Raspberry Coconut Jelly Roll

Jelly roll cakes always seem so much more complicated than they actually are. Granted they are a little trickier than a "regular" cake to make but they look so pretty and taste so amazing that the extra effort is totally worth it. 

Sue and I had a little Chopped style competition going on while we were self isolating and raspberry jam and coconut chips were our Chopped ingredients we had to use. She made a raspberry mini cheesecake with a coconut shortbread crust, stuffed with a raspberry, and topped with raspberry jam (she won by the way... kicked my butt in the voting we did on Facebook). I made this raspberry coconut jelly roll which I think was totally underappreciated. I mean... it's beautiful and delicious... not that I'm bitter about losing...at all.. I mean... it's fine. I'm fine. Everything's fine. 

Raspberry Coconut Jelly Roll

Ingredients

Cake

5 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp coconut extract

3/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

Filling

1 cup raspberry jam

Topping

2 egg whites

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp coconut extract

1/2 tsp vanilla

Decorations

1/3 cup coconut chips, toasted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 12 X 17 (or 13 X 18) jelly roll pan with parchment paper and lightly spray with cooking spray. 

Beat the eggs. Beat in sugar about 1/3 add a time. Beat in the coconut extract. Continue to beat about 7 minutes, until thick and creamy. Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold in gently. Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly. 

Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes, until top is light golden brown. 

Run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake from the edges. Place a large piece of parchment paper on top and then another cookie tray. Invert the cake onto the other cookie tray and remove the pan from it. Gently peel off the parchment paper. 

Carefully roll up the cake, from the short end, with the parchment paper in it. (See photo below for clarification)

Let cool for 15 minutes. 

After 15 minutes, gently unroll the cake and spread the raspberry jam evenly over the cake. 

Roll the cake back up, this time peeling off the parchment paper as you go. 

Set aside to cool completely. Don't worry if there are a few little cracks or tears, you will be covering them with the meringue frosting. 

Prepare meringue: in a bowl over a pot of simmering water, whisk the egg whites with the sugar and extracts until the sugar is dissolved. Make sure the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water below it. 

Remove the bowl from the heat and whip with beaters for about 5 - 7 minutes, until thick and fluffy. 

Spread over jelly roll. You can leave as is OR... get out your kitchen torch and add a little color to the meringue. Then sprinkle the toasted coconut chips on top.

Chill until ready to serve.

So pretty. 

Slice it up!

You could also top with whipped cream if you prefer it over meringue. I really like the marshmallowyness of the meringue with the delicate crumb of the cake. Although I'm not one to pass up sweetened whipped cream either. 

Vanilla Bean and Cinnamon Meringues

It has been such a long time since I made meringues that I can't even remember the last time I made them. Normally I'm not a huge fan of meringues because I find them kind of bland. This time I decided to spice things up a bit with cinnamon and vanilla. Turns out this was a good idea. The cookies are speckled with the cinnamon and vanilla beans so not only do they taste great, they look pretty too! I used a piping bag to make little swirls but you can also drop them on a sheet using a spoon if you don't need them to be all fancy schmancy. 

Meringues are an easy, inexpensive cookie to make for just about every occasion. I made them up for a bake sale and packaged them in pretty pink boxes. 

Vanilla Bean and Cinnamon Meringues

Ingredients

3 egg whites

1 vanilla bean, scraped and pod discarded

3/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

pinch of cream of tartar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 200 F. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, place egg whites, vanilla bean, and sugar. Place bowl over a pot of simmering water and whisk gently and constantly until sugar is dissolved - about 3 minutes. (Mixture will be warm but not hot.)

When sugar is dissolved, place bowl in stand mixer and beat until eggs are foamy. Beat in salt, cream of tartar, and cinnamon. Continue beating until stiff peaks form, about 5 - 7 minutes.

Place in a piping bag and pipe onto prepared cookie sheet. 

Bake approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes at 200 degrees. Cookies should be crispy outside and slightly soft inside. If they still seem a little sticky on the outside, shut off the oven and let them sit in the oven another half hour or so. 

When they are done, let cool 5 minutes on cookie tray before removing to wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

They are a fairly fragile cookie but are a wonderful combination of crunchy and chewy textures without being too sweet.

I made them a little fancier because I was making them for a bake sale, but they taste just as wonderful if you drop them by the spoonful on the cookie sheet. FYI - I got 36 medium sized cookies out of this recipe. 

Coconut Cake With Raspberry Buttercream And Toasted Meringue

Are you prepared to have your mind blown?

Like.... bells and whistles, stars and little birds flying in a circle above your head... mind blown?

Well then... read on my friends.

This cake is just ridiculous and is like 99.9% guaranteed to cause some degree of brain explosion.

So.... sorry but not sorry.

