Happy Birthday Anna!

Today is Anna's birthday - 17!!!! We celebrated with the extended family on Easter, and blew out the candles both for her and for one of her uncles. Anna doesn't actually like cake (I know...how does that happen?), but this coconut cake was a big hit even with her! Some people even had seconds, and that was after a pretty fabulous Easter dinner and one or two chocolate eggs.

Two little cousins on Easter - Jane's squeeeezing Mary!

The recipe is this one. It results in a a subtly flavored cake...I added a little coconut extract to the batter and it was just right. Just a little coconutty. You have to be careful not to mangle the egg whites when you add them - fold them in patiently - or you'll get a coconut pancake for sure. I made three layers (1 1/2 recipes of batter) and frosted with this buttercream (2 recipes of frosting).

Two bigger cousins on Easter

I made one recipe of frosting on Saturday and refrigerated it, intending to revive it with a little whip of the flat beater - imagine my reaction on Sunday morning when the whole thing turned into a watery, curdled mess in the beater bowl. Really, nobody should be cursing on Easter. But anyway, I managed to save it by swirling the bowl in mid-air over a flame on the stove and whacking the heck out of it with a wooden spoon until it looked salvageable, and by the time I re-beat it in the mixer it was fine. In fact, I couldn't tell the difference between the two batches of frosting by the time I was done. Three cheers for kitchen chemistry!



Today Anna has school and then practice and then homework, so we'll be celebrating very quietly here at home, but I believe there may be some presents in her future...and maybe some donuts...that's what she really craves.