Chocolate Cake with Coconut Frosting

Hello!

It's been a while again!

...but I had to stop in and post the cake I made my Mom for her birthday today.

It's the first cake I've been able to make her for a while, but now that we are living in California again...I was able to take back my position as chief-family-cake-maker:)

For this cake, I used my new favorite chocolate cake recipe.  It's the one on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa.  It turns out perfectly every time...no fail!

HERSHEY'S "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" Chocolate Cake 

(recipe from hersheys.com)

Ingredients

2 cups sugar 
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2  eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
 

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. 

VARIATIONS:

ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.

THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.

CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.

I usually use the recipe for the "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate frosting too, but for this cake, I used my favorite buttercream frosting recipe and added about 3/4 cup of shredded coconut to it.

Buttercream Frosting 

(recipe from chsugar.com)

Ingredients

1 1 lb. box (approx. 3 3/4 cups) powdered sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

3 to 4 tablespoons milk 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

In large bowl with electric mixer at low speed, combine sugar, butter, milk and vanilla. Beat at medium speed 1 to 2 minutes until creamy. If desired, add more milk until frositng is spreading consistency.

Peanut Butter Crunch: Substitute peanut butter for butter; sprinkle either candy peanut butter pieces or chopped peanuts over frosting.
Chocolate: Add 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, adding milk 1 tsp. at a time until desired consistency. Top with chocolate curls, if desired.
Orange: Substitute fresh orange juice for milk, add 1 tsp. orange extract and 1 tsp. grated orange zest. Top with thin strips of orange peel.
Lemon: Substitute fresh lemon juice for milk, add 1 tsp. lemon extract and 1 tsp. grated lemon zest. Top with thin strips of lemon peel.

To put it all together, I layered the cake with about half the frosting in between and half on the top. I also added about a half cup of the shredded coconut to the top of the cake....and do you recognize those chocolate lumps?!?!  They are snack-size Almond Joy bars!  Since the cake reminded me of a Mounds or Almond Joy candy bar, I thought they would make the perfect decoration!

Can't wait to taste this!

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

These were fun to make!

Sienna's birthday usually comes before the school year starts... but not this year!

She was so excited because she had helped me deliver many cupcakes and balloons to her brother and sister's classes over the years...and it was finally her turn!

These ice cream cone cupcakes were super easy to make and are super yummy too.

I went the semi-homemade route, using a boxed cake mix and homemade buttercream frosting.

The most important part is to not over or under fill the cones.  I found a line inside the cones to use as a guide, so they all turned out pretty uniform and pretty.  I piped the frosting on in a swirl using a plastic bag with the tip cut off. Last...but certainly not least...I added sprinkles and a sour cherry candy to the top.  Soooo easy!

I'm going to attempt to make a ice cream cone shaped cake for her birthday cake, so stay tuned:)

I can't believe my little baby is going to be 6!  

It seems like just yesterday I was pregnant with her and moving out to Nevada (not knowing anyone) with two little toddlers in tow....

So much has happened and changed in the last six years, but she has definitely been the best gift.

Worms in Dirt Cupcakes

We made these "worms in dirt" cupcakes for my daughter Ramona's Birthday a couple of years ago, and she says her friends still talk about them...so Ramona wanted me to make them again. They are just chocolate frosted cupcakes dipped in crushed Oreos with a gummy worm on top. Easy-Peasy!

Homemade Oreos!

We made homemade oreos the other day! These were super easy to make- very simple ingredients...and very yummy! The only change we made was using all butter for the filling, instead of using the shortening. I love recipes that I already have all the ingredients for. I hate going to the grocery store! The recipe was from Smitten Kitchen.

Sienna with her giant oreo cookie!

Homemade Dog Treats

My house smells garlicky!

I have not been able to find a good selection of "healthy" dog treats (without sugar) at Walmart, so I decided to make my own.

I found a couple of good recipes here.

This is the Canine "Party" Snacks:

My pup loved them!

Plus, they were really easy to make...inexpensive too:)

Fun Finds...

I've decided to share some fun things that I have found online recently.

• First, I wanted to share this wonderful blog that is full of great crafts to do with your kids. It is called the Craft Crow and would be a great resource for teachers too.
  
• Here are some really cute, free printable gift tags from Inside a Black Apple. You can take maya*made's tips and print them on brown paper bags...for some "green wrapping and brown tagging". You also must check out her snowflake cutting tutorial.
  
• Grosgrain shared a wonderful doll making tutorial from Martha Stewart.
  
• I finally signed up for Project Wonderful and have free ad space on my blog! For some reason, I was really intimidated by it, but it turned out to be really easy to set up...
  
• Creature Comforts has some free printable cards. They also have lots of other free printable items on their blog...like gift tags.
  
• Xerox is giving us the opportunity to send free thank you post cards in support of our troops.
  
• Tina T. has a great polymer clay tutorial on dried flowers.
  
• A Foothill Home Companion shares how to make origami stars.
  
• I have used this recipe many times, and found it a while back. It is a recipe for microwave caramel corn. It is really easy and would make a wonderful gift!

We made play dough today!

My kids always want to play with my polymer clay when I get it out...so I thought that I would make them their own play dough to play with. I found a recipe called "The Best Play Dough". It really turned out great! I halved the recipe, and it made plenty for the three of them. I even had a packet of unsweetened green lime kool-aide (left over from Halloween)...so now they have lime scented, green play dough!

Gift ideas...

I just discovered this great craft website today called CraftBits. And as I am always on the lookout for great gift ideas that I can make myself....I had to share this with you:

Gifts in a Jar

They also have a bunch of ideas for "gifts in a mug". I love that idea because after everything that is inside the mug has been used up, the recipient still has the mug to use and cherish! My daughter received the cutest mug with a packet of hot chocolate and a chocolate dipped spoon with marshmallows on it last year from her teacher. She loved it, and still has and uses the cute Christmas mug.

(this hot chocolate and cookie bead set is in my Etsy shop)