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Tasty Tuesday–Coconut Cream Layer Cake

This cake smells and tastes like summer–it is seriously coconuty! I’m guessing you could also add some drained, crushed pineapple to the cake batter before baking to make a piña colada cake. Alternately, you could also fill the cake with a pineapple mixture (for example, folding some drained, crushed pineapple into about a 1/2 cup of the coconut whipped cream, or even simply using pineapple jelly), between the layers for a similar effect. In addition, to turn it into a booze soaked cake, you could replace some of the water in the recipe with rum. You could also just add some run extract for the full piña colada flavor without all the alcohol of rum itself.
  • 1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon coconut extract
  • 1 (14 ounce) can coconut cream
  • 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp. coconut extract
  • 1 cup flaked coconut
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two round cake pans.
In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, eggs, oil, water and 1 tsp. coconut extract. Beat for 2 minutes and pour into prepared pans. Bake according to directions on box, until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack.
In a medium bowl, combine coconut cream with sweetened condensed milk and stir until smooth. Return cakes to pans and poke holes into them in even rows using a large fork or chopsticks. Pour milk mixture over, allowing it to soak into the cake. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
In a large bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar and coconut extract and continue whipping until stiff.
Carefully remove one cake layer from pan and frost with coconut whipped cream. Top with remaining cake layer, and frost top and sides of cake.
Sprinkle top with flaked coconut.
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May 7–C.F.W. Walther

From the LCMS website:

Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther (1811-87), the father of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, served as its first president from 1847 to 1850 and then again from 1864 to 1878. In 1839 he emigrated from Saxony, Germany, with other Lutherans, who settled in Missouri. He served as pastor of several congregations in St. Louis, founded Concordia Seminary, and in 1847 was instrumental in the formation of the LCMS (then called the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States). Walther worked tirelessly to promote confessional Lutheran teaching and doctrinal agreement among all Lutherans in the United States. He was a prolific writer and speaker. Among his most influential works are Church and Ministry and The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel.

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Like Daughter, Like Mother?

In February, Ladybug got new glasses. Very cool, purple, zebra-striped glasses. I have to admit, I was a little jealous!

Fast forward to today. Since I had broken my glasses last month, and it had been over five years, and they were pretty worn anyway, I also got new glasses. Had they had the same ones Ladybug picked in adult sizes, I have to admit, I might have been tempted to order them. But they didn’t, and they really wouldn’t have been the right shape for my face, anyway. It wasn’t until after I chose and ordered a pair, however, that I realized that they do have something in common with the ones Ladybug got.

Apparently, we’re both into animal prints. Mine is a bit more subtle, being on the inside of the frame, but it’s still there. Usually, we say children take after their parents, but in this case, I think the reverse may be true, as Ladybug’s fashion sense seems to have rubbed off on me!

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May 5–Frederick the Wise

From the LCMS website:

Frederick the Wise, elector of Saxony from 1486 to 1525, was Martin Luther’s sovereign in the early years of the Reformation. Were it not for Frederick, there might not have been a Lutheran Reformation. Born in Torgau in 1463, he became so well known for his skill in political diplomacy and his sense of justice and fairness that he was called “the Wise” by his subjects. Though he never met Luther, Frederick repeatedly protected and provided for him. In all likelihood he saved the reformer from a martyr’s fate. Frederick refused the pope’s demand to extradite Luther to Rome for a heresy trial in 1518. When Emperor Charles V declared Luther an outlaw in 1521 at the Diet of Worms, Frederick provided sanctuary for Luther at the Wartburg castle. On his deathbed, Frederick received the Lord’s Supper in both kinds–a clear confession of the evangelical faith.

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Third Grade: Week Twenty-Four Wrap-Up

We finally started back to school this week, after taking a six-week break following Chickadee’s birth. We started back in much the same way as we ended off before she was born…with just the basics. Religion, math, grammar, history, read-alouds, and reading are all that we accomplished this week. Latin, science, and electives are still on the back burner as we figure out the new normal that is our school now. The good news is, Turkey, Bunny, and Ladybug don’t seem to have forgotten too much following their vacation, so we didn’t have to review a whole lot, and we were even able to dive into some new math concepts this week.