Coconut Cake with Raspberry Buttercream and Toasted Meringue

Ingredients

Cake

1 cup butter, softened

1 tsp coconut extract

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup coconut, shredded

3 cups flour

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

1 3/4 cup coconut Greek yogurt

2/3 cup cream

Raspberry Frosting

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries

2 tsp vanilla

7 cups icing sugar

Meringue

1/2 cups egg white

1 cup sugar

pinch salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line 3 - 8 inch pans with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray, set aside.

Prepare cake - Beat butter, coconut extract, and sugar in a large bowl until smooth, scraping sides as necessary. Beat in eggs - one at a time - until well combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk together shredded coconut, flour, baking powder, and salt. 

Beat in half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.

Beat in half of the Greek yogurt and 1/2 of the cream.

Then add remaining dry ingredients, beat well, then add remaining Greek yogurt and cream and beat until smooth.

Spread evenly into the 3 prepared pans. Batter will be very thick. 

Bake at 350 until toothpick inserted near center of cakes comes out clean - about 30 - 40 minutes. Tops will be golden brown.

Let cool in pans about 10 minutes. Run a knife around the outer edge of the pan to loosen cakes. Invert onto wire racks and remove pans. Let cool completely. Chill in fridge until ready to frost. (Can be made ahead and frozen until ready to use.)

Prepare Buttercream - In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until smooth, scraping sides of bowl as necessary. Beat in raspberries until most of the berries are broken up. Don't worry if it looks like a disaster - it will become more smooth as you add the rest of the ingredients. 

Beat in the vanilla and then slowly start to add in the icing sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping sides of bowl as needed, until frosting reaches a spreadable consistency. Chill until ready to use. 

Assemble Cake - Place one cake on a serving plate. Top with a generous scoop of the buttercream and spread to edges of cake. Top with second cake and more buttercream. Finish with the third cake but do not frost the top of the cake.

Generously frost the sides of the cake with the remaining buttercream. You may have  little bit left over. I used the little bit I had leftover to pipe a little decorative swirl around the base of the cake. I also put a VERY thin layer of frosting on top of the cake (but this is not necessary).

Chill cake until very cold - at least 2 hours.

When cake is thoroughly chilled - prepare meringue. 

Prepare Meringue - Whisk together egg whites, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer for about 1 minute.

Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water to form a double boiler. Scrape down the sides of the bowl so that all the sugar is off the sides of the bowl. Continue to stir the mixture until all the sugar is melted and you no longer feel any graininess when you rub a bit of it between your fingers - about 3 - 5 minutes.

Place the bowl back into the stand mixer and beat on high speed until the meringue forms thick and glossy peaks and the bowl is just above room temp - this can take up to 8 minutes. 

Pipe or spread the meringue on top of the chilled cake. 

Using a cooking torch, toast the meringue until it is nice and brown. Be careful to keep an eye on it so you don't burn it!

You may have some meringue leftover. You can always pipe this onto a cooking sheet covered with parchment paper and bake it at 250 for 2 hours to make meringue type cookies. 

Chill cake until ready to eat.

This cake not only looks beautiful but tastes amazing as well. The dense moist coconut cake pairs superbly with the tangy raspberry buttercream and the ooey gooey meringue. 

I made this for a birthday at my office but wasn't there to take a photo of the cut cake. I had a coworker take some photos and send them to me.

This would also be a perfect cake for Christmas dinner - the color of the raspberry buttercream would certainly fit the season. I'm thinking fresh berries in the summer would make this even better, if that is even possible. 

Definitely worth the effort to make. 

The raspberry buttercream is seriously some of the best frosting I have ever had!! 

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Blackberry Meringue Pie

When people ask, "What kind of pie do you like?", lemon meringue pie is going to be mentioned at least a million times. I mean, it's a classic. Right up there with apple pie and pecan pie. 

So I decided to take a classic and put a fruity spin on it. 

It's still tart from a bit of lemon and has mile high fluffy meringue BUT I added some blackberry puree for an entirely new flavor sensation.

It's crazy good (if I do say so myself). 

Give it a try... see for yourself! We would love to hear what you think! You can easily double the recipe to make 2 pies... in case you need to taste test one before bringing it to your next gathering!

Blackberry Meringue Pie

Ingredients

Filling

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp flour

3 Tbsp cornstarch

pinch salt

1 1/4 cups water

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 

1/2 cup blackberry puree

2 Tbsp butter

4 egg yolks

1 8 inch, baked pie crust

Meringue

4 egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

6 Tbsp sugar

Directions

In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk in water, lemon juice, and blackberry puree. 

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in the butter and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks. Gradually whisk in about 3/4 cup of the hot mixture (do this slowly to temper the eggs so they don't curdle). Whisk the egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining hot mixture. Place back over medium heat and continue stirring until mixture returns to a boil and is thickened. Remove from heat.

