Coconut Cake (and do-over)

So we made the Speckled Malted Coconut cake last Sunday and I went a little crazy with the substitutions and the cake was a fail. It was definitely edible but it was flat and a little salty. The frosting was really good though. I could not locate brown food coloring gel so I left out the "speckle".



Issues:

• I think my cake flour was expired. I couldn't verify this because I couldn't locate the date on the box, so I tossed it and got a fresh box.
• I doubled the malted milk powder and did not add extra liquid so this might have been a factor too in the saltiness and flatness
• I subbed cream for the 1/2 cup of half and half.
• I didn't have coconut extract.

I made the cake again on Saturday night and limited my substitutions to lite coconut milk vice half and half (because that is what I had on had), vegetable oil vice canola (same reason). The cakes still came out flat and I don't see how I could get three 8-inch cakes out of the batter. Maybe the pans that I am using (cheesecake/quiche pans) are the culprit?



The frosting turned out wonderful albeit nothing like the color of the Robin's eggs we could find. I like the Baby Aqua or Aquamarine color better. As for the frosting, it called for 6 CUPS of confectioner's sugar but I topped out at 2.25 cups because it was so sweet. I am beginning to think that the measurements are off on the recipe.

So I got 2 flat cakes that smelled heavenly and a gorgeous frosting. And I tried the speckle, but then I gave up. Couple drops of red, yellow and blue to make the brown, then a few flicks onto the cake and my counter and stovetop and I was done.



So while the cakes were not quite done in the middle, they tasted good.

I won't be quitting my day job...

And there is no doubt that this cake was more moist than the first one. Also, I didn't add salt to the frosting because I used salted butter (as before) so the saltiness issue was corrected.

IF I try to make this cake again just to confirm to myself that I am worth my salt as a baker, I will bake it in a single layer in a glass casserole dish (as I normally do) and punt the speckles and eggs.