Tommy Bahama's Pina Colada Cake as slightly modified by me...

PIÑA COLADA CAKE Tommy Bahama style but modified by Christina...

Serves 8

Ingredients:
1 box Pillsbury® white cake mix prepared as directed on the box (I use my home made white cake recipe or sponge cake recipe if I don’t have the mix)

3 1/4 lbs. Piña Colada White Chocolate Mousse (see recipe below for the one with Mousse in the can or check out my recipe for White Chocolate Mousse at the end)

24 oz. Toasted Coconut (see recipe below)
24 oz. crushed pineapple tidbits
Myers Dark Rum in a spray bottle or brush on (see assembly instructions below)

Baking Instructions:

1.     Prepare cake mix  and bake as directed in  a 10" x 3" cake pan with butter or nonstick spray or in two round cake pans.

2.     Allow it to cool completely in the pan.

Piña Colada White Chocolate Mousse
16 oz. (1 can) Swiss Chalet white chocolate mousse
2 qt. heavy whipping cream

Instructions:

1.     Slowly add the cream to the chocolate mousse in a mixer.

2.     While adding, increase speed until all the cream is incorporated.

3.     Continue whipping until stiff peaks form. Use immediately.

Toasted Coconut
24 oz. shredded coconut

Instructions:

1.     Pre-heat oven to 350° F.

2.     Place coconut on a parchment-lined baking sheet and spread out evenly, making sure not to pile the coconut too high.

3.     Place tray in oven and toast coconut until it is a light-to-medium brown. Rotate tray every few minutes to ensure even cooking. WATCH OUT IT HAPPENS VERY FAST !

Cake Assembly Instructions:

1.     Cut off the very top of cake to make it completely level. Slice the cake into 4 equal layers, each 1/2" wide. Cut away all brown edges on the top, sides and bottom. I  LEAVE THE SIDES ON, IT IS EASIER TO SPREAD THE MOUSSE.

2.     Completely spray the top side of the first (or bottom) layer with dark Rum.

3.     Evenly spread  chocolate mousse over the layer so that the cake and the mousse are equal in depth. (The mousse should be smooth.)

4.     Evenly spread a portion of the of crushed pineapple over the mousse so that each layer will get some and reserve a little for the top centre as a decoration if you want.

5.     Place the next, "plain" layer on top of the layer with mousse and pineapple.

6.     Start building the cake by repeating steps 3-6 with the remaining layers. Do not, however, add crushed pineapple to the last (or top) layer; apply only the sprayed rum.

7.     Frost the top and sides with remaining mousse. Cover the cake completely.

8.     Coat the top and sides with toasted coconut, leaving no bare spots.

9.     Slice cake into 8 equal pieces for serving.

WHITE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

Ingredients

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2      cups white chocolate chipsshopping list

4     cups of whipping cream (divided in 1/2 and 3 1/2 cups) shopping list

Directions

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1.     microwave chocolate and 1/4 cup of the cream in a large microwaveable bowl on high for 2 minutes or until the chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 1 minute. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

2.     Cool 20 minutes or until at room temperature, stirring occasionally.

3.     Beat remaining cream in chilled medium bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form (do not over beat). Add half of the whipped cream to the white chocolate mixture, stir with wire whisk until well blended. Gently stir in remaining whipped cream.

4.     Refrigerate 2 hours or until ready to use.

Danish Wedding Cake Made for Louise and Gord's Wedding!

This beautiful photo of the cake I made for my daughter's wedding was taken by an amazing young photographer, Baz Kanda.

Danish Wedding Cake (Kransekage)

1 lb. ground (blanched) almonds

(I ground the almonds myself and worked with a mini food processor to mix the ingredients...a bigger food processor would have been nice but you work with what you have! :-) )

4 egg whites

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon baking powder

Add baking powder to blanched almonds and mix.

Add slightly beaten egg whites and vanilla to almonds.

Sift in powdered sugar and mix.

Warm dough in a pan (over warm water) and stir continually.

Cool until next day.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees C.

Roll dough out into sausages the size of thick fingers. Form rings by butting and pinching the ends. Then peak the top of the rings so that the tops form slightly inverted v's. You can get pans in which to bake the rings but if you dont have that make the rings concentric in size so that one will fit atop the next, gradually getting smaller and smaller until the top ring is formed.

