cake

New Year’s Eve Sprinkles Fault Line Cake

December 27, 2019 by Alyssa

Ring in the next decade with a decadent New Year’s Eve blackout cake filled with glittery sprinkles and a shimmering gold fault line.

If you didn’t know, I really love sprinkles and my favorite place to purchase them is through Fancy Sprinkles. Their New Year collection caught my eye and I immediately purchased the 2020 & Metallic Rainbow Dragee sets which inspired this cake.

Originally, I intended to make a drip cake, similar to others I’ve made this year because they’re just SO fun to make but decided at the last moment (similar to how I make all my baking decisions…) to do something different and learn a new technique.

Check out the pinata cake I made last year to celebrate 2019!

I’ve been admiring fault line cakes on Instagram for a while now and I loved their 3D look with sprinkles, cookies, or an intricate design embedded as a ‘layer’ of the cake so after researching the process, I found it wasn’t as complicated as I originally thought and decided to give it a go for my New Year’s Eve cake.

The Chocolate Cake

I used this tutorial for the fault line process and my own chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream recipes (below) to make and frost the actual New Year cake. I love love love this chocolate cake recipe. It’s a no-fail recipe that bakes beautifully every time. It’s moist and perfectly chocolatey. I’ve been making it for years. And I think there’s no better way to celebrate a new decade than with chocolate!

Black Chocolate Buttercream

My chocolate buttercream recipe is a go-to as well, one that I keep in my baking arsenal. It’s a combination of both buttercream and vegetable shortening which I find holds up better than straight butter-only frosting. To color the frosting black, I just added a couple of teaspoons of black food coloring at the very ended and gave it a good whip in the mixer. The key to making black frosting is to always use chocolate as your base. Attempting to color vanilla or light-colored frosting black will simply result in a metallic, gray color.

Adding the Sprinkles

When it came time to add the sprinkles onto my New Year cake, I first started by slowly placing each individual sprinkle on with my hands and tweezers. After about 10 minutes, I found the process to be way too tedious and resorted to my standard method (which is a bit messier but much quicker, even with cleanup time!) and put a bunch of sprinkles in my palm, and carefully pressed them into the frosting while rolling my hand upwards on the cake.

Gold Fault Line

To create the gold fault line for my New Year’s Eve cake, I made an edible paint using a 1/2 teaspoon of gold luster dust and about 2 teaspoons of vodka and mixed them together until smooth. I then used a fine pastry brush to paint on the lines. Initially, I painted a rough fault line but later came back and smoothed it out, liking the appearance of a neater gold trim better.

If you make my New Year’s Eve cake, please let me know how it turns out! It’s such a fun cake and I love the Fancy Sprinkles on it. I’m almost tempted to make a second just to stare at in my kitchen on New Year’s Eve!

Happy New Year, Friends!

New Year's Eve Fault Line Cake

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Prep time

90 mins

Total time

1 hour 30 mins

Author: Alyssa

Serves: 12 pieces

Ingredients

Three 6-inch chocolate cakes, recipe below
6 cups black chocolate buttercream, recipe below
1½ cups sprinkles of choice
gold edible paint*
Piping bag + tips of choice
Bench scraper
Offset spatula
Thin pastry brush

Instructions

Place one chocolate cake on the serving tray and coat the top of it with a thick layer of chocolate frosting.
Take the second chocolate cake and place this cake on top of the first and frost with chocolate buttercream
Place the third cake on top of the second and frost the sides and top of the cake with chocolate buttercream, this is your base coat. Place it in the fridge to set for 20 minutes.
Place 1½ cups of chocolate buttercream in a piping bag and snip off the tip to make a ½ inch hole.
Remove the cake from the refrigerator and pipe a 4-5 inch section of frosting around the center of the cake (this is where the sprinkles will go). Use a bench scraper to smooth out this middle section (do not worry about the top and bottom portions of the cake looking rough, we'll deal with this later)
Add your sprinkles to the middle section of the cake, covering as much of the area as possible.
Add more frosting to your piping bag and draw thick frosting lines around the top and bottom of your sprinkle area (as if adding a border to hold in the sprinkles). Now fill in the rest of the top and bottom of the cake with the frosting and smooth it with an offset spatula.
Use a bench scraper, smooth out the top and bottom of the frosting you just added, careful not to press too hard or you'll knock off the sprinkles. Set into the fridge to set up for 20-minutes.
Using your gold paint, paint edges of the fault line you created and allow it to dry.
Pipe on your desired cake topping (I chose a rope feature) and add more sprinkles, if desired.

