Raspberry Coconut Cake

cookiedog's Note:

My mom called to let me know that the next day we would be celebrating my leap year baby cousins first birthday. She said my Aunt Pat said to make sure I knew that we would be eating something besides "a couple of chickens"- a little family joke that if I don't cook, we only have rotisserie chickens from the grocery store.I asked my mom what kind of cake she would have, it was her first birthday after all- a momentous occasion sure to be captured in pictures. She said she thought maybe brownies. Well I didn't sleep all night, thinking about our little princess not having a birthday cake. I got up at 6 am., shuffled around in the pantry, and pulled out the ingredients to make this cake. I tinted the coconut pink using a baggie and 2 drops of food coloring. It was a pretty little cake and it looked so tempting that Adrianna dug right in fingers and all, and her big sister did too with a little encouragement from my mom. First birthdays deserve something special - like this cake. From Taste of Home Simple and Delicious.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 1 (18 1/4 ounce) package white cake mix
• 3 egg whites (or as called for by your cake mix)
• 1/3 cup oil (or as called for by your cake mix)
• 1 1/3 cups water (or as called for by your cake mix)
• 3 cups flaked coconut, divided
• 6 (1 ounce) squares white baking chocolate
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 3/4 cup seedless raspberry jam
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions:

1. Prepare cake batter according to package directions; fold in 2/3 cup coconut.
2. Pour into two greased 9-in. round baking pans.
3. Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
4. Cool for 10 minutes removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
5. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine white chocolate and cream.
6. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 1 minute (mine took 30 seconds) or until chocolate is almost melted; stir until smooth. (Please adjust the time in microwave according to your micro's power).
7. Cool to room temperature. In a small bowl, combine jam and 1 cup coconut.
8. Spread over one cake layer; top with second layer.
9. In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light an d fluffy; gradually beat in white chocolate mixture.
10. Spread over top and sides of cake.
11. Toast remaining coconut; sprinkle over cake.

Reviews

[Muffin Goddess]

Mmmm, this reminded me of those Dolly Madison Raspberry ZingersI used to eat when I was little! The closest thing to white cake mix that I had on hand was a Party Chip cake mix, so that's what I used. Because I'm an incurable frosting fiend, I made a 1.5 batch of the frosting, and I was glad I did -- a single batch of it would just not have been enough for me (normal cake-eaters, yes, but not for me). I couldn't find my red liquid food coloring, so I couldn't dye my toasted coconut pink, but I found a can of pink spray-on food coloring, so I "spray painted" the frosted cake and topped it with the uncolored coconut. Oh, and I added a drop or two of raspberry extract to the topping coconut for a bit of extra raspberry flavor, too. The pink sprayed cake wasn't as pretty and delicate looking as yours with the pink coconut on the white cake, but it just kind of ended up looking like one of those Hostess Snowballs. Definitely not ugly, but I think the pink was a bit too strong because I was spraying at too close a range (trying not to airbrush my entire kitchen cupcake pink, y'know?). Funky pink hue aside, I was really impressed with the frosting. I thought that it would be much heavier, considering the ingredients, but it mixed up nice and fluffy, almost more like a whipped frosting than a buttercream. Very buttery tasting, of course, but surprisingly light in texture. Great to work with, too -- not so soft that it slowly oozed off the sides of the cake, but not so stiff that it rips the cake up while you frost it. Oh, and did I mention that I REALLY liked the frosting? lol Thanks for posting! :) Made for PAC Spring 09