"If You Like Pina Coladas, And Getting Caught In the Rain"

Oh Jimmy Buffet.....

First off, I HATE that song.

Secondly, I've never actually had a pina colada.

Third, I used to hate coconut, until I worked at Butterwoods.

Pina Colada Cake


You will need:

• White Cake (Use a box mix, or make it. Don't matter none to me.)
• White Frosting (2 cans or make it)
• 1/2 pint Heavy Cream plus 1 tbsp confectioners sugar
• 2  1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
• 1 1/4 tsp Coconut Extract
• 1 can Crushed Pineapple (well drained)
• Rum 

I used a boxed cake mix for the white cake. Work these days has been long and hard. Wait, why am I trying to justify this? There's nothing wrong with a box cake!

Once they are cooled use a serrated knife or cake leveler to level off the top of the cakes(then eat it!). They don't have to be perfect, you just don't want a mound on top.

Whip up your cream and confectioners sugar. After it is whipped add the coconut extract. You can add less or more according to your taste.

It was at this point that Matt woke up abruptly and said. "Allison!!! Was there an earthquake?" to which I replied, "What???" He said, "There was an earthquake!" I said, "Did you feel one?" He said, "Yea...I felt it." Then he zonked out again. I'll have to watch the news today, but I felt no earthquake.

To toast the coconut, lay a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet and spread the coconut flakes out evenly. Heat your oven to 350 degrees (or just leave it on from the cakes). Toast the flakes for 10-12 minutes. The outer edge flakes toast first so I sort of shifted them around after 8 minutes. Keep a close eye on these. They can go from perfectly toasted to burnt to a crisp in a matter of seconds.

They make your house smell sooo good:). Add about a quarter cup of the flakes to your whipped cream once they have cooled.

I put a dam around the bottom layer of cake to help hold the filling in. You can use a pastry bag or a ziplock and just put a ring of frosting around the edge.

I omitted the rum because this is for the Pioneer School lunch ahah. But you could just brush some on the cake before you spread the pineapple on top. I used maybe a third of a cup of the crushed pineapple for a bottom layer. Then spread a layer of the coconut whipped cream on top of that.

Don't make it to high or else the top layer will slide around or the filling will ooze out the sides.

Place the top layer top side down on the bottom layer.

Use an offset spatula to frost the cake. I think it's easiest to use the top side of the spatula to frost the sides. Make sure you fill in any gaps between the two layers. Work your way around the cake holding the spatula at a 90 degree angle. Make sure the frosting goes a little higher then the top of the cake.

Put a big blob of frosting on top and I use the bottom side of the spatula to work my way from the center and spread out to the sides, spinning it as I go.

Meet the edge and close the gap between the top frosting and the sides.

Use the bottom side of your spatula (holding it evenly) and go from the edge, grab the lip of frosting and pull in over the top, scraping off excess frosting. Go back around the sides, evening them out and over the top again if you have to. The nice thing about this cake is that it doesn't have to look perfect because it's all getting covered in the coconut!

Hold the cake over the bowl of toasted coconut, take a handful and press it onto the sides of the cake. Brush off extra as you go. Once the sides are done, cover the top. Go back around and cover up any missed/thin spots. This is messy. But just look at the result! oooo-aaaaa:)

I had enough frosting left over for a bottom border so I used a large star tip and just did a scallop border.

Yummy!!

***EDIT***

So there was a 5.9 earthquake this afternoon centered near Richmond VA...Matt was right I guess hahah.