Bake on non stick cookie sheets for ten minutes. When cool, turn onto cooling rack to finish cooling.

Make the icing:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons water (to desired consistency)

1/2 tsp lemon juice or rum flavouring

If not stiff enough add more sugar. Put in pastry tube with small tip or in a baggie with a small hole cut in the corner.

To Assemble the Cake!

Put some icing on the platter to anchor the cake, then place first ring. Apply icing in scallops to each ring and place the next ring on top. The icing will make the rings stay together if they are indeed concentric enough so practice with wax paper to know how long the cake 'sausages" should be. Me, the first time through I just guessed at it and it worked, but my background is math so maybe that helped... :-)

Decorations of flowers, flags small candy pieces can be used depending on the occasion.

They can be affixed with the icing "glue" .

The cake is traditionally dis-assembled by the bride and groom and pieces broken into 2 inch lengths for the guests.

Banana Bread - Just Tried New Recipe

I just tried this fantastic recipe from the Circle of Moms bulletin and it is really good and so easy! Plus it does not use a ton of sugar! My grandaughters love to bake with me and I am trying this one with them again soon!

Source: Inken Chrisman
Makes
12-16 slices

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup whole wheat or regular flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp vegetable oil

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Lightly spray a 5 x 9” loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Combine the bananas, vanilla, egg and sugar in a large bowl and mix well. In another bowl combine the flour and baking powder and mix well.

Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and mix lightly. Add the vegetable oil and mix just until moistened.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the preheated oven for 45minutes to 1 hour, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove the bread from the pan and cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

ENJOY it! We loved it!

Mother's Home Made Bread

Mother baked bread every week when I was little and because we were five children she always made a lot. When I first got married I asked her for the recipe and she said "hmmmm...let's see if I can write it down." She always baked from memory and did not often pull out the Danish cookbook she had.

Here is what I have!

1. In a big big bowl:

• 5 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar

2. In another bowl heat in microwave (or as she did it in a pan on the stove) until lukewarm:

• 2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup margerine

3. Treat 2 packages of yeast according to their package instructions

4. Put 2 and 3 up into 1 and knead, cleaning hands with flour and adding flour if it seems too wet...

Allow to rise in a warm dry place with a tea towel draped loosely over the bowl. Knead again. Form into buns or place in bread forms and allow to rise again.

Whisk an egg and brush over bread just before baking at 325 F . Checking to see when the bread sounds hollow when you tap it. If I remember right then at least 30 minutes...I will make this in September and come back to tell you how long to bake it! :-)

Finnish Butter Cookies

(Note I borrowed this photograph...I will post my own when I make them next time)

Mother made these cookies at Christmas time.

3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 pound butter (Mother used margerine)
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs

Knead dough and roll out with baking pin and cut into small rectangles an inch by two inches each.

Whisk an egg and swab the top of the cookies, then shake a little sugar on top ( the Finns shake a little ground almonds too) and bake at 400 degrees til light brown.

Apple Pie

We had a little apple orchard on the farm with about 6 trees I would say. The apples were very good in the fall but Mother's apple pie was the best!

Piecrust (Makes 4 or 5 piecrusts)

6 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 lb Margerine

In a mug put

• 1 egg


• 1 tsp vinegar

Beat with a fork and then fill the mug with water and mix

Combine all ingredients together and mix it up.
Refrigerate for one hour and then roll it out on a floured surface. Cut the piecrusts to fit your pans.

Apple Filling (Per Pie)

Peel and cut up 5 - 6 large apples per pie

• cut up apples


• 1/4 cup brown sugar


• 2 tbsp corn starch


• 2 tbsp flour


• 2 tbsp butter


• 1 tsp cinnamon


• 1/ cup berries (optional)

Stir the ingredients together and pour into the pie shell, top with crust.

Mother's Easy Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

1 tbsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 lb margerine or butter
1 egg

Directions

Knead all ingredients together and roll into a log. Refrigerate overnight and next day cut into 1/4 inch thick slices. Bake until golden in oven.

Mother did not always tell me the times for baking because she did so much from feel, smell and memory. Plus she baked on a wood stove which heated quite differently from today's conventional ovens. So try it a couple of times and write down the optimal time if you find one. (And let me know please!)