Bake and learn...

We are having some of my favorite people over for dinner tonight.  So, of course, yesterday morning found me mulling over what dessert to make - because we all know that's why they are coming...not for whatever scraps The Husband will manage to pull together.... ;-)

Eventually, I had it narrowed down to either a coconut cake (one of the children consistently asks if I have made this every time they come over, so it's safe to say it's his favorite) or a peach cobbler.

The coconut cake I have made before, obviously.  The peach cobbler?  Never.  I have not attempted a cobbler in any shape or form before at all.

Then, me being me, I decided that both desserts would not be too over the top because I can send some of each home with our friends and some home with Man-Child, should he decide to grace us with his presence today.  And whatever is left over The Husband and I can take to work to be devoured.  Plus, I've been trying to break out of my comfort zones when it comes to baking, thus the cobbler.

This time around, I decided to make the coconut cake as a sheet cake rather than a layered one.  I prefer the layered type but it can get messy.  I figured the sheet cake would contain the mess.

Here's the modified recipe I use for the coconut cake (original recipe found here).

Ingredients (Printable recipe here)

White cake (either homemade or boxed is fine)
1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk*
1 14 oz can of cream of coconut*
1 16 oz package whipped topping, thawed*
1 8 oz package of flaked coconut

Prepare and bake white cake according to recipe/boxed mix directions.  Remove cake from the oven.  While still hot, use a long fork to poke holes all over the top.

Mix cream of coconut and sweetened condensed milk; pour over the still hot cake.  Let cake cool completely, frost with whipped topping and garnish with the flaked coconut.

*If you decide to go with a sheet cake instead of layers, you can probably half all of these ingredients.  Of course, this did not occur to me until I had used a majority of the cream of coconut and sweetened condensed milk mixture.  So I fully expect this cake to be tooth-achingly sweet.  Something, I am sure, that won't bother the children!

For the peach cobbler, I went with a recipe that I'd found in the paper years and years ago - based on how yellowed the page was...it was simple and straightforward.  So, of course, I completely botched the first batch up!  This is also why I should really focus on one recipe at a time, particularly when making something new; oh well, live and learn.  Or in this case, bake and learn.

Fruit Cobbler (Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

1 stick of butter
1 cup of sugar
3/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons of baking soda
3/4 cup of milk
2 cups of fruit - fresh, canned or frozen (sweetened to taste)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt the butter in a medium or large Pyrex baking dish.

Stir sugar and flour together in a bowl.  Stir in milk.  Pour over melted butter.  Do not stir.  Pour the fruit on top.  Bake for one hour.

Seems almost too easy, doesn't it?  First tip - when given the option of a medium or large Pyrex dish; opt for the medium.  Trust me.  Second tip - wear your reading glasses and pay actual attention to the fact that it says pour over melted butter.  How do I have the knowledge to offer this second tip?  Because in hindsight, I only put a 1/4 cup of milk into the flour and sugar mixture as I ended up spooning the mixture over the butter.  But I pressed on.  And utterly failed.

The baking dish was too large so the result was an ultra thin, semi-burned mixture.  So while it tasted okay, it was completely unacceptable.  The entire dish was tossed into the trash and the baking dish is still soaking in hopes that I can salvage it.

Of course, I was undeterred and tried again.  I have a feeling that this time I've nailed it.

The plan is to warm it and serve it with vanilla ice cream - yum!

This morning found me up extra early and what happens when I have too much time on my hands?  Well, I created this post and currently there are two loaves of no-knead bread rising, if that tells you anything...