I’m not going to lie–trying to do school with a newborn is harder than I thought, and not for a reason I anticipated. Yes, Chickadee fusses some, but that’s usually easily taken care of. And I have to feed her during school, but I’m a good multi-tasker, and doing that while explaining a math concept or reading aloud is no big deal. The real problem is keeping my students’ attention off their baby sister and on their work! Every noise she makes or smile she gives out is reason, (in their minds), to stop what they’re doing and fawn over her. And I understand that, because I want to fawn, myself. But we need to work on staying focused, if only because life itself is full of distractions, and you can’t always stop what you’re doing every time something shiny comes along…this a great time for a life lesson!

So, that was our week. We did some more state sheets and learned about Samuel Morse in “Adventures in My Father’s World,” We also worked on a new spelling list and practiced putting apostrophes where they belong in contractions. The biggest thing we did this week, though, was working on subtracting and multiplying fractions, which was deemed by Turkey as “fun.” And anytime they think that something valuable they’ve learned is also fun to do, I consider it a successful week!

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May 4–Friedrich Wyneken, Pastor and Missionary

From the LCMS website:

Friedrich Wyneken is one of the founding fathers of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, along with C.F.W. Walther and Wilhelm Sihler. Born in 1810 in Germany, he came to Baltimore in 1838 and shortly thereafter accepted a call to be the pastor of congregations in Friedheim and Fort Wayne, Indiana. Supported by Wilhelm Loehe’s mission society, Wyneken served as an itinerant missionary in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, particularly among Native Americans. Together with Loehe and Sihler, he founded Concordia Theological Seminary in 1846 in Fort Wayne, Ind. He later served as the second president of the LCMS during a period of significant growth (1850-64). His leadership strongly influenced the confessional character of the LCMS and its commitment to an authentic Lutheran witness.

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The New Oven

Our new oven was delivered today. All things considered, we really did get it in a timely fashion, although on Sunday, waiting until today seemed like an eternity!

I can’t say enough good things about Best Buy. Aside from the great deal we got, from the free delivery and haul-away (I love the word free!), to the good sale price and the additional percent off on top of the great financing, the delivery itself was awesome. They told us on Sunday that it could basically be delivered anytime today, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., but that they would call the day before delivery with a smaller window. Yesterday, they told us that they’d deliver between 10 and 12, and they arrived promptly at 10:02. I was ecstatic about this, because usually in these situations, you’re still waiting around 15 minutes after the promised window has passed.

We took a break from our schoolwork to watch them get the oven ready outside before bringing it in. They actually took a pretty long time reading the instruction book out there, to the point where I was getting nervous. Once it was inside, however, they had it hooked up and running in a flash!

Isn’t it shiny?

I love how modern it is, from the appearance, (loving the stainless steel), to the features we didn’t have on our old over, (since when do they enclose the bottom heating element? That’s absolute genius!).

I’m relishing the fact that for today, anyway, the inside of the oven is absolutely pristine, (as is the floor underneath it, thanks to a lot of scrubbing and elbow grease!).

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May 2–Athanasius of Alexandria

From the LCMS website:

Athanasius was born in Alexandria in Egypt in A.D. 295. He served as a church leader in a time of great controversy and ecclesiastical disagreements. At the Council of Nicaea in 325, he defended Christian orthodoxy against the proponents of the Arian heresy, which denied the full divinity of Jesus Christ. During his 45-year tenure as bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius wrote numerous works that defended the orthodox teaching. His enemies had him exiled five times; on two occasions he was almost murdered. Yet Athanasius remained steadfast and ended his days restored fully to his church responsibilities. The Athanasian Creed, though not composed by Athanasius, is named in his honor because it confesses the doctrinal orthodoxy he championed throughout his life.