Every year for Daniel’s birthday, I make a from scratch cake in whatever cake flavor Daniel desires. The first year, it was a lemon cake. It did not turn out so great, but okay for a first attempt. I am a baker, but NOT a cake decorator, so it was not pretty.
The following years I’ve made a tunnel of fudge cake, a chocolate cake, a banana cake with chocolate frosting (not a birthday cake), cupcakes of various flavors (some times I actually used a mix for these), and this year, the requested flavor was left up to me. I called out different flavors as I looked at recipes and Daniel responded to coconut, so coconut is what I tried today. I used Paula Deen’s recipe off of the food network, but after two attempts, my cake did not look like Paula’s, and I followed the recipe to a T both times. Regardless the cake fell in the middle both times and if the oven was bumped, it was not by me because I was nursing the baby during the cooking process both times. I only opened the oven after the alloted time for baking was completed., so I just don’t know what I did wrong!
Here’s what the cake looked like after the first attempt. If I were to trim the cake down to the flat level, well, pancake is about all that would be left. I attempted to layer it with the “filling” on each layer. With this attempt, I used all purpose flour and added the appropriate amount of baking powder and salt to make self rising flour as called for in the recipe.
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| First attempt at coconut cake (with Paula’s filling on it) |
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| Speed Racer liking the way it tastes even if it looks funny |
For the second attempt I used smaller cake pans and self rising flour, just in case I had old baking powder or took the wrong measurements. But again, the cake did not rise appropriately in the middle. However, I think I have salvaged it by using some Jamie methods that I am sure would not be acceptable in any other bakery or by a professional. I am letting it sit with the filling on it overnight and will frost it tomorrow. Look for a picture of the completed cake tomorrow or later in the week if it turns out okay.
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| What my kitchen sink looked like after attempting to bake 2 from scratch cakes. The other half was already washing in the dishwasher. |
Check the temp of your oven to make sure it is getting hot enough. I think I have a coconut cake recipe that is a sheet cake. I made it just one time and my mother-in-law loved it (high praise). If you would like to try it I will look for it. Martha