CREAMY COCONUT CAKE

EASTER - the day we celebrate our Lord's resurrection. No one else on earth throughout time would pay the penalty for our sins. Only Jesus. He died for us but then rose from grave so that we might have ETERNAL LIFE! Oh, I hope you have asked Christ to be your Savior.

For some reason, we tend to associate coconut with Easter - pies, cakes, cupcake topping. Here is a cool and moist version of coconut cake. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

1 box (18.25 oz) yellow cake mix
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 can (12 oz) cream of coconut
1 tub (8 oz) cool whip, thawed
3 cups flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease a 9x13 pan. Prepare cake mix as directed on package. Pour batter into the pan and bake as package directs. Remove from oven and poke holes in entire cake using a fork or round wooden spoon handle.

Mix sweetened condensed milk and cream of coconut. Slowly pour over warm cake. Cool completely.

Frost with cool whip, and sprinkle coconut over cake. Cover and refrigerate until serving.

Recipe from: a magazine

Notes: This cake is better if made a day or 2 before serving.

Sometimes, you can find the cream of coconut in the baking aisle, but it's usually in the liquor department. As I've said before, you can go to Customer Service and have someone get it for you. I don't like to go into the liquor department.

WHITE CHOCOLATE COFFEE FUDGE

During the Christmas season, it's always fun to find that unusual goodie to make that not everyone else makes. I absolutely love white chocolate, coffee, and fudge, so imagine my delight when I saw this recipe that combines all three!

It's super easy to make. Sometimes the first bite gets you, but it is SO good. Enjoy!

White Chocolate Coffee Fudge

2 cups sugar

2/3 cup evaporated milk

1/2 cup butter or margarine

12 large marshmallows

1 Tablespoon instant coffee granules

Pinch of salt

1 - 6-oz package white chocolate-flavored baking bar, chopped (I use Baker's)

1 cup chopped pecans

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine sugar, evaporated milk, and next 4 ingredients in a large saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil.

Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes; remove from heat.

Add baking bar and remaining ingredients; stir until chocolate melts. Spoon into a buttered 8-inch square pan, spreading evenly. Cool and cut into squares.

Yield: 2 pounds

Recipe from: old magazine

Notes: I actually use decaf instant coffee. This candy is very rich, so we usually cut into small squares.

Chocolate Butterscotch Cake

We were spared the last couple of weeks with our 10" of snow for our blizzard instead of the 18-22" other areas around us received. We had to cancel our small group last Sunday with the threat of more weather coming. I didn't get to make my dip from my last post, so I need to find a reason to make it. It is SO good.

Back to this cake recipe I'm sharing with you. I was craving this cake, so I decided to make it for a family get-together last weekend. I couldn't find MY recipe even though I have made it before, so I tried looking in a cookbook that my mother-in-law made as Christmas presents a couple of years ago for all the girls in the family. I KNEW it had to be in there. It has Butterfinger candy bars crushed on top. I looked for "Butterfinger Cake". Couldn't find it. Looked some more in my recipes and couldn't find it. I decided to go online. Boy, there's a BUNCH of Butterfinger Cake recipes out there but none are what I remembered doing when I made it before.

My in-laws are in Africa for 3 months, so I couldn't call her to ask. I decided to call an aunt. I figured she had to have the recipe. No, she'd never made it and didn't have the recipe. She asked if it wasn't in the cookbook my mother-in-law made for us. She asked what I remembered about it, then she told me that it was called Chocolate Butterscotch Cake. Oh, brother! That was a big "duh" moment for me. There it was in the cookbook after all.

This cake is so moist and delicious. Super easy -- just looks like you spent a lot of time on it.



Chocolate Butterscotch Cake

1 German Chocolate Cake mix (plus ingredients to make cake)

17 oz jar butterscotch ice cream topping (I use 20 oz Smucker's Butterscotch Sundae Topping)

8 oz Cool Whip

3 large Butterfinger candy bars, crushed

Mix and bake cake as directed on package. Cool completely. Use a wooden spoon handle to punch holes in cooled cake. (Poke all the way to the bottom.)

Pour the butterscotch topping all over the cake and into the holes. Spread Cool Whip over cake. Sprinkle crushed candy bars over whipped topping.

Recipe from: Faye Whitfield

Notes: When poking the holes, I usually take a paper towel and wipe the handle clean after each punch or the cake tends to cling to it and will tear your cake on the next punch.

I couldn't find the 17 oz jar of butterscotch topping, so I got the 20 oz squeeze bottle. It is easier to pour out. I also used 5 big (not king-size) Butterfingers and it covered the top.