Notes

*Make your own edible paint by mixing a ½ teaspoon of gold luster dust with 2 teaspoons of vodka.
** If you need a little help, check out this YouTube tutorial

Chocolate Cake Recipe

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Author: Alyssa

Ingredients

1½ cup all-purpose flour
1½ cups granulated sugar
¾ cup Dutch-processed cocoa sifted
1½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
¾ cup hot water
2 tsp instant coffee
¼ cup vegetable oil
¾ cup buttermilk room temperature
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F
Grease three 6-inch cake pans and dust with cocoa powder. Line bottoms with parchment then set aside.
Place all dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Stir on low to combine.
Dissolve the coffee in the hot water then set aside.
In a medium bowl whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla.
Temper the egg-milk mixture by slowly whisking in the hot coffee (you don't want to cook the eggs!)
Add the coffee-egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix on medium for 2-3 mins. The batter will be very thin, that's okay!
Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans. (I used a kitchen scale to ensure the batter is evenly distributed.)
Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating the pans in oven halfway through. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool 10 minutes in the pans then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Black Chocolate Buttercream

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

25 mins

Author: Alyssa

Serves: 6 cups

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup vegetable shortening
2 tablespoons meringue powder
8 cups confectioners' sugar
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ cup half & half (heavy cream or milk will work)
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons black food coloring

Instructions

In the bowl of a mixer, beat the softened butter, shortening, and meringue powder until creamy.
Add in the confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder, salt and vanilla extract. Mix on low to combine.
With the mixer on low, stream in the half & half until you have a thick, chocolate buttercream. Adjust the frosting consistency by adding 1 additional tablespoon of frosting at a time.
Add in the black food coloring and mix to fully combine.

Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

June 29, 2019 by Alyssa

My baking bucket list challenge continues this month with an upside down cake. Rather than classic pineapple, I had a baking adventure with a rhubarb upside down cake.

Sometimes, even when a recipe looks like a success, it’s still a failure. And, that’s what happened with this month’s baking bucket list challenge when baking this rhubarb upside down cake. Originally, I was going to make a classic pineapple upside down cake but then my mind got stuck on rhubarb…

Let me tell you how this happened…

My grandma used to make rhubarb pie every summer. I remember it being a regular part of Sunday dinner. She served it with a dollop of whipped cream on top and my family loved it. Except me. For some reason, I avoided it and can’t even recall ever tasting her rhubarb pie. I think it was because rhubarb looked like celery and I didn’t see a celery-flavored pie being very appetizing.

So, I waited until this year to finally try rhubarb. My first time using the ingredient was in a strawberry rhubarb crisp and while the recipe called for fresh rhubarb, I was only able to find frozen. I loved the crisp (recipe here!). It was sweet from the strawberry and tart from the rhubarb and that’s when I became stuck on rhubarb, wanting to bake with it more.

I looked everywhere for fresh rhubarb and wasn’t able to find it because it was towards the end of rhubarb season in Texas. Then, one night I walked into Whole Foods and just happened to spot fresh rhubarb. I bought two bunches of rhubarb and was set on baking something with it and that’s when I decided I’d turn my June baking bucket list challenge of upside down cake into a rhubarb upside down cake.

Making my rhubarb upside down cake

I chose this recipe for my rhubarb cake. And to be honest, I chose it not because of the recipe but because of the photo. I loved the criss-cross look of the rhubarb on top and just fell in love. After purchasing all the ingredient to make the cake I dug into the recipe this past Sunday. And as soon as I read step two, I started to have hesitations.

Below I’ve shared the red flags I saw with this rhubarb upside down cake recipe that should have stopped me from baking it. But since I didn’t, I’ve also shared what I’d do next time around (there won’t be a next time around but you can use these tips if you want to make this cake!)

The recipe said to prepare a 9-inch cake pan.

My gut was telling me this pan was way too small to adequately house rhubarb and cake batter while it baked in the oven. I knew it would be too small and bubble over but I used the 9-inch pan anyways.
When I finally got my rhubarb and cake batter into the pan, I had about a half-inch of free space left for the cake to bake into. In order to save my oven, should it bake over the edge, I placed my cake pan on a large baking sheet to catch any overflow (which it did, it formed a bubbly caramel mess on my sheet pan and around the edge of the cake).
If I make this recipe again, I’d use a tall, springform pan, similar to what I’d use for a cheesecake.

The recipe said to mix 4-inch pieces of rhubarb with sugar and corn starch in a bowl and let it sit.

Rhubarb is a dry fruit and typically the purpose of mixing fruit with sugar & corn starch is so the juices mix with the sugar and starch to sweeten the fruit while forming a ‘sauce’ when it bakes to help everything thicken.
Because these were basically dry stalks of wood in sugar, nothing happened. The sugar didn’t stick to the stalks, there wasn’t any sweetening of the rhubarb, and the sugar basically sat at the bottom of the bowl.
My instinct was to cut the rhubarb into the 4-inch pieces as directed but also split the pieces in half so the width of the stalks was exposed to mix with the sugar and cornstarch. Cutting them into less-wide pieces would also help with the above pan issue. I also think cutting the rhubarb up into small pieces like cubes would make this step successful.

