Cloud Nine Cake

On a recent trip to Surfas, (my favorite specialty ingredient supply store), I stumbled across a one pound bag of unsweetened coconut shards. I didn't purchase them at the time because I didn't know what I would make with them. They stuck in my mind, however, and over the past few weeks I daydreamed about what I could possibly use them for. They have such an airy look to them, so I knew I wanted to make something that would relate to clouds or the sky in some way. In the end I decided to make a white cake with light blue vanilla buttercream icing and sprinkle the coconut shards over the top of it. I also added a splash of rose water, (Lord knows how I love rose water!), to the white cake for some extra sweetness. Yum!

White Cake

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 Cups Ultrafine Baking Sugar

2 and 3/4 Cups Cake Flour

1 Teaspoon Salt

1 Tablespoon Baking Powder

1 Teaspoon Rose Water

2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

1 and 1/2 Teaspoons Almond Extract

3/4 Cup Unsalted Butter, softened

1 Cup Whole Milk

4 Egg Whites

1 Whole Egg

1/4 Cup Unsweetened Coconut Shards

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add each of the egg whites separately, mixing well after each addition. Add the egg with yolk and the softened butter and mix well.



In a small bowl, mix the milk with rose water, vanilla and almond extracts. Slowly add the milk mixture to the large bowl, blending for a minute after each addition. Once the cake mix is smooth and fluffy, pour it evenly into two well-greased 8-inch cake pans and bake them in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean.

Once the cake is done, remove it from the oven and allow to cool for about 15 minutes. Shake the pan a little bit to loosen the grip of the cake, then place a plate on top of the pan and, wearing oven mitts, flip it over so that the pan is on the top and the plate is on the bottom. Gently remove the pan and place the plated cake layer in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Repeat this process with the second cake pan as well.

While the cake layers are cooling, make the Buttercream Frosting recipe below. Once the cake layers and the frosting have finished cooling, place the bottom cake layer onto the display surface, (i.e. a cake stand or pretty plate that you will serve it off of), and begin evenly frosting the top of the bottom cake layer. Then, center the second cake layer on top of the bottom cake layer so that they line up perfectly. Now frost the sides and top of the cake so that the entire cake surface is frosted and no cake surface is visible through the frosting. Sprinkle the top of the cake with the coconut shards and serve at room temperature.

Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

3 Cups Sifted Confectioner's Sugar

1 and 1/4 Cups Unsalted Butter, softened

2 and 1/2 Tablespoons Whole Milk

1 and 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

11 Drops Blue Food Coloring

Mix together the confectioner's sugar and butter until they have a thick and heavy consistency, (about 5 minutes). Mix in the milk, vanilla extract and the blue food coloring until the frosting becomes creamy and is a solid, even light blue color (no color streaks!) Place the frosting in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to prevent it from becoming too runny, but not any longer otherwise it will become too hard and tear at the cake while you're frosting it.