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Pink Hawaii

January 14, 2008 by Joy the Baker 11 Comments

I was recently asked to create a Hawaiian themed cake for a girls first birthday.  Children’s theme cakes usually run along a spectrum: from Sesame Street designs to Yo GabbaGabba characters.  I somehow can never find my creative voice in tracing an Elmo onto a cake.  It’s just not my style.  Imagine my excitement in having free reign with a Hawaiian cake!

What I came up with is a three layered devil’s food cake with coconut cream cheese frosting.  The hot pink dye seemed to call out to me, so the cake became a girly pink with toasted coconut dressing up the side.  On top I fashioned a gum paste (and paper) palm tree with shredded coconut sand, gumpaste coconuts and flip flops.  Yea… flip flops.

I’m so pleased with how this cake turned out!  I was able to satisfy the desires of the customer and still create a colorful, hip design.  A little pink Hawaii for one year old Miss Lilly.

Print this Recipe!

Devils Food Cake

3 cups sugar

1 cup butter

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 2/3 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 tablespoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cup sour cream

1 1/3 cup hot, strong coffee

Preheat oven to 350.  Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.  Creaming the butter and sugar in an electric mixer.  Beat for about 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  The mixture should be pale in color and fluffy.  Beat in the vanilla extract.  Add eggs one at a time.  Beat each egg into the batter for 1 minute, scraping down the bowlt after each egg.  Alternately add the flour mixture, and sour cream, mixing until just combined.  The batter will be fairly thick at this point, almost like brownie batter.  See the picture above.  With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the hot coffee.  The batter will thin substantially.  Place in greased and floured cake pans ( I used three 10″ pans) and bake for 18- 25 minutes.

This recipe produces a deliciously moist cake, but because of all of the liquids, the cake is a bit fragile.  Cake pans should be very well greased and floured.  When cakes come out of the oven, let them rest until cooled, then take a knife and loosen the cake from the sides.  Turn them out, and let them cool further on a cooling rack.  Don’t turn them out to cool onto a plate, they’ll stick.  Oh yes, I learned the hard way.

Layer with any delicious frosting you fancy.  I went for a coconut cream cheese frosting.  Say you aren’t a wiz at frosting the sides of the cake.  Here’s a tip:  always work with a clean cake decorating knife.  Cake knives have a round tip, and no sharp edges.  As your working with the knife, have a deep bowl of hot water on hand.  Dip the knife in and shake it around to clean off the excess frosting.  Working with a clean tool with help ensure clean lines and edges.

When all else fails… hide your mistakes under a layer of delicious toasted coconut!

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Reader Interactions

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  1. AmbalaCakes

    October 28, 2021 at 10:33 pm

    Very informative

    Reply
  2. Sarah

    July 10, 2013 at 6:55 pm

    Mmmm.. beautiful!!! Great Easter treat. Thanks for this one! I had featured u in the post of Top 7 Lovely Cake Recipes on AllFreshRecipes , Enjoy a Sweet Moment! I‘ll pay close attention to ur more delish recipes!

    Reply
  3. heather

    April 12, 2012 at 11:20 am

    just made this batter to make a mustache cake for my daughter’s birthday. only making a double layer cake, so that meant 24 mini cupcakes with the leftover batter. already have eaten 6 without frosting them. amazing recipe. thanks again joy.

    Reply
  4. Leona Clizbe

    October 28, 2011 at 7:43 am

    What a beautiful place but really much like the way you respond ones posts.

    Reply
  5. noah

    October 18, 2010 at 1:23 pm

    YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply
  6. CinnamonGirl

    September 22, 2010 at 6:30 pm

    Saw this on Flickr…LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

    Reply
  7. amy

    January 29, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    Do you have a recipe for regular buttercream, or can I just leave out the chocolate-y things on the chocolate buttercream recipe?

    Reply
  8. Amsie

    December 10, 2008 at 11:37 pm

    Hey this is Amsie from Singapore, great post! Any tips on the cleanest way to add your coconut (or chocolate rice) on the side of the cake? :) Thanks!

    Reply
  9. amanda

    March 15, 2008 at 7:54 am

    for the coconut cream cheese frosting, did you just add coconut to a cream cheese frosting or did you put any coconut milk with the cream cheese? I have leftover coconut milk that I am wanting to use and thought adding it to the cream cheese frosting might be good.

    Reply
  10. Pixie

    February 6, 2008 at 8:06 pm

    Love coconut! I’m addicted to all your lovely sweets!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Top 7 Lovely Cake Recipes, Enjoy a Sweet Moment! - All Fresh Recipes says:
    May 12, 2013 at 12:19 pm

    […] Would you want to create a romantic atmosphere for your boyfriend’s birthday party? Making him a pink cake is a good idea. Or you can make her a Hawaii cake instead if you just have no time for a honeymoon. A gum paste palm tree which is dressed up by shredded coconut is real fashion. Coat the side of the cake with a layer of cream cheese frosting. You can imagine how excited you will when you find you make an island on your own! At joythebaker.com […]

    Reply

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