The recipe then directed me to place the rhubarb sticks into the bottom of a pan and include the ‘remaining’ sugar they were mixed with.

However, because the sugar never mixed with the rhubarb I was basically dumping a half cup of sugar into the bottom of the pan. A pan that was already covered in a melted brown sugar, butter, and thyme mixture.
My workaround was to place the rhubarb in a single layer and sprinkle some of the remaining sugar on top. I definitely didn’t add the entire half cup.
If you make this recipe, I believe cutting the rhubarb into smaller pieces would eliminate the excess sugar because a syrup would have truly formed.

The recipe didn’t have any reviews.

In fact, it didn’t even have a way to LEAVE reviews which should have been a giant red flag to me.
So, in place of my ability to leave a review or comment on the actual recipe, I’ve dedicated a whole blog post to it providing a very thorough review (haha!).

So how did the cake turn out?

By some miracle, the cake did bake up without being a complete wreck. It came out of the pan and had a similar criss-cross pattern from the rhubarb as the recipe photo. However, the taste was just ‘meh.’

The rhubarb was stringy when cutting into it and the thyme on top included in the brown sugar layer looked like little bugs which made for an unappealing experience. The rhubarb layer also didn’t have a ton of flavor. The cake part itself, though, was quite delicious. It was a dense vanilla cake with a slightly citrus note from the orange zest. If each part were eaten separately, it could have probably been considered good. But consuming both the stringy rhubarb top and dense cake together just left me underwhelmed.

So, in short, I will NOT be making this cake again.

But I am checking this off for my June baking bucket list challenge, though, I may still explore making another upside down cake in July along with the blueberry pie I have planned. Stay tuned and follow me on Instagram for updates if you’re interested in my upside down baking journey.

Check out my other baking bucket list adventures here!

Festive Italian Cream Cake with Cranberry Curd

December 20, 2018 by Alyssa

Make this festive cake the star of your holiday table with traditional Italian cream cake, tart cranberry curd and simple sugared cranberries.

This post was updated on December 20, 2018 with new photos and revised recipe instructions.

Italian Cream Cake is a forgotten cake flavor and not something you often find in bakeries. Traditionally, this cake is frosted with a cream cheese frosting but in my version, I chose to use a vanilla buttercream in place of the cream cheese frosting and layer the cake with a creamy, tart cranberry curd for the holidays!

The cake itself is heavenly light, made so by incorporating whipped egg whites into the batter right before baking. The cake bakes up to a beautiful brown color, you’ll know it’s done when you gently touch the sponge-like top and it springs back into place. The cake is slightly sweet from the sweetened, shredded coconut in the batter. Some people don’t care for coconut but in this cake, the flavor is so subtle that it truly adds more of a sweetness than a full-on coconut flavor.

Making the Cranberry Curd

The Italian cream cake is filled with a tart and creamy cranberry curd. The curd is creamy from a mixture of eggs and butter. And while homemade curd is a sensitive beast, it’s nothing you can’t handle. When it comes time to add the egg into the buttery, cranberry mixture make sure you slowly temper the eggs first with a few tablespoons of the hot liquid. Once the eggs are acclimated, feel free to whisk them fully into the warm, buttery cranberries. Once complete, the curd is a beautiful pink color that adds excitement to the white cake & frosting when you cut into it.

Decorating with Buttercream & Sugared Cranberries

The tartness of the cranberry curd is balanced with a fluffy, vanilla buttercream. My preference is to frost this cake with a thin layer of buttercream so it doesn’t overpower the light Italian cream cake. But if you’re a frosting fanatic, go ahead and pile it on thick, the frosting recipe makes more than enough to support both preferences!

Sugared cranberries bring rustic simplicity to this festive holiday cake! Piled on top of the cake, they hint to the cranberry curd hidden inside, dazzling your guests with their beautiful, frosted coating when you slice into the cake. I loved piling the cranberries on top and around the edges of the cake, creating mock holly with sprigs of fresh rosemary or thyme.

You’ll have plenty of sugared cranberries remaining which make the perfect addition to your holiday drink station! Throw them in a glass of champagne, top your mulled wine, or float them in your morning mimosa! They’re a festive holiday treat that will add a bit of fancy to your event.

Prep the Cake in Advance

Although this Italian Cream Cake requires a bit of attention to make it’s many components, some of these can be made a day ahead of time and assembled the day of your event. When I made this cake, I made the cranberry curd and frosting the day before then the morning of the event, I made the cake and sugared cranberries, assembling everything about an hour before leaving. If you’re really in a pinch the day of the event, feel free to also make the cake and sugared cranberries the day before, carefully storing everything until assembly.