Pour the mixture into the pre-baked pie crust.

Set aside while you prepare meringue.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, whip egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add the sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until stiff peaks form.

Pile meringue on top of pie.

Bake at 350 until meringue is golden brown, about 10 - 15 minutes. Keep an eye on it - it can go from golden to burnt in a short time!

Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack.

Once it is room temp you can place it in the fridge to chill.

You can serve it room temp but it won't be quite set up. It needs to chill for a couple of hours, up to overnight, to be fully set.

The color is very vibrant. Soooo purdy. 

You definitely need to taste this to understand how different it is. 

It's one of those things that confuses your taste buds for a second. In a good way, of course!

I'm thinking this would be perfect for a romantic Valentine's dinner dessert OR at Christmas.

A couple of things - I used one lemon to get the 1/4 cup of lemon juice. If you get a bit more from your lemon - throw it in there too - you can always add a little less water to offset. 

For the 1/2 cup blackberry puree - use one heaping cup full of blackberries and press them through a strainer. That should yield about 1/2 cup of puree. 

For something different, if you are not a huge fan of meringue, you could also top this pie with whipped cream.

MMMM Bars

So I think I deserve several gold stars for the clever name of these bars.

Not only is "mmmm" the sound you will make when you eat them, the M's all stand for ingredients in the recipe. 

Molasses.

Mango.

Macadamia nuts.

Meringue. 

*Taaaah - daaaah*

Yes. I'm proud of myself. I am normally the most suckiest name-come-upper-wither ever. 

Also, 

These bars rock. 

Like.... old-school-guitars-and-spandex-and-big-hair rock. 

So many things are going on that your taste buds will be all like... "Whoa! Dude, whatever this is you should marry it."

I know you think I'm exaggerating but I'm not. Not even a little. The tastes and textures and layers of deliciousness are over the top addicting. 

I developed this recipe for the Crosby's Molasses Raising The Bar molasses inspired recipe contest. (Click HERE for more info) I'm so glad that Crosby's runs these fun recipe contests otherwise I would probably never step outside my comfort zone and try these fab new combinations!

Give these a try and let us know what you think!

MMMM Bars

Ingredients

Base

3 cups flour

pinch salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup butter, room temp

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup Crosby's Fancy Molasses

4 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts

1/2 cup dried mango, finely diced

Meringue

4 egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp coconut extract

Topping

1/2 cup shredded coconut

Directions

Preheat oven to 325. Line a 12 X 17 baking sheet/jelly roll pan with parchment paper. (Note - can also use a 10.5 X 15.5 jelly roll pan but you will have to increase your cooking time.) Set aside.

In a medium frying pan over medium heat, toast the chopped macadamia nuts until they start to brown and are fragrant - about 5 minutes.

When they are done, scrape them into a bowl to cool. Place the coconut in the pan and toast it as well. It will only take a few minutes to brown as the pan is already hot. When it is done, scrape it into a separate bowl to cool. 

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until smooth - scraping bowl as necessary. Beat in both sugars until fluffy. Beat in the Crosby's Fancy Molasses, egg yolks, and vanilla until well combined.

Beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mixture may seem crumbly but should stick together if you squeeze it in your hand.

Beat in the toasted macadamia nuts and mango. 

Press mixture very firmly into the prepared 12 X 17 baking sheet. Set aside.

In a clean mixing bowl, beat your egg whites until foamy. Beat in the cream of tartar.

Very gradually beat in the brown sugar - about a spoonful at a time. 

Beat in the coconut extract. Meringue should be glossy.

Spread evenly over the base.

Sprinkle with the toasted coconut.

Bake at 325 until golden brown, about 20 - 30 minutes. Meringue should appear dry and coconut will be a dark golden brown.

Dip a knife in water and run it around the outside of the pan to release it from the sides of the pan. (You may have to dip it in water a few times so the meringue doesn't stick to the knife.)

Let cool completely on a wire rack. 

When cool you can use the parchment paper to help you remove it from the pan (You can cut it into sections to remove it from the pan to make things easier if need be.) Cut into bars.

Then marvel at how pretty they look.

Try not to eat the whole bunch...

Don't mind me... I'll just be over here looking at this stack of crunchy, chewy heaven.

Maybe just a few more photos....

And, if you don't want them in the longish bar form (I got 32ish bars that were approximately 1 inch X 6 inches pictured above) then you can cut them into squares (I got 64ish approximately 1 X 3 inch squares (yes, I realize that is not technically a square) - see below.) Because these are made in a 12 X 17 baking sheet, this is a perfect recipe for a crowd!

MMMM....

MMMM...

MMMM...

Am I right or am I right?

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