Easy to Make Pina Colada Cake

Winter blahs getting you down? An easy to make Pina Colada cake can add a taste of the tropics and chase away those winter blues. Your kitchen will take on an aroma of fresh island fruit with this luscious and delicious simple cake recipe.

Embellish this cake with a few edible flowers and mini-umbrellas, and you've got the perfect way to serve a plate of sunshine! An easy way to brighten up cold snowy evenings.



Pina Colada Cake

Ingredients:
1 white cake mix
1-8 ounce can crushed pineapple, in own juice
1-6 ounce can unsweetened pineapple juice
3 large eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup water
1 can cream of coconut
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons dark rum
2 cups shedded coconut, toasted
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2- 8 inch round pans. Mix first five ingredients with mixer on low until just combined. Mix on high for two minutes. Pour batter in pans and bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool in pans for 15 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks.
For the frosting, sprinkle gelatin over cold water in saucepan. Heat over low heat for 3 - 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until dissolved. Whisk cream of coconut in a large bowl until smooth. Whisk in gelatin until well blended. Refrigerate until mounds slightly when dropped from a spoon about 10 - 15 minutes. Beat cream and rum in bowl until stiff peaks form. Whisk 1/2 whipped cream mixture into coconut mixture. Fold in the rest of cream with a rubber spatula. Refrigerate until set, 15 - 20 minutes.
Slice each layer in half horizontally. Place one half on the serving plate. Use 1/3 of the frosting to frost in between all the layers. Once all assembled, use the remaining 2/3 of the frosting to cover the top and the sides of the cake. Gently press the toasted coconut into the top and sides of the cake. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.
Note: When desserts were made just for Mom and Dad, Mom would make two separate cakes out of this recipe. The torte d cake layers were frosted and covered in coconut separately. To freeze half of this recipe, place on a foil lined cookie sheet and put in the freezer. When completely frozen, tightly whap cake in plastic wrap and then foil. To serve, unwrap and then completely defrost and store cake in the refrigerator.

Prep Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes

Fill Your Easter BAsket with Real Grass!

Ever notice how that Easter basket grass gets stuck to the candy? Sometimes chocolate candy
gets warm and the grass becomes part of the chocolate treat. Or maybe Easter basket grass gets
stuck and wrapped around those marshmallow peeps or that Easter bunny.

Why not try a new twist to your Easter basket this year. Natural, live grass can adorn the Easter
basket without sticking to the candy. The grass actually grows in the Easter basket and
everyone can enjoy the wonders of spring, the natural way.

Things you'll need to grow your own Easter basket grass:

Cellophane or plastic container (empty milk jug, milk carton, or bowl)
Grass, rye or wheat seed
Vermiculite
Basket
Spray bottle
Water

Cut the cellophane or plastic container so it fits in the basket plus about 1 inch above
basket rim. Colored cellophane or container adds a colorful edge to the basket.
Be sure to use one piece or solid container to prevent leaking.

Fill the basket liner or plastic container with vermiculite, available in any gardening
department. Vermiculite is much lighter than potting soil and stays moist.

Sprinkle the grass seed over the top of the vermiculite. Once the top is covered with
seed, add another ¼ inch layer of vermiculite over the seed. Using the spray bottle,
water evenly, and mist every day.

It takes about 10 days for the grass to grow and cover the bowl of the Easter basket,
so start to grow your grass 10-12 days before Easter.

Now, all that is needed is Easter bunny candy and eggs! Natural growing Easter grass is a great
alternative to the shredded cellophane grass!

Adults enjoy getting Easter baskets, too. Instead of grabbing cut flowers at a store, you can
surprise someone with an Easter basket filled with a flowering plant or vine.

A living Easter basket could be a wonderful gift for someone that cannot enjoy the outdoors.

Homemade and Delicious Peanut Butter Eggs

There's nothing better than that peanut butter-chocolate combination. These Peanut Butter Easter Eggs are easy to make and will be the hit of your Easter baskets!

Prep Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1-1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1 pound semi-sweet chocolate
3 tablespoons plus 1-1/2 teaspoons solid vegetable shortening

Preparation:
Mix first four ingredients. Gradually add powdered sugar and peanut butter, beating until blended. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon additional powdered sugar on flat surface. Spoon peanut butter mixture onto prepared surface. Knead about 5 minutes. Using 1-1/2 teaspoon mixture per candy, shape into egg form. Place on wax paper covered pan. Refrigerate 1-2 hours.

Melt chocolate and shortening in a double boiler. Continually stir chocolate and shortening. Will take about 20 minutes for chocolate and shortening to combine smoothly. Place eggs on the tines of a fork and dip in chocolate. If chocolate gets stiff, place back in top of double boiler and work until thinner.

Allow to dry briefly. Loosely cover and store in cool, dry place. Yield: 40 candies.

If you'd like more candy recipes, just email me and I will send you a free e-book filled with easy and delicious candy recipes!

Cake Decorating Made Easy!: Recipe to Make Chocolate Flowers

Cake Decorating Made Easy!: Recipe to Make Chocolate Flowers

Recipe to Make Chocolate Flowers

Chocolate and celebrations just naturally go together. Easter baskets, birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, Halloween, and just because gifts. The list goes on and on, and chocolate candy is always welcome.


Homemade candy is easy to make, and adds another dimension to the special event. Not only are the treats delicious, they have been individually crafted and created just for the occasion. Long after the reason for the event, memories of the handmade candy and its maker will be remembered.