This cake is sure to be a hit at your holiday party! It’s a show stopping cake that’s sweet, tart & creamy.

5.0 from 5 reviews

Festive Italian Cream Cake with Cranberry Curd

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Prep time

60 mins

Total time

1 hour

Author: Alyssa

Serves: 10-12

Ingredients

Three 8-inch Italian cream cakes, recipe below
1½ cups cranberry curd, recipe below
3 cups vanilla butter cream, recipe below
2 cups sugared cranberries, recipe below
fresh rosemary or thyme, optional

Instructions

Place a single cake on the bottom of your serving platter
Create a dam around the top of the cake with vanilla buttercream then fill the dam with cranberry curd. Repeat the process for the second layer.
Place the third cake on top of the second layer
Remove 1 cup of vanilla frosting and place it in a small bowl. Thin the frosting with 2-3 tablespoons of water and ice the top and outside of the cake with the thin vanilla buttercream. This is your crumb boating
Let the crumb coating dry from 30-60 minutes then frost the outside of the cake with the remaining, thicker, vanilla butter cream.
Decorate the cake with the sugared cranberries and fresh herbs, if using

5.0 from 5 reviews

Italian Cream Cake

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Prep time

45 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

1 hour 15 mins

Author: Alyssa

Serves: 3 cakes

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter
½ cup shortening
1½ cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
5 large eggs, separated
1 cup whole milk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup finely chopped pecans
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
Cooking spray
flour for dusting the cake pans

Instructions

For the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350°F
Grease and lightly flour three 8-inch cake pans. Line the bottom of the pans with parchment circles.
Cream the butter and shortening with the sugar until fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Add the vanilla
Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating between each new addition
In a medium bowl, whisk together the baking soda and flour.
Add the flour mixture and whole milk alternately, beginning and ending with milk
With the mixer on low, stir in the coconut and pecans
In a clean mixing bowl whip the egg whites to stiff peaks
Gently fold the egg whites into the batter
Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a cake pin inserted into the center comes out clean
Cool cakes completely then level the cakes, removing the dome before assembling

5.0 from 5 reviews

Cranberry Curd

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

40 mins

Festive Italian Cream Cake with Cranberry Curd Prep time: 3 hours Cook time: 25 mins Total time: 3 hours 25 mins Serves: 18 pieces

Author: Alyssa

Serves: 1.5 cups

Ingredients

12 ounces fresh cranberries
1 cup granulated sugar
juice and orange zest from 1 large orange
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
2 whole eggs plus 2 egg yolks, beaten

Instructions

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and set aside
Bring the cranberries, sugar, orange juice and peel to boil over medium heat. Stirring occasionally until the cranberries burst
Carefully pour the mixture into a sieve or small strainer placed over a large bowl
Press the mixture into a bowl until mostly pulp and peel remains
While still hot, whisk the butter into pressed liquid
Remove 1 cup of liquid and whisk it gradually into the eggs to temper
Slowly whisk the tempered eggs into the remaining cranberry liquid
Return the mixture to a pot and cook over low heat until nearly bubbling and thick, about 10 minutes.
Cool completely before using. If storing, place plastic wrap tightly on top of the curd to keep out air so a skin layer doesn't form prior to use

5.0 from 5 reviews

Vanilla Buttercream

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

5 mins

Total time

20 mins

Author: Alyssa

Serves: 3-4 cups

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted softened butter
½ cup shortening
2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
3 tablespoons powdered egg whites
4-6 cups confectioner's sugar
6-8 tablespoons milk

Instructions

In a mixer, mix together butter, shortening, egg whites, and 1 cup of confectioner's sugar. Add in vanilla. Gradually add more sugar, alternating with milk until desired consistency is reached.

5.0 from 5 reviews

Sugared Cranberries

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

25 mins

Author: Alyssa

Serves: 2 cups

Ingredients

½ cup sugar
½ cup water
1½ cups sugar (for rolling)
12 ounces fresh cranberries

Instructions

Place a wire rack over a large baking pan (to catch sugar while cranberries dry)
In a medium pot, combine ½ cup sugar and water over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved, about 2-3 minutes.
Gently stir in cranberries until well coated
With a slotted spoon, transfer to the prepared wire rack and let dry for at least 30 minutes
Roll cranberries in 1½ cups sugar until well coated, placing the cranberries back on the wire rack to dry. You may need to work in batches.

How to Bake Perfect Cakes: Four Steps to Perfect Cakes Every Time

April 13, 2018 by Alyssa

Say goodbye to puffy cake tops with my four-step guide to baking perfect cakes. With this guide, you’ll have flat tops, even layers, and a cake that drops out of your pan without a crumb missing every time.

