Happy New Year and a Yummy Coconut Cake!!!

Happy New Year to everyone!!!  Wow, time just keeps flying by and I cannot believe it is officially 2012!!!  It is so exciting to begin the new year feeling like anything is possible for this next year!!  I hope that this year I am able to make more yummy dishes that my kids love and try to up the plant happiness in this house!  I decided to celebrate the new year with a cake because it just felt like the time was right and I wanted to start a type of tradition for the kids that we all get together and figure out what we will try to be better at this year.  My three year old said he would be "more helpful", (he is just the sweetest), my 1 year old is not quite ready to let us in on her's and my hubby said "eat more veggies."  Gotta love these since they are not too daunting, but achievable and we will be doing!!!!  I am going to try to be more patient, with my kids and life in general, stop and smell the roses as they say, and of course to blog and share this delicious vegan food that we are enjoying with all of you and maybe inspire a change in you and your family!! Happy New Year!

The Original!

Now to the good part, a vegan coconut cake with my "bettercream" frosting, coated with coconut and served with a glass of cold plant milk! Warning this cake is extremely rich and yummy, and can be addicting!  I am not going to actually post the recipe as it is from the cookbook, Sweet Vegan by Emily Mainquist, and by the way, the book is amazing, get it!!!  I definitely wish I could take credit, but no such luck, if you want the recipe, send me a message and I can send it that way.  Coconut cake has always held a special place in my heart because I spent my 12th birthday with my late grandparents in Hawaii and my grandmother had this cake and I will never forget it (or her!!!) I have been on the hunt for it ever since, even when we returned for my 21st birthday, we tried to find it, but no such luck.  This cake was something you can only dream about, light and fluffy cake with frosting that was delicate and not too sweet, mmm... everything just worked perfectly together....  Well I am happy to say that this is the only cake that has even come close to the original and it's worth every minute of making!! It is a fairly simple recipe, the key to achieving the fluffiness in my opinion, is to mix it properly with enough whipping in between each addition of ingredients.  It is a three layer cake but due to my faulty cake pan, I only successfully removed 2 out of 3, which would have been really upsetting normally, but I think it was just as yummy with two layers and bonus, we got to sneak a taste:)  I waited for the cake to completely cool and then frosted and covered until the next day, before singing happy new year to the tune of the birthday song, finishing up with my kids getting to blow out candles for the new year!  I love that I can start to have fun little traditions that help to celebrate our blessings and important moments in our lives.  Wishing you all the best this year!!  Lots of Love,

Mai

Supplies!

The beginning

Wet and dry ingredients!

Cake Batter, MMM!!!

Ready to Bake!

Mai's "Bettercream" Frosting!!

Cakes Baking!!

Cakes Cooling!!

Frosting!!

Finished Product!

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) dairy free margarine, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

2 cups coconut milk (1 can)

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon coconut flavoring

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

Mai's "BetterCream" Frosting 

(recipe in Mai Mai's Sugar Cookies Post)

Topping: ½ cup flaked, sweetened coconut

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two (or three) 9-inch cake pans.

Using an electric mixer, cream together margarine, sugar, coconut milk, vinegar, vanilla, and coconut. Cream well for 6 to 8 minutes. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add flour to creamed mixture, beating until just mixed. Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Level batter in each pan by holding pan 3 or 4 inches above counter, then dropping it flat onto counter. Do this several times to release air bubbles and assure you of a more level cake. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Cool in pans for 5 to 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto cooling racks.

Cool completely. In the meantime prepare frosting. Fill and spread cake layers with frosting and garnish with coconut flakes. Cook’s Note: As each layer is stacked, you can stick them with toothpicks to prevent cake from shifting (just be sure to warn your guests).