Coconut Cream Dream Birthday Cake!

My stepdad is turning forty-something tomorrow and last weekend I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, and he said, "a sweater". I laughed. And then he said he wanted a pizza party (b/c we do pizzas on fridays, etc). And I said YES! So, last night I put together his birthday cake. Now, he doesn't like chocolate cake and is always hauling home these grocery-store-gross coconut cream pies, so I put together this coconut cream dream cake for him. It's two 9" rounds of yellow cake with a super thick coconut pudding in the middle, topped with way-too-much creamy white frosting, and then loaded with sweetened shredded coconut. KILL. ME. NOW. At one point I was eating up the remaining pudding and remembered, "shit, I made this with half and half". Stop. ha! It's inspired by the retro-cake stylings of Amy Sedaris (I want her new book) and all of the recipes are derived from my better homes and gardens New Cookbook Bridal Edition. You know, the one that teaches you how to be a good wife? yes.

Coconut Cream Dream Birthday Cake!

Yellow Cake
Adapted from BHG New Cookbook B.E. (pg. 153)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup salted butter, softened
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 cups brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups rice milk

1. Let the butter and eggs get to room temperature for 1/2 hour. Grease and flour two 9" cake pans.
2. In a big bowl beat butter with a mixer for 3o seconds. Add sugar and beat until well combined. Add eggs and beat for 2 minutes (it should be a little fluffy). Beat in vanilla. Add flour, baking powder, and rice milk (alternating bit by bit) and beating as you go. It should be well combined, but not runny. Spread into pans.
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 375degrees C or until a toothpick put in the cake comes out clean! Cool on wire racks.
4. When cool pop cakes out of pans and slice the "mound" off of your bottom later. Save it b/c you're going to dip it in the pudding you're about to make and eat it.

Coconut Pudding
Ingredients:
1 box of Schriff cooked coconut pudding
1 1/2 cups of half and half (OMG or whipped cream??)

Cook pudding as per directions on box using the half and half in place of the called for liquid.
Once cooked put in a bowl and put in the freezer so it gets chunky fast (no time for laying around here girls!)

Creamy White Frosting
Adapted from BHG New Cookbook B.E. (p. 171)

Ingredients:
1 cup shortening
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups icing sugar
4-5 tbsp rice milk

In a mixing bowl beat shortening and vanilla with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Slowly add icing sugar alternating with rice milk, combining them with the mixer. Beat until you reach the desired consistency. Note: this makes a hella-lot of icing. But, it's worth it. So, just do it.

Assembly:
I put two pieces of wax paper down on my cake plate and then positioned the bottom cake down. The pudding should be a big glob, so drop the glob on the bottom layer and chop/hack into chunks and spread evenly over the top. Then, carefully place the top layer over the pudding and press down gently (to make them stick together a little). Next put all of the icing on top of the cake and spread evenly around the sides and on the top. Then taking HANDFULS of shredded coconut (and often holding the cake at weird angles) sprinkle a generous helping of coconut everywhere. The cake should be steady enough that you can press the coconut into the icing and once you're coconut'd the whole thing, you can hold it at a slight angle and shake the excess off.