All criminal history aside, Martha Stewart is amazing. I wish I had the encyclopedia of all things crafty, delicious and beautiful that is her brain. It doesn't even matter when she runs out of ideas now because I'm sure there is a whole team that comes up with even more (not that they get any of the credit). Instead, I just try to read Real Simple and pretend that level of organization and craftiness is achievable in my life.

This cake is a masterpiece. The raspberry jam in between layers makes the whole thing moist and flavorful..and the icing. Oh lord. My mom is a huge meringue fan so she is the one who initially picked this cake out for Easter Sunday. The icing is like a meringue and frosting hybrid. It spreads on smooth, but peaks out and tastes like meringue. My granddad called me the next day to tell me how much he liked this cake. While he would never say he didn't like something I made, the extra phone call says it all. There's nothing like having an appreciative audience!

The cake is perfect for any sort of event. It's not one of those "middle of the week, I think I'll bake a cake!" cakes (yes, I realize some people don't find that normal behavior). It is beautiful, and it deserves a crowd. I somehow lose cake pans all the time, and so I had to make do with two 9-inch pans instead of three 8-inch. I swear there is a ghost in my house who likes to steal things. Cake pans, sifters, one half of my double broiler...they are all among the long list of odd bakeware disappearances in my house. As if baking wasn't already an expensive enough hobby.

Also, I'm sorry for being m.i.a. these past two weeks. I had a big advertising competition on Friday and now that it's over I have my life back. Woohoo! Just in time to enjoy the last week of my senior year of college. And to enjoy all of the delicious food that comes along with graduation parties. Get excited.

• Raspberry White Cake
• Recipe from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

Vegetable-oil cooking spray
2 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar (1/2 cup plus 1/2 cup)
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons whole milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 large egg whites, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 1/2 cups raspberries (8 ounces)
2/3 cup raspberry jam
1/2 cup large-flake dried unsweetened coconut (I just used bakers unsweetened and toasted it)

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Coat three 8-inch round cake pans with cooking spray, line bottoms with parchment, and coat again. Whisk together flour, salt, and 1/2 cup sugar. In a separate bowl, beat together cream, milk, baking powder, and egg whites until mixture thickens. Whisk in vanilla, almond extract, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar.

Fold in flour mixture. Fold in raspberries, then divide among pans. Bake until golden and top springs back when touched, about 25 minutes. Let cool in pans 30 minutes. Remove; let cool completely on a wire rack.

Spread half the jam over top of 1 cake layer, and sandwich with another layer. Repeat with remaining jam and layer. Swirl frosting over top and sides of cake. Sprinkle top with coconut.

Meringue Frosting

1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup
5 large egg whites, room temperature

Directions

Bring 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, the corn syrup, and 3 tablespoons water to a boil, stirring. Wash down side of pan with a wet pastry brush, and cook sugar syrup, without stirring, until a candy thermometer registers 230 degrees.

Meanwhile, beat egg whites with a mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.

Add sugar syrup in a slow, steady stream down side of bowl. Beat on high speed until thick, fluffy, and cool, about 7 minutes.

It's time to get serious here. This coconut cake is the BEST coconut cake that there is.

You may say, "Well it's not a real coconut cake recipe because it uses boxed cake mix." To that I respond: any cake that takes 48+ hours to make from beginning to end is homemade to me!

You also may think, "No thanks, coconut isn't for me." That means you fall into the category of the rest of my family. I made a coconut cake that I posted on here one other time and declared it amazing or something of the sort. Now I feel I just might as well delete that post. This is the one and only coconut cake recipe you will ever need. I have made it twice and served it to over 30 different people without having one person who didn't end up gushing over it.

I wouldn't have found the recipe if it weren't for my granddad. He likes to find recipes he thinks would be good and mark them for me. I must admit that I usually don't get around to them, especially when they are various sorts of fruitcakes. Sorry, granddad. But this one I thought I would give a try. It took me about two months to get around to it, but I made it a month or so ago to give my grandparents a little pick-me-up during a rough week for them. He ate two slices in the hour I visited. I think it made his month. Just one of the countless reasons baking is wonderful.

One more anecdote before I leave you to this amazing cake. My great aunt is 80+ years old. I made this cake for Christmas dessert as well, and after cleaning her plate she told me how her mom used to make coconut cake every Christmas for their family. Then she went on to say that, as good as that cake always was, she can't remember ever having a coconut cake that was this good.

Enjoy!

Coconut Cake
Recipe from Our State magazine

Filling
2 (8-ounce) cartons sour cream
2 cups sugar
1 (6-ounce) package frozen coconut, thawed

Mix above ingredients. Cover, and store in refrigerator for 24 hours

Cake
Prepare 2 layers using Duncan Hines Yellow Cake mix. When cool, divide the layers, making 4 layers. Stack, spreading filling on top of each later, including the top layer.

