Coconut Layer Cake

There was a time when my friend Anna and I were eating Lindt White Chocolate Toasted Coconut candy bars all the time.  Normally I’m not wild about white chocolate, but this candy bar is SO good.  The toasty coconut offsets the sweetness and the higher quality white chocolate doesn’t have the chemically aftertaste that cheaper candy bars can have.  When Anna came over for dinner recently I decided to make a cake inspired by the candy bar, and it might be the best cake I ever made.  The cake part was moist and flavorful and the frosting was fluffy with the distinctive taste of white chocolate.

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Cornmeal Cake with Caramel Cream

On Saturday my friend Yan came over to bake.  We decided it would be fun to make a layer cake.  Naturally I turned to my favorite cake cookbook Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes.  Every recipe I’ve made from this cookbook has been awesome.  I sent Yan the list of recipes that appealed to me, and he chose the Santa Fe Cornmeal Cake with Cajeta Cream.  I was really excited since I’ve been wanting to make the cake since I bought the cookbook.

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Maple Walnut Cupcakes (and some soapy madeleines)

My friend Emily was having an Easter brunch this weekend.  Originally I was going to make something lemon or coconut flavored because they seemed the most seasonally appropriate, but then I spotted the Maple Cake with Maple Syrup frosting recipe in the “Great American Cakes” article in this month’s issue of Bon Appétit.  It reminded me that I’ve been meaning to make the Maple Walnut Cake in Sky High Triple Layer Cakes since I bought the book over a year ago.  And maple is also seasonally appropriate though maybe a bit less obvious.  Sap is collected from maple trees in February and March or whenever the daytime temperature gets above freezing and the nighttime temperature stays below.  In northern New England and Canada smelling sap being boiled into syrup at a sugarhouse is one of the first signs that winter is transitioning into spring.

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