Chocolate Coconut Cream Cake (C4)

This is a dessert I serve out at Camp that I call C4. For the dinner party, I cut it into diamonds and served it with a coconut caramel, but it is essentially the same cake I make for the camp.

For the chocolate cake, I first prepared 3 half sheet pans. I sprayed them, put parchment on top & them lightly sprayed the parchment.


I took two of the Duncan Hines cake mixes from the store & just made the batter according to their directions. I then portioned the cake batter equally between the 3 sheet pans.


I then spread the batter out, as equally as I could.


I baked them in a 350 degree oven until they were done, about 20-25 minutes.


I them put the cakes in the freezer, as frozen cake sheets are so much easier to work with.

For the topping, I took a couple of cups of sweetened coconut flakes and spread them out on a sheet pan. I toasted them in a 350 oven until they were golden, about 8 minutes.


For the coconut pastry cream, I scaled out the following:
2 Cans Coconut Milk (13.5oz each)
1 1/3 Cups Sugar
12oz Heavy Cream

1 Cup Heavy Cream
1 Cup Milk
7T Cornstarch

9ea Egg Yolks
Pinch of Salt

I heated up the Coconut Milk, Sugar & Heavy Cream and kept the other two mixtures in separate mixing bowls.


I brought the Coconut milk mixture up to a simmer and then cut off the heat. I tempered the liquid into the eggs, ladle by ladle while constantly stirring, so that the eggs didn't scramble.



After I had brought to temperature of the eggs up by tempering in the hot coconut milk mixture, I added them back to the pot.


I whisked the cornstarch mixture together, making sure there were no lumps and added it to the pot, constantly whisking. I turned the heat back on (about a medium-low) and stirred it until the pastry cream thickened.


I took the pot off heat and added in:
3T Butter
1oz Vanilla
2/3 Cup Sweetened Coconut Flakes



I stirred it around until it was all incorporated and then put it in the fridge to chill.

To make the cake, I inverted a sheet pan and put a piece of parchment on top, then put the first layer of frozen chocolate cake on top of the pan.


I put half of the coconut pastry cream on top of the first layer of the cake and spread it out evenly.


I then added the second layer of cake on top.



I then added the second half of the coconut pastry cream on the second layer of chocolate cake and spread it out evenly.


And then added the last layer of chocolate cake to the top.


To finish the cake, I cut it into diamond pieces, and piped whip cream onto the top.



I then added the coconut caramel over the top.


And then sprinkled the coconut topping over the cakes.

Coconut Caramel

I make a regular caramel during camp for the coffee table and for sundaes. Deciding to do a Coconut Chocolate Cake, I thought a coconut version of my caramel sauce might go well with it.

Ingredients:
13.5oz Can of Coconut Milk
11oz (about 1 1/3cup) Sugar
Water

I put the sugar in a sauce pan and added just enough water to get the sugar wet.


I also put the coconut milk in a saucepan to heat up. And I got a brush with some water to wipe down the sides of the sugar saucepan.


I brought the sugar to a boil, and brushed the sides of the pot to prevent crystalization. I do not stir the pot at all, otherwise the sugar could caramelize.


The sugar starts to caramelize after a few minutes.


It starts to develop an amber color.


I take it a little longer and try and get the color as dark as I can without burning it.


I take the pot off heat & then whisk in the hot coconut milk until it has all incorporated together.


And that is all there is too it. As it cools, it will thicken.

To make the regular caramel that I make out at the camp, just substitute heavy cream for the coconut milk.

Pumpkin Creme Brulee

This was the dessert for my mom's birthday party.

It is pretty simple to make.

Ingredients:
18 Yolks
1 Cup Sugar
Pinch of Salt
6 Cups Heavy Cream
1 Can (15oz) Pumpkin Puree
2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
Sugar for Caramelizing


I first separated my eggs and put the yolks into a mixing bowl.

Then I whisked it together with the sugar and salt. I whisked it just until it was all nice and incorporated. I try not to whisk too much air into it.

Then I went the lazy route. When you make creme brulees or any other custard, you are supposed to heat up the cream till it is hot and then slowly incorporate the hot cream into egg yolks while whisking. This is called tempering.

The advantage of tempering is that the mix will be more uniform and there is less of a chance of your eggs curdling when they cook.

However, I was pressed for time, and just added the cream cold into the egg yolks & sugar. I also added the pumpkin puree, the cinnamon and the nutmeg, and whisked it until everything was all incorporated.

I then carefully poured the liquid into my ramekins. I filled twelve 4oz ramekins and three 7oz ramekins. (69oz total). I had about 16oz of the mixture left over, which I plan on spinning in my ice creme maker.

I then took some hot water and filled it up to almost the top of the sides of the pan. Then I baked it in a 275 degree oven.

They took about 40 minutes to cook. You know they are ready when they go from jiggling like water to jiggling like jello.

Then I refrigerated them till they were completely cold. To finish them, cover the tops with a thin layer of granulated sugar. Then torch it till the sugar caramelizes.

They ended up tasting pretty good. A lot like pumpkin pie, really.

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I recommend using this torch.
How to separate eggs.

How to temper yolks.
How to torch creme brulees.