Monday, January 31, 2011

Oops!

Well darn, that recipe I posted yesterday was not complete. I left out one of the most important ingredients. Sugar!!!!! You need to add two cups of sugar to the filling mixture. I have corrected the recipe I posted yesterday. I guess I was still high on all that sugar in those cakes that I missed that little item.

Tonight I am posting the second place in the Coconut Cake Bake Off. This was baked by Nan's Husband Steve.

Steve's Barefoot Coconut Cake

Cake:

3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus a little more for greasing the pans. ( I love it already)

2 cups sugar

5 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pans

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

4 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease 2 (9-inch) round cake pans, then line the pans with parchment paper. Grease them again and dust lightly with flour.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until light yellow and fluffy.

Crack the eggs into a small bowl.

With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs 1 at a time to the butter/sugar mixture, scraping down the bowl once during mixing.

Then to this mixture add vanilla and almond extracts and mix well. The mixture might look curdled; don't be concerned.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk to the batter in 3 parts, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.

Mix until just combined.

Fold in the 4 ounces of coconut with a rubber spatula.

Pour the batter evenly into the 2 pans and smooth the top with a knife.

Bake in the center of the oven for 45 to 55 minutes, until the tops are browned and a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool on a baking rack for 30 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Frosting:
1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract

1 1/2 pounds confectioner's sugar, sifted

6 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and almond extract on low speed.

Add the confectioner's sugar and mix until just smooth (don't whip!).

Assemble the layers:

Place 1 layer on a flat serving plate, top side down, and spread with frosting.

Place the second layer on top, top side up, and frost the top and sides.

To decorate the cake, sprinkle the top with coconut and lightly press more coconut onto the sides.

Serve at room temperature.

Goodness gracious I am getting a sugar high just thinking about all those cakes on Saturday. They were all so wonderful. I will post the names of our judges later. I would like to post their real names not just Jane's friend, or Patty's Dad, or my brother. But I would like to thank Jane's son Darrell for needing a good Coconut Cake recipe. It sure got all these cooks fired up to create all these wonderful cakes. He also contributed the Starbucks gift card and $20 dollars toward the prizes. Thank you Darrell. The first prize was a $25.00 gift certificate to Scrappy Papers. Second prize was a $10.00 gift card to Starbucks. Then we had three $10.00 gift certificates to Scrappy Papers. Thanks to everyone for coming and joining in all the fun.

Have a great day.

See you at the shop.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Bake Off

What a wonderful day. The ladies out did themselves with their coconut cakes and recipes from the 'Scrappy Ladies Recipes' cookbook. My gosh I don't think I need to eat anything for a week!!!!
All the cakes were delicious.















Here are the cake baking ladies. We have Nan standing in for her husbands' cake.















Of course all the wonderful dishes they prepared was outrageous. Not a bad recipe in the whole cookbook.

I am glad I was not a judge. Thanks to all the judges for their time to judge these great cakes. The choice for the best Coconut Cake was Number 5.










This cake was Glenda's cake. It just happened to be an old family recipe combined with a newer version frosting.






So you all can drool I will post the various recipes for each cake. Today I am posting the winning cake recipe.

Coconut Cake:

1 Duncan Hines Yellow Butter Cake Mix
2 cups (16 oz.) sour cream
2 (6 oz.) pkgs. frozen coconut
2 cups Sugar

Prepare and bake cake according to package directions. Use 3 pans (8 or 9 inch round pans).
Cool in pans for 10 minutes before removing to complete cooling on wire racks.

Filling

Make filling the day before you bake your cake.

Combine sour cream and sugar.
Stir in coconut (filling will be soft).

Set aside 1 cup for icing.

Cut each cooled cake layer horizontally.
You started with three layers. Now you will have six layers.
Divide filling between the six layers.

Frosting:

1-8 ounce container of Cool Whip


Fold reserved filling into Cool Whip.
Frost top and sides with frosting.
Refrigerate cake overnight.
Cake is best after a day or two.

I will post another of the cake recipes tomorrow.

Again, thank you all for coming and participating in a fun day.

Better pack up my little girl and head home.

See you at the shop.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Buds

What a joy children are. They are so blunt and loving at the same time. It takes energy to keep up with them but well worth it. You only have a short time with them because they grow up. So enjoy them while you can. I enjoyed Emily coming to the shop and now she is in school. I don't have the opportunity to see her that often. Now Carter man comes to the shop and I will enjoy him while I can because he will be in school in a heartbeat. There are other Great Nieces and Nephews scattered around and I don't get to enjoy them very often. So I depend on pictures to capture their antics. This weeks layout is all about those little antics. My bother now has a parrot and from what I hear he has trained the parrot to do all kinds of things. Apparently, this parrot has become my Great Nephew's best bud. Perching on that little shoulder and hanging on no matter where it goes.
Now I am just waiting to see the parrot grab that pacifier!!!