Serves: 12

Sanny's Strawberry Cake

Also known as "Strawberry Poke Cake" but with a little different frosting. I gave it my niece's name after she raved about it. This cake is light and cool, so it's very refreshing on a hot day or after a heavy meal.

Sanny's Strawberry Cake

1 pkg (18 1/4 oz) white cake mix

2 pkgs (3 oz each) strawberry jello

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup cold water

TOPPING:

1 cup cold milk
1 pkg (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix

1 carton (8 oz) cool whip, thawed

Sprinkles

Prepare and bake cake according to package directions, using a greased 9x13 pan. Cool for 1 hour. In a small bowl, dissolve gelatin in boiling water; stir in cold water and set aside.

With a meat fork or wooden skewer (I use a small handle of a wooden spoon), poke holes about 2 inches apart into cooled cake. Slowly pour gelatin over cake; refrigerate. In a bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes; let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Fold in whipped topping. Spread over cake. Decorate with sprinkles. Cover and refrigerate until serving. Serves: 12-15

Recipe revised from a magazine.

Notes: You can use any flavor of Jello gelatin to go with holidays or color themes. (The granddaughter put a strawberry on her piece of cake and took the picture.)

Lemon No Bake Cheesecake

My husband and I just got back from a 7-day Inside Passage cruise to Alaska. We went with my husband's brother and sister-in-law to celebrate our anniversaries. They have been married 33 years, and we have been married 31 years. I've always heard the Alaska cruises are great and just beautiful. We weren't let down at all, and God sent the best, beautiful, unheard of sunshiny and warm weather. It was great. We got used to the beautiful, cooler temperatures of upper 60s and lower 70s that when we got back home, the heat and humidity hit us like a ton of bricks!

In the heat, all I could think of was this light, airy dessert my mother-in-law has made for as long as I can remember. Basically, it's a lemon jello cheesecake that's so light you'll be tempted to eat two pieces. It goes a long way and it's kept in the fridge, so it will cool you off quickly.

Lemon No Bake Cheesecake

1 pkg (3 oz) lemon-flavored Jello

1 cup boiling water
3 Tbls lemon juice
1 (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 can chilled Milnot (whipped)
1 pound graham crackers
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
a little more graham cracker crumbs for garnish, optional


Dissolve Jello in boiling water. Add lemon juice. Cool.

Cream together: cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Add Jello mixture. Fold whipped Milnot into gelatin mixture.

Crush graham crackers, add butter and press into a 9x13 pan. Pour mixture in pan and chill. Garnish with more crumbs.

Recipe from: Faye Whitfield

Notes: Remember to let your cream cheese get to room temperature. This recipe works best when you chill the Milnot first and then whip it for 3-5 minutes to get it light and airy. As Devo says, "Whip it! Whip it good!" Also remember that to "fold" is to work it in gently and not with a mixer.

Peanut Butter Pie

I watched my sister-in-law make this pie back in the days before I really started cooking. It looked so easy, I knew I could make it. It was rich and delicious. For me, it became a standard to make for company.

When my daughter was in high school, she would raise money for church camps by participating in bake sales. She always made one of these pies and it was usually the first of her items to go.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Peanut Butter Pie

8 oz cream cheese, softened
8 oz cool whip, room temperature
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
oreo cookie pie crust (premade)
Extra cool whip for garnish if desired


Mix cream cheese until smooth. Add next three ingredients and mix until smooth. Pour into the crust. Chill several hours before serving.


Recipe by Sonya Whitfield Young


Notes: The original recipe calls for 9 oz cool whip because that's the size Cool Whip used to be. I usually just use the 8 oz tub they make now. Make sure your cream cheese (I usually use name brand and the 1/3 less fat for this pie) is softened or you will have those unsightly white blobs in your pie. Sometimes, I will go ahead and put a layer of cool whip on top of the pie. You can add chocolate sprinkles just before serving. The sprinkles tend to melt after being in the refrigerator overnight. Not too pretty. Other than that, the pie tends to keep well.

Snicker Salad

1 large box instant vanilla pudding

1 1/2 c milk

12 oz cool whip

4 regular-sized Snickers bars, chopped

5-6 Granny Smith apples, chopped

1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Mix pudding and milk together according to package instructions. Let set for 5 minutes. Fold in cool whip. Stir in remaining ingredients and refrigerate.

When we first read this recipe, we thought it sounded really good. Got to the Granny Smith apples, and thought, "Hmmm, maybe not so good." We decided to use our Sunday afternoon Small Group as guinea pigs. We tried it, and it was really good. What was surprising was the last of each bite tasted like a caramel apple. We were very pleased but thought it was missing something. We decided it needed pecans, so we added those after we got home. The result was very tasty.