting joy will be yours." Isaiah 61:7-8 (NIV)