I bake a layered cake about once a month and over time I’ve honed my baking process to ensure I have perfect cakes with every bake. For me, perfect cakes mean flat tops, even layers, and a fully intact cake when I flip them out of the cake pans.

Although flat cake tops may not be high up on your perfect cakes quality list, I’ve found them to be life-changing. Having a flat cake top makes stacking the cakes much easier. It also means you don’t have to cut the tops off which can weaken the structure of the cake and creates less waste since the puffy cake top is often discarded once sliced off. If you use my 4-step guide to perfect cakes, I promise you’ll get even, flat, thick cakes with every bake.

Before you start, my recommendation is to calibrate your oven temperature. If you’ve never done it, here’s a handy guide!

STEP 1: PREP YOUR PAN

Here’s my method for prepping my cake pan

Grease
Flour
Line

The first thing you do to ensure perfect cakes is grease your cake pan. I like to use or butter for greasing my pan. I don’t recommend using vegetable oil or the all-in-one ‘made for bakers’ can that claims to grease and flour your cake pan all at once.

With the Crisco or butter, I simply slather some on a paper towel and rub it into every crevice of the cake pan, all the way to the rim. It doesn’t need to be a heavy coating just enough so it looks greasy without leaving globs of Crisco or butter visible on the pan.

Next, grab some flour (or cocoa powder for chocolate cakes) and dump about 3 tablespoons of the flour into each greased cake pan. Gently shake the flour all over the pan so every inch that you just covered in Crisco is now covered in flour. I usually do this over the sink or garbage for easy cleanup. If you see the flour isn’t sticking to a portion of your cake pan, simply add a little more Crisco to that area and shake again with flour. Dump out any extra, gently tapping the cake pan so there’s nothing left floating around.

Lastly, cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of your cake pan and place it on the bottom. If the parchment seems to roll up on you when you place it in the pan, add a little Crisco to one side and place the greased side down in the pan so the parchment stays in place. The parchment will help ensure your perfect cakes release from the pan without issue.

STEP 2: WRAP YOUR CAKE PAN

This sound silly and I honestly thought were a hoax until I tried it. My first time using the strips I was so impressed and I haven’t baked a cake without them since.

Here’s what I do — after I prep my pan with flour and parchment I fill a big bowl with cool water from the tap. I fully emerge my cake strips and I let them soak while I make the cake batter.

Once the batter’s made, I remove the cake strips from the water, wring them out thoroughly and tightly wrap the empty pans before filling them with batter. That’s it, cake strips are really so simple and they’re key to perfect cakes.

STEP 3: WEIGH YOUR BATTER

If you’re making multiple cakes you need to weigh your batter to ensure your cakes are even in size when they bake. If you’re just making one single cake in one cake pan, you can skip this step and head straight to the oven and bake your cakes.

When it comes time to separate your batter into different pans, . Place one prepared cake pan from Step 1 on the kitchen scale, tare the scale to zero then start adding batter. Add about half the batter to one pan, note the weight on the scale then remove the cake pan.

Put the second prepared cake pan on the scale, tare it to zero then add the same weight in batter to the second pan that you added to the first. If you still have batter left at this point then repeat the process again — add pan 1 to the scale, tare to zero, add batter, note added weight, repeat and match weight with pan 2 until all batter is gone. If you go over on one pan a bit just use a spoon to gently transfer the batter to the other cake pan.

Once the batter’s in the pan, you’re ready to bake!

STEP 4: COOL & FLIP

This is a no-brainer but before you even think about removing your cake from the pan let that baby cool completely.

Like seriously. Do not touch it.

I usually let my cakes cool on a wire rack which allows them cool a bit quicker as the air’s able to circulate around the entire cake pan. Once it’s completely cool, I use a small paring knife and run it around the inside perimeter of the cake pan to gently release the cake.

Next, I put the wire rack on top of the cake and flip it over, holding tightly to both the pan and the wire rack. You may need to tap the pan a little but your cake should fall right out. Voila! You have perfect cakes ready for frosting. Just simply remove the parchment paper and you’re good to go.

Springtime Coconut & Lime Curd Layer Cake featuring Zenker Cake Slicer

April 15, 2017 by Alyssa

Springtime Coconut & Lime Curd Layer Cake combines a light, fluffy coconut cake with a creamy, tart lime curd for the perfect bite of Spring!

I love coconut cake, if fact, it’s probably my favorite kind of cake. I especially love coconut cake mixed with tart, fruity flavors which originally inspired my holiday Festive Italian Cream Cake with Cranberry Curd and led me to create this Springtime Coconut & Lime Curd Layer Cake!

Except for the Springtime Coconut & Lime Curd Layer Cake, I simplified the coconut cake recipe a bit since my prior recipe was labor intensive which means making a scratch-made cake plus homemade lime curd & buttercream frosting results in a 4-5 hour baking project and that’s before doing the dishes. And seriously, who has time for that when all you really want to do is eat cake?

