Oceana's Blueberry Coconut Cradle Cake

 Listening to Morning Living on the radio Chef Chan described how he made this cake it sounded so interesting I had to come home and try it.  I love that he got the idea from a 1953 Pillsbury Bake Off Cookbook.  It was a cradle cake with chocolate and pecans which led him to come up with this recipe.  I had never heard of doing this and not being a big icing fan liked the idea of the meringue when the cake is inverted becomes your outer coating.






Oceana's Blueberry Coconut Cradle Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 stick butter (4oz)
1 c sugar
4 whole eggs
3/4 c buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
2 c blueberries

Coconut Meringue:

1/2 c sugar
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 c coconut, shredded

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°.  Toast coconut until golden brown & allow to cool.

Prepare tube pan by coating sides with butter or oil.

Mix flour, soda, salt set aside.

Separate eggs reserving the whites for the meringue.

In mixing bowl cream together butter and 1 c sugar, then add yolks slowly and mix well. Add dry ingredients, mix then add buttermilk and vanilla.  Carefully fold in blueberries.

Meringue:
Toss coconut with powdered sugar set aside.

In mixer beat egg whites with a pinch of salt till foamy increase speed when peaks begin to form add sugar and continue whipping until firm peaks form.  Gently fold coconut powdered sugar mixture into egg whites.  Spread inside tube pan on all sides, bottom, and around tube.

Place the blueberry batter inside Meringue lined pan, spread evenly.

Bake for 75-85 minutes or till cake is springy to touch.  Let cool for 15 min before removing and inverting onto plate.

--when cooled sprinkle with powdered sugar

Click on this video of Chef Jansen Chan of Oceana Restaurant to see him making the recipe:

my tip for keeping the recipe handy

Grandma Gibson's Lemon Meringue Pie

There isn't a memory of Grandma's house that doesn't include Lemon Pie.  We have the recipe but have yet to have it match hers.  I recently found the recipe in her hand writing on a piece of scrap paper, she must have written it from memory while visiting me.  I wish I had gotten a photo of her with one of her famous pies.  She baked pies for her church, the fire company picnics, friends celebrating or mourning, for all of us every time we asked.  She lived to be 95 and was still baking pies.  My grandfather passed away when she was only 49, she went to work and  put in enough years to retire from the Post Office.  She quilted almost everyday until both wrists required surgery at 89, she always had an amazing flower garden, she painted, mowed her 7 acres on her John Deere, truly an example for all of us.  The pie didn't come out as good as hers, but I also think some of the memory lies in having it with her at the lake.

Lemon Meringue Pie

1 baked pie shell

2 lemons (zest of one and juice of both)

1 1/4 c sugar

pinch of salt

3 egg yolks

2 C cold water

1 T butter

mix in top of double boiler

add:

2 Large Tablespoons Flour

2 Large Tablespoons cornstarch (dissolved in cold water)

cook until thick, pour into pie shell.

Meringue:

3 egg whites

1/2 tsp vanilla

pinch of cream of tarter

5 T sugar

with mixer beat adding one Tablespoon of sugar at a time till stiff peaks form.

That is all that is written on the slip of paper she wrote while visiting me, so I have googled different recipes to compare directions.  I used her measurements with the following instructions:

In top of double boiler bring to boil the lemon juice, zest, sugar, salt, water, & butter stirring with a whisk.  When it appears well blended dip about 1/2 cup out to mix with the blended egg yolks to temper them,  adding it gradually then mixing it all back into pot.  Stirring constantly until mixture thickens.  Then pour into hot pie crust.

Beat all meringue ingredients until stiff peaks form, then spoon onto warm lemon mixture.  Bake at 350° for 10-12 min till meringue is golden.  Let cool completely so lemon sets or it will run.

Not bad for my first attempt!

With an ice tea today--that was lunch. 

Lewis Lake, Union Dale, PA