Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Hexipuffs....what week is this? It's Coco-Guava time!

The hexipuffs have been put on hold for a minute. I don't want buttercream getting all over them.

I have had this burning desire to properly ice a cake and add some cute decorations to it. So this is my first attempt.

I recently went to the Sugar Flower Cake Shop to learn how to ice a cake. My first try was good, but nothing to really scream about. So, this weekend I came up with the idea of making a Coconut Guava cake. I wanted something tropical that I have never done before.

I found a few basic recipes that had no coconut in the batter whatsoever. They just added coconut to the frosting. That's a no-no in my book. Why say its a coconut cake if there is no coconut in the cake??? So, I happened to find a recipe that uses creamed coconut in the batter and that made me happy.

As far as the guava goes, it can be very tricky because it is extremely sweet. I didn't want an overpowering jelly flavor so I made it into a buttercream instead.

I also created the white buttercream with shortening and corn starch to add to the stability in this humid warm weather. I had to add some clear vanilla extract and coconut extract to flavor it up.

So, after all is said and done, here is my cake. Mixing the guava buttercream, mixing the coconut batter, applying the 1st crumb coat, applying the final icing, adding coconut to the final icing, and decorating.

Enjoy!