In addition to my quickie coconut cake and lime curd recipes, I’m also sharing the COOLEST baking tool used to create beautiful, even cakes that make layering a breeze!

Let’s get to it!

The Cake

Let me start by saying this is a judgment free zone and utilizing box cake mix is 100% acceptable because we’re still jazzing it up with a few key ingredients to make our Springtime Coconut & Lime Curd Layer Cake.

With the addition of coconut milk, coconut oil, and shredded coconut this semi-homemade box cake recipe turns out 3 luscious layers of super moist, super coconut cake.

You can utilize white or yellow cake mix for my Springtime Coconut & Lime Curd Layer Cake — I prefer white because I love the pristine white layers and it’s more representative of coconut when you dig your fork into it. I will advise against using the coconut box cake mix though as sometimes that flavor can be very artificial and with all the true coconut we’re adding into the mix, there’s no need to jeopardize the flavor with fake coconut extract.

The Curd

Curd of any sorts is SO easy to make as long as you’re attentive while it’s cooking. The key to cooking curd is to cook it slowly over low heat and stir it constantly. Since curd is egg based, you don’t want to cook it on high heat or you’ll end up with lime flavored scrambled eggs.

The curd within the Springtime Coconut & Lime Curd Layer Cake is a bit on the tart side but I chose to add less sugar on purpose since the coconut cake and vanilla frosting are sweet.

You must cool the curd before layering it into the Springtime Coconut & Lime Curd Layer Cake. When cooling the curd, be sure to place plastic wrap on top of curd where the plastic wrap touches the curd itself. This will ensure a skin doesn’t form overtop of the curd while cooling.

Pro Tip: Use a vegetable peeler to peel strips of rind from your lime then stick it in your food process to save time zesting!

The Layering

To ensure an even cake once stacked and layered, it’s best to cut the dome top off of each cake prior to frosting and stacking to assemble this Springtime Coconut & Lime Curd Layer Cake. Creating flat cake tops will help ensure stability in your cake. Unfortunately, no matter how many times I’ve tried to carefully cut even layers off my cakes, they always end up slightly slanted.

Until now, with the help of Zenker Stainless Steel Layer Cake Slicing Kit I can now cut perfectly even layers every. single. time.

This Zenker’s Slicing Kit is SO easy to use, you simply drop your cake in the middle and using the large knife provided, slide it into the metal guides and slice away. Remove the knife, spin the slicer around and repeat! As long as you cut at the same level for each cake, your cakes will be equal in height and be perfectly level and ready for their lime curd! Check out my step by step below! Or check out Zenker’s quick how-to video

Step 1: Place your cake in the middle of the Zenker Cake Slicer and determine where you’ll cut your cake to evenly remove the dome. For this cake, I cut 3 up from the bottom.

Step 2: Using your large knife, cut halfway through the cake, spin the slicer around and cut the cake from the other side so the dome’s cut all the way off

Before & After: A straight even top from the Zenker Cake Slicer!

The other tip for layering the Springtime Coconut & Lime Curd Layer Cake is for you to very lightly coat the top and bottom of each cake with a thin layer of frosting before putting the curd on.

The first time I made this Springtime Coconut & Lime Curd Layer Cake, I didn’t seal in the cake with frosting and the curd soaked right into the cake. It was still super delicious but it simply looked like three cake rounds stacked on top of one another without the beautiful lime curd filling visible in-between. Here’s a couple pictures and a little diagram to help you assemble the Springtime Coconut & Lime Curd Layer Cake!

The Frosting

I went with a classic, vanilla buttercream frosting for the Springtime Coconut & Lime Curd Layer Cake

When making frosting, I like to use half butter and half shortening. The shortening adds stability while the butter adds flavor. In my mind, it’s the best of both worlds.

I also prefer to use clear vanilla extract rather than the brown extract as the colored vanilla adds a slight tint to your frosting. That, mixed with the yellow butter often results in a beige colored buttercream which isn’t super appealing to the eye.

My last pro tip, which is completely optional, is to add a bit of meringue powder to your frosting for additional stability and instead of using water or plain milk as the liquid component, I highly recommend using half & half.

The addition of half & half leaves the frosting light and silky when spread onto the cake. Whenever I make frosting with half & half, I always get compliments on its texture and taste!

Alright friends, that’s my tips and tricks for this Springtime Coconut & Lime Curd Layer Cake! It’s perfect for Spring or even this upcoming Easter weekend! Enjoy.

I did receive the Zenker product in return for a post. All thoughts and opinions about the product are my own.