Saturday is the Cookbook signing party and the Cake bake off. So plan to join the fun!!!!

Better get closed up and get myself bundled up before that temp drops anymore. 34 degrees in the morning!!

See you at the shop.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

WOW Friday

Time for some play time. WOW Friday is from 3-5pm. We will be using colored pencils and blending stumps. Bring your pencils, and if you have a stamped image you want to color. Come to have some fun!!!

Saturday during Cricut Club meeting Sandie will show us how she creates those beautiful roses. The things you will need are listed on the blog. Be sure you have double sided paper for creating your rose.

Next Saturday January 29 th. is the Cookbook signing party. To start with there will be a Coconut cake bake off. If you have an awesome cake please join the fun filled day with your cake. Bring your recipe so we can share it on our blog. We already have a great group of judges. The prize for the winning cake will be a $25.00 gift certificate to Scrappy Papers. I heard there might be some of those delicious recipes from the cookbook. Yummy!!!! Just plan to come and have some fun.

Coming home today I saw the Canadian Geese. There is a tiny little pond that I pass on my way home. Lately it has been sooooo dry. But thankfully, it has been filling up a little bit with each shower. It is so much fun to see the geese walking with the locals. They are so beautiful and graceful as they march along.

Well, Prissy is curled up on the bed with her heating pad. She looks so comfy that my eyes just keep getting heavier and I think I will join her.

See you at the shop.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Adorable

Tomorrow's layout. Don't you just love little one's. They are so adorable.



Gotta get home and get ready for tomorrow!!!!!

See you at the shop.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Sandie's rose wokshop.

How is everyone enjoying their day off? Joy came in to make some cards. Prissy is snuggled in her warm cozy bed. UPS came in today with only one little box...... The white gel pens and the 8.5 x11 vellum came in. So maybe tomorrow I will see the rest of the order.

Sandie has so graciously agreed to show you how she creates her beautiful rose. The workshop is this Saturday the first part of Cricut Club. Here is a list of what you will need to bring:

1) Paper
2) Needle nosed pliers
3) A soft mouse pad (This is used to help mold your petals).
4) Large tipped stylus
5) 1 wooden clothes pin ( pincher type)
6) Tweezers
7) Home Accents Cricut Cartridge or another cartridge that cuts a PEAR. If you don't have a cartridge you can share.
8) Your Cricut.
9) Lots of Patience (This is most Important!)
10) Ink of your color choice. This is to ink the petals.
11) And of course, your class kit.

You know Sandie will make this fun. But, this will be time consuming. It will make you really appreciate the time she spends creating her beautiful flowers.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Simple Pleasures

Don't you just love those little guys and their sweet antics. Our layout is all about the simple lovable things the little guys do. The class is at 10:30 tomorrow morning.

Short post tonight. Will fill you in on all that happened tonight on a later post.

See you at the shop.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Sale Day!!!!

Monday January 10th Sale Day!!!!

Let's start January off with a big bang sale......

All paper 40% off (excludes cardstock and sale papers).

All QuicKutz 40% off.

All punches 40% off.

All stamps 30% off.

All embellishments 30% off.

All chipboard 30% off.

All Bare Elements 30% off.

All magazines 40% off (excludes latest publications).

All Primary Element Powders 30% off.

See you at the shop!!!!!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

presents

This weeks layout is one full of nostalgia. It shows my nieces and nephews at a Christmas when they were little and as they are today. They each have grown into wonderful young men and women. So grab some of those great photos and create a page to remember.

Well, I guess Prissy and I have stayed here at the shop too long and the skies have opened up again. Better get things closed down so when it clears we can make a run for it.

See you at the shop.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Well, here we are in the New Year. I can not believe it is 2011. It seems so futuristic. Hope you all had a great Holiday. Mine was wonderful. I want to thank all my family and all my shop family for being so generous. Love you all.

A few changes here at the shop. The Tuesday morning card class has now been moved to Wednesday morning at 10:00 am. Then after the card class we will begin Play Day. This month our crop nights will be January 7th and 21st.

There is an interest in starting a monthly cookbook club like the Christmas Cookie Cookbook. There will be a limit of 6 people again. If there is enough interest there may be several groups. The group would meet once a month, exchange recipes, and work on their pages. There will be a meeting soon to decide on the theme and the style of the book. Stay tuned for the meeting date.

There are only a couple of cookbooks left. So if you are interested in having a book don't delay.

Have a great day!

See you at the shop.

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