Delicious chocolate flowers can be used to decorate cakes, cupcakes, or stand out in a bouquet. Making chocolate flowers do require patience and attention to detail, but can be easily learned. The recipe for chocolate flowers consists of just two ingredients, so preparation is a cinch!

The chocolate flower process is all about the clay! Chocolate clay is pliable chocolate paste that can be cut and curled into many edible works of art.

If you're a lover of dark chocolate, use 16 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate and 2/3 cup of light corn syrup. If you prefer milk chocolate use 16 ounces of sweet chocolate and 2/3 cup of light corn syrup. And, if you want to indulge in white chocolate flowers, use a good quality white chocolate and 2/3 cup light corn syrup. That's is, just two ingredients to satisfy either or all chocolate tastes.

The recipe for Chocolate Flowers!

Cover a cookie sheet with plastic wrap.

Chop the chocolate into fine pieces, if you're not using chocolate chips. Put the chips or pieces in a glass bowl.

Place the bowl in a pan and fill about half-full of boiling water. Stir the chocolate until it melts, remove the bowl from the water and continue to stir until the chocolate cools slightly.

Add the corn syrup to the melted chocolate and blend thoroughly. Allow the mixture to cool until it can be handled comfortably. (Remove any grease from the chocolate clay by squeezing onto paper towels.)

The work surface needs to be cool and dusted with cocoa powder. Divide the chocolate clay into small pieces, and pound each piece with a rolling pin to make it soft and pliable (marble rolling pin works good).

Knead each piece of chocolate clay before working with it. If the chocolate clay gets soft from your body heat, let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes. Wrapping hands around an ice filled glass can keep hands cool.

Keep bowls and utensils moisture free when working with chocolate clay.

Roll one piece of clay into a small cylinder shape (like a snack-size Tootsie Roll). You'll need a cylinder for each chocolate flower, to be used as the base of the flower. Note: If you want to make a chocolate flower bouquet, use wooden craft sticks, and insert the stick in the cylinder, or roll the chocolate cylinder around the stick.)

Flatten the remaining chocolate clay to about 1/8 inch thick and cut out one-inch circles (about the size of a quarter). These will be the flower petals, and you need six to 10 petals per flower. Chocolate leaves can be cut out using a cookie cutter or knife.

Attach each petal to the chocolate base (cylinder) and add more, working your way up and around the base. Fan the petals out and squeeze the edges to thin them out. After enough petals have been attached to your liking, cut any excess from the top of the cylinder. Add leaves to the bottom of each chocolate flower.

Gently apply the chocolate flowers to the top of your cake or cupcake. Pushing down gently will make the chocolate flowers stick to the frosting.

Creating chocolate flowers is not difficult, but add a big wow to any cake, cupcake, Easter basket, or bouquet.

Not everyone has been schooled on cake decorating, but everyone has ideas and thoughts about how they would like their cake to look. Not everyone has the extra dollars to have a professional baker make a child's birthday cake, summer picnic cake, or delicately decorated cake. But, perhaps a professionally-looking cake need not cost an arm and a leg.


Some easy and simple tricks can be used to create a beautiful cake right in your own kitchen. Many times the key is in the icing that is used. For instance, Royal Icing needs extra time to dry before handling the created decorations to be applied to the cake.

1.  If you want to decorate the cake on its serving plate without getting icing on the plate, place strips of waxed paper under the edges of the cake before applying the icing. When the cake is iced and decorated, take hold of the waxed paper and quickly pull it from beneath the cake. Ta-Da! Your serving plate will be clean and the cake undisturbed.

2.  Baby cakes can be easily decorated by using small toys, umbrellas, bassinets, storks, or doll house figurines and furniture. Baking the cake in square pans, then when assembling the cake do not stack the squares equally on top of each other. Instead put it together so the corners make a shelf-like illusion and wonderful triangular sections to decorate.

3. Gumdrops are great to righted a white cake icing. Gumdrops sliced or shaved very thin are easy to stick on the icing. The shaved gumdrops will curl slightly and create rose petal shapes.

4.  Crystallized edible flower petals look especially pretty on top of a cake. Often times, wine and cake are offered at the same event, and sugared-grapes can be placed on top of the cake and strewn around the serving plate edge.

5.  If your event is going to be held outdoors and in the summer, avoid whipped cream, meringue, and butter cream icings. They will melt! Instead, use an icing that is made with vegetable shortening, as shortening can withstand higher heat before melting. Shortening can also be substituted for the butter in butter cream icing recipes.

6.  Make a cake decorating tool by rolling parchment paper into a cone, fill with icing, and snip the end of the cone slightly to pipe decorations or write on the cake. A zip-lock plastic bag also makes a good decorating tool. Just put icing in the bag, zip it closed, and snip a bit of one corner off to allow the icing to be squeezed onto the cake.

7.  To get that smooth, silky look to the icing, first frost the sides and top of the cake and smooth the icing with a spatula. Use a hairdryer to blow-dry the frosted cake surfaces. The heat from the dryer will cause the icing to melt a bit, and produce a smooth, lusterious finish.

8.  Gum paste is another type of material used to make cake decorations. It can be rolled very thin, dries hard, and can be used to make boxes, bows, or any number of decorations. Although gum paste can be eaten, it does not taste very good.

Some professional bakeries are open to providing tips, others are not. There are videos, tips, and monthly cake decorating newsletters available on line that provide great information about cake decorating.

Get free step-to-step cake and cookie “How To” videos, photo galleries, and monthly newsletters, plus hundreds of cake, cookies and candy answers. Go to http://8e827g6i-tv9viyw5uintlaue3.hop.clickbank.net/ and get your video library started today!