5.0 from 2 reviews

Springtime Coconut & Lime Curd Cake

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Ingredients

For the Cake:
2 boxes white or yellow cake mix
16 ounces sour cream
15 ounces coconut milk
6 large eggs, beaten
½ cup coconut oil, melted and cooled
1½ cups sweetened, shredded coconut
1 cup of sweetened, shredded coconut, toasted
For the Curd:
½ cup, 1 stick butter softened to room temperature
zest of 4 limes, medium to large in size
½ cup fresh lime juice
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
pinch of salt
For the Frosting:
½ cup, 1 stick butter softened to room temperature
½ cup vegetable shortening
2 pounds confectioner’s sugar
2 tablespoons meringue powder
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extra
4-6 tablespoons half & half

Instructions

For the cakes:
Preheat oven to 350*
Lightly grease and flour 3 9-inch cake pans. If available, line the bottom of each pan with a round parchment circle to make cake removal even simpler. Set aside while you assemble the batter.
Pour the 2 cake mixes into a large bowl. Using a whisk, combine the cake mix with the sour cream, coconut oil, coconut milk, and eggs.
Fold in 1½ cups of shredded coconut.
Evenly distribute the batter among the 3 prepared cake pans.
Bake for 30 minutes or until a cake pin inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Let cool 10 minutes then turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing, layering and frosting.
To toast the remaining 1 cup of coconut, place a pan on the stove over medium heat.
Stir the coconut constantly for 5-7 minutes until lightly brown and golden.
Remove from heat and set aside until you are ready to assemble the cake.
For the curd:
In an electric mixer, cream together the softened butter and sugar.
Add in the zest of 4 limes.
One at a time, add in the eggs mixing each well into the butter & sugar before adding the next.
Lastly, add in the lime juice and a pinch of salt.
Transfer the entire mixture to a medium-size saucepan and place it on low to medium-low heat.
Stir the mixture constantly for 10-15 minutes, being sure to scrape the bottom of the pan.
The curd will begin to thicken after 10 minutes, when the mixture reaches 170-175*
Once thickened, remove from heat and transfer to a clean bowl
Place plastic wrap on top of curd so the plastic touches the curd itself. This will ensure a skin doesn’t form overtop of the curd.
Place the curd in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours until chilled before layering in the cake.
For the frosting:
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and shortening.
Add in 4 tablespoons half & half and the vanilla extract. Combine well.
Add in the meringue powder, salt and 1 cup of confectioner’s sugar and combine.
Continue adding the confectioner’s sugar, 1 cup at a time until it’s all combined into the frosting.
Add in the additional tablespoons of half & half to achieve desired thickness.
To Assemble:
Slice the top off of each cake so an even top is formed.
Frost a thin layer of buttercream on the top of each cake layer.
Place the first frosted layer on the serving tray.
On top of the thin layer of frosting add a spoonful of cooled lime curd and spread it evenly across the cake.
Taking the next cake layer, place the frosted side down, facing the curd.
Now frost the top of the 2nd layer with a thin layer of frosting. Add a spoonful of curd on top of the thin layer of frosting and spread it evenly across the cake.
Taking the last cake, place the frosted side down, again facing the curd.
Using the rest of your frosting, frost the top and sides of the cake.
Top the cake with the toasted coconut.

Oreo Mocha Java Ice Cream Cake

August 11, 2016 by Alyssa

This Oreo Mocha Java Ice Cream Cake is decadent, chocolatey & delicious with an Oreo crust, layers of coffee ice cream, hot fudge & a dollop of whipped topping!

Since it’s still wicked hot here in the South (I’m not complaining, I love it) — I thought I’d continue my trend of no-bake desserts and venture into the coolest of categories with an Oreo Mocha Java Ice Cream Cake!

This ice cream cake begins with classic Oreo cookies, layers of coffee ice cream studded with chocolate chips, hot fudge sauce, a light dollop of whipped topping and more Oreos on top. It’s decadent, chocolatey and delicious. Perfect for those 100* days, an upcoming BBQ, or soon-to-be Labor Day picnics!

This Oreo Mocha Java Ice Cream Cake recipe is based on a family favorite and it’s a treat I’ve been enjoying since I was a little kid. When I was younger, my favorite part of the ice cream cake was the Oreo cookie crust and in all honesty, it probably still is!

Each summer when my Mom made this cake, usually for my Dad’s birthday, I’d first eat all the whipped cream and fudge sauce off the top of the cake. I’d then carefully work to scrape the ice cream off the Oreo cookie crust, trying to preserve the entire piece of crust, so I could enjoy it like an extra large Oreo cookie. I loved how chocolatey, thick and decadent the crust tasted!

