Banana Bread & House Guests

Last week my dear friend Karen came for a visit with her husband, Alex, and their two adorable kids, Amelia and Christian. It was a great visit, and a wonderful opportunity to get to know Karen's children better. I taught Christian how to make smoothies and Amelia all the different ways a sarong can be tied. Here's a picture of the kids making their own pizza for Friday night movie night.

Cake Decorating Class and Guava Coconut Cake

This week my friend Jayme and I went to a cake decorating class at the Elaine I. Sprauve Public Library.  Our island library is small, but well-appointed, and has recently undergone a massive renovation.  The current issue of the St. John Magazine features a great article and wonderful pictures of the library.

Peggy Sprauve, our instructor, who generously donated her time and expertise asked us to bring a cake to decorative in class.  This certainly got me thinking!  Being that Valentine's Day is just around the corner, it was only fitting to bake a Valentine inspired cake.  Red Velvet simply didn't seem right, so I came up with a perfect island inspired alternative, a Guava Coconut Cake.

One of my favorite desserts growing up in a traditional Cuban household was cascos de guayaba con queso crema.  Translation, guava shells my mom would peel and boil until soft with water and sugar.  The shells and syrup turn a beautiful candied red, and are served with a piece of contrasting white cream cheese.  I know it sounds strange for those unfamiliar, but it's absolutely delicious!  It still remains one of my favorite desserts.

With this nostalgic treat in mind, I created my Guava Coconut Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.  It's inspired by Paula Deen's Hummingbird Cake made on the Martha Stewart Show.  The cake is light, moist, and delish!  The guava and syrup give it a sexy rose color, perfect for a Valentine.

CC's Guava Coconut Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

For the Cake:
3 cups of all-purpose flour, and a little extra to dust the pans
3 tsp of baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cup of canned/jarred guava shells and syrup, pureed (puree a little extra if you want to use it to decorate the top of your cake)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cup of shredded, un-sweeten coconut
Butter to coat the cake pans


For the Frosting:
1 lb (1 box) confectioner's sugar, sifted
16 oz. (2 packages) of cream cheese, soften and at room temperature
1 stick of unsalted butter, soften and at room temperature
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


Cake:
1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Butter and lightly dust with flour 2, 9" round cake pans.  Set aside.


2.  Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.  Mix sifted ingredients with the remaining ingredients (except for the coconut) until evenly combined.  Fold in the coconut.

3. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans.  Shake and tap the pans to release any air bubbles in the batter, and smooth out the top with a spatula.


4.  Bake, rotating cakes halfway through.  Cake is done in 26 to 28 minutes, or when a toothpick comes out clean after inserting it into the center of the cakes.


5. Pop cakes out of the pans and let them cool completely on a cooling rack.


Frosting:
1.  Combine all frosting ingredients and mix with an electric mixer until smooth.  You may need to add a little milk if the frosting is too thick.


2.  Frost the top of one cake and stack the second cake on top of it.  Frost the rest of the cake and decorate with extra guava puree.

In class, Peggy taught us that the best way to frost a cake is to start from the sides with a generous amount of frosting, and then do the top.  It's important to continuously check the frosting on your knife and pick off any crumbs.  For a professional smooth finish, dip your clean knife in water and very lightly brush it over the frosted cake to smooth away any marks.


The pictures shown are from my first attempt at the cake.  I made half the batter to test the receipe and filled mini heart-shaped molds, the batter works great for cupcakes too!  The table linens featured are samples from my new collection of handprinted fabrics soon to be released!  I put all of my fabrics and home furnishings to good use before making them available for sale.  This pattern is called Coral Garden.  The color is a soft blue-gray hue reminiscent of our island sky as a storm rolls in, and is fittingly called Storm.


Warm Wishes,
CC

Friday Night Movie Night: Pizza Dough Recipe

Every Friday night my husband, George, and I do pizza and a movie. It's a tradition we rarely break! Since we don't have a movie theater on St. John, movies are usually Blu-rays from Netflix's on our couch. We take turns every week choosing the movie so our Netflix's queue is quite eclectic. It's funny how something so simple has become the highlight of the week.  By Wednesday George is asking me, if it's Friday yet. But I think it's more for the pizza then the movie!

We use to order our pizza from Cafe Roma. It's our absolute favorite restaurant pizza on island, however during their off season hiatus last October I was inspired to make my own. The first Friday I tried, it was terrible and I swore I wouldn't attempt that again! But after some encouragement I tried again the following Friday.  Besides Roma was still closed for another couple of weeks. That week it turned out much better, and I've been making our Friday Night pizza ever since. Sorry Roma, although I still may want to take a Friday off every now and again! 

It's taken quite a few Friday's to perfect, but it's really a great recipe now and rises perfectly. The combination of whole wheat and all purpose flour adds complexity to the dough without overpowering the pie!

CC's Friday Night Pizza Dough

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (separate into two portions, 1 cup and 1/2 cup)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 package of active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (warm not boiling)

1/2 Tbsp Honey (I use local honey of course!)

1/2 Tbsp Sea Salt (local if you can get it, I still have some I harvested from the Salt Pond last season)

In a bowl add the flours (reserving the 1/2 cup of all purpose flour for later), yeast, honey and water. Mix thoroughly until all ingredients are evenly incorporated. Add the sea salt and slowly add the reserved 1/2 cup of flour until it forms a ball and the dough is not sticking to the sides of the bowl (you may not need the entire 1/2 cup of flour).  Be sure to add the salt at this point, if it's added with the initial ingredients the dough doesn't rise properly.  Be careful not to over mix your dough or it will get tough. 

Lightly coat a bowl with olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl and then flip the dough over so that the top and bottom are coated with olive oil. Loosely cover with a piece of plastic wrap or a dish towel. Let the dough rise in a warm but breeze-free location for about an hour or until it doubles in bulk. (I let mine rest on top of the stove or kitchen counter away from open windows.)

Punch the dough down to release the air and knead it a few times with your knuckles. Remember the more you work the dough the tougher it gets, so don't over do it. Cover again and let rise a second time. The dough is ready for use after the second rise. I usually punch it down again and let it rise a third time since I make it early in the day. 

Makes 1, 16-18" pizza crust

I make my dough on Friday mornings, but it can be made a day or two in advance. Just wrap it up in plastic and store it in the fridge after the first rise. It can also be wrapped up and frozen for later use. 

I'll post my homemade sauce recipe which goes perfectly with the pizza soon!

Enjoy!

CC