TWD: Perfect Party Cake

I have been waiting for this post for over a month. I am still drooling over this cake. Carol of Mix, Mix...Stir, Stir picked an amazing cake for her challenge week. I made this right after we returned from Hawaii. It was Jan's birthday so it seemed very appropriate to make a party cake for her.

The recipe called for using lemon juice and zest in all three elements (cake, frosting and fruit layer). I chose to eliminate the lemon in exchange for coconut extract. Instead of using raspberry preserves, I used some lilikoi curd (passion fruit) that we had brought back from Hawaii. I did not use coconut on the outside of the cake, although I really wanted to. Lamar is just not a coconut fan and I did not want to make it obvious what was inside of the cake.

This cake would have been much easier to make if I had a stand mixer, but the kitchen fairy has not produced a new one yet. Someday she will wave her magic wand and the new Viking 7qt mixer will suddenly appear on my counter.

The cake itself was easy to make. The frosting did not "fluff up" like I hoped it would. I felt like I barely had enough to cover the cake, but that probably came from the fact that I had to make it by hand, sans mixer! The lilikoi cream and frosting blended together when I put them both on the cake, but oh well, it tasted delicious.

I will say it again...this cake was DELICIOUS! We all devoured our pieces and then could not wait until the next night so we each could have another piece. I will make this again. Thanks Carol for an awesome choice!