In fact, I was so obsessed with this ice cream cake crust, I remember begging my Mom to make just the crust for dessert one night. Obviously, she laughed and refused to make it, informing me that it was nothing more than crushed Oreos & butter. (Tangent: My Butter Oreo request only strengthens Paula Deen’s argument that butter makes everything better)

Since this recipe is based on my childhood favorite, I kept the Oreo cookie crust as a key ingredient in my ice cream cake but swapped in Coffee Java Chip ice cream to please my grown-up taste buds!

If you’re a fan of mocha flavored anything, I guarantee you’re going to love this Oreo Mocha Java Ice Cream Cake. It’s like biting into a Starbucks Frappuccino or the best Coffee Sundae you’ve ever hard. It’s crunchy, sweet, gooey and creamy all in one bite! The perfect combination of flavors and textures.

Although I chose to make this ice cream cake with coffee flavored ice cream, creating an Oreo Mocha Java Ice Cream Cake, this recipe can truly be used as a base to create all sorts of flavor combinations by simply swapping your ice cream flavor, sauce, and toppings!

Sticking with the same Oreo cookie base and whipped topping ‘frosting’, here are a few other flavor combinations to try out if coffee ice cream isn’t your jam —

Since summer isn’t over yet, you still have plenty of time to try my Oreo Mocha Java Ice Cream Cake recipe and experiment with flavors of your own! Or if you’re searching for more no-bake desserts there’s also my No-Bake Cake Batter Cake Balls or Biscoff Cookie Butter Pie!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Oreo Mocha Java Ice Cream Cake

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This ice cream cake begins with the classic Oreo cookie, layers on coffee ice cream studded with chocolate chips, hot fudge sauce, a light dollop of whipped topping and more Oreos on top. It’s decadent, chocolatey and delicious.

Ingredients

24 Oreo cookies
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 quarts coffee or java chip ice cream, softened at room temperature for 15-30 minutes
1 cup hot fudge sauce, like Mrs. Richardson's
1 8-ounce container of whipped topping, like Cool Whip
Additional Oreos, for topping

Instructions

Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan with a bit of the melted butter and set aside
Place 24 Oreos in a food processor and pulse until you reach a sand-like consistency
Pour in the melted butter and pulse 3-4 more times to combine
Empty the Oreo-butter mixture into the springform pan and press it into the bottom and sides of the pan, to form a bit of a dam or crust around the edges
Place the cookie crust in the freezer to set for 30 minutes
Once set, remove the crust from the freezer and smooth the softened ice cream into the pan, using a spatula to evenly distribute the ice cream across the crust
Place the cake back in the freezer to set for another 30-60 minutes
Once the ice cream has set, heat the hot fudge sauce in the microwave for 30-60 seconds until warm but not bubbling
Pour the warm hot fudge on top of the ice cream, spreading it evenly all the way to the edges of the cake
Return the cake to the freezer to set until serving
Before serving, allow the cake to thaw for 5-10 minutes, which will make cutting the cake a bit easier
to slice the cake. Remove the springform container and top each slice with a dollop of whipped topping and additional Oreos.

cake

Ring in the next decade with a decadent New Year’s Eve blackout cake filled with glittery sprinkles and a shimmering gold fault line.

Check out the pinata cake I made last year to celebrate 2019!

The Chocolate Cake

Black Chocolate Buttercream

Adding the Sprinkles

Gold Fault Line

My baking bucket list challenge continues this month with an upside down cake. Rather than classic pineapple, I had a baking adventure with a rhubarb upside down cake.

Let me tell you how this happened…

Making my rhubarb upside down cake

The recipe said to prepare a 9-inch cake pan.

The recipe said to mix 4-inch pieces of rhubarb with sugar and corn starch in a bowl and let it sit.

The recipe then directed me to place the rhubarb sticks into the bottom of a pan and include the ‘remaining’ sugar they were mixed with.

The recipe didn’t have any reviews.

So how did the cake turn out?

Make this festive cake the star of your holiday table with traditional Italian cream cake, tart cranberry curd and simple sugared cranberries.

This post was updated on December 20, 2018 with new photos and revised recipe instructions.

Making the Cranberry Curd

Decorating with Buttercream & Sugared Cranberries

Prep the Cake in Advance

Say goodbye to puffy cake tops with my four-step guide to baking perfect cakes. With this guide, you’ll have flat tops, even layers, and a cake that drops out of your pan without a crumb missing every time.

STEP 1: PREP YOUR PAN

STEP 2: WRAP YOUR CAKE PAN

STEP 3: WEIGH YOUR BATTER

STEP 4: COOL & FLIP

Springtime Coconut & Lime Curd Layer Cake combines a light, fluffy coconut cake with a creamy, tart lime curd for the perfect bite of Spring!

This Oreo Mocha Java Ice Cream Cake is decadent, chocolatey & delicious with an Oreo crust, layers of coffee ice cream, hot fudge & a dollop of whipped topping!

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