Frosting
1 pint heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
1 (6-ounce) package frozen coconut, thawed

In a small bowl (preferably a glass bowl that has been slightly chilled), beat the cream until it begins to thicken. Add confectioner's sugar and beat until soft peaks form.

Frost sides and top with sweetened whipped cream. You may have extra, but there are a worse things than having extra whipped cream around the house. Sprinkle cake with coconut. Cover finished cake with foil, and refrigerate for 24 hours before serving. The filling will be liquidy, but that's ok. Once the cake has set in the fridge the filling will seep into the cake creating an incredibly moist yellow cake.

There's a little coffee shop on UNC's campus that I frequently stop in before a night of studying at the library. For as long as I can remember I have had an extreme aversion to the library, so I always reward myself for going with a frozen drink or cookie (or both). I avoided the library for the first two months of school, but then my class schedule caught up with me and doing work at my desk just wasn't cutting it. As you can imagine, this cookie/frappuccino habit is not so good when going multiple nights per week.

In the five days leading up to Thanksgiving break I worked on a group project a total of 30 hours. 30 hours! And that is on top of my full class schedule and all other homework. What in the world are these teachers thinking? Anyway, I became a frequent coffee shop visitor to get my cookie and caffeine fix before work time. I've seen the shop's buffalo chip cookie a few times, but had never actually tried it. I think theirs is pretty similar to this one: coconut, chocolate chips, pecans, oats. Lots of ingredients but so worth it. My week of studying left me wanting to make a batch of these at home (that didn't cost me $2 a cookie), so after some research this is the recipe I decided on.

I never read through entire recipes as much as I should. Therefore, when I started putting the ingredients into the bowl to make these cookies I had no idea the GIANT batch of dough it made. Not only did it deplete my ingredient stash, it also broke my spatula. It's a good thing they turned out so well. I do think there are probably great buffalo chip recipes that aren't so ingredient-heavy, but these are great. I just need to remember to cut the recipe in half next time, for my spatula's sake.

Buffalo Chip Cookies
Recipe from CD Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 cup margarine or butter
1 cup shortening
1 box dark brown sugar
4 eggs
2 cups white granulate sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups oatmeal
1 (6-ounce) package of chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecan or walnuts
2 cups Rice Krispies cereal
1 cup coconut (optional) *I used it

Directions:

In a very large bowl, cream butter and shortening. Add brown sugar, eggs, white sugar and vanilla. Sift and add flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add oatmeal, then stir in the chocolate chips, nuts, Rice Krispies and coconut. Use a large measuring spoon (approximately 1/4 cup) for batter per cookie. Put on an ungreased cookie sheet (9 cookies to 1 sheet). Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Let cool 3 minutes before removing from baking sheet.

Recently it's been increasingly difficult to make good cookies in my house. This happens often in North Carolina summers since we get 100 degree weather paired with 100% humidity (not a great combination for baking).  Ahh, the south.  My house gets warm too because we have a porch that is closed in, but doesn't have any AC. We leave the door to it open for my dog so she can go through it to the backyard. It's fine 320 days a year, but let me tell you, on a hot day it makes for a miserably hot house. Still, everyone loves cookies (including me) and I feel like batch of cookies around the house is a must in summer..or any other time of the year! I hate when batches spread too much, but I'm willing to take a chance with the humidity all in the name of cookies.

In my house, we've got a house divided on a number of different things. There are obvious things, like my Duke fan parents and two siblings who attended Duke versus my brother and I, UNC kids to the core. There are also other minor things, mostly these deal with food. Coconut is one of those foods. It used to be my mom against the house. She would choose a coconut cake over just about anything else, but nobody else liked it one bit. Then I realized coconut really just sweetens things up and that's always a plus in my book. So now it's me and my mom against the house. That's why whenever possible I love recipes like this that sneak in coconut in a subtle way. Coconut makes these cookies chewy and sweet. They are the perfect summer cookie. Because my house was an oven the day I made them, they didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, but the taste is great.

Coconut Lime Sugar Cookies  
Recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups white sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of one large lime, finely minced
3 tbsp lime juice
½ cup unsweetened toasted coconut
½ cup sugar for rolling cookies

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. If you haven't already toasted your coconut just put a layer of coconut on a cookie sheet and bake it at 350 degrees for 5-7 minutes. Watch out. It goes from white to burnt really quick if you aren't watching closely.
2. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. Using a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and very fluffy.
4. Beat in egg, vanilla extract, lime juice and lime zest.
5. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients and toasted coconut.
6. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and roll in sugar. Place on lined cookie sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart. I made mine too big and they ran together. These do spread quite a bit.
7. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned.
8. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

My mom loves coconut. The only problem is, no one else in our family does. I've gradually started to like it more since I tried my first Samoa and realized it wasn't half bad, but I would never order anything coconut off a menu.  I've also never made anything coconut. At christmas she makes macaroons, I make meringues. But, Friday was her birthday so I decided I'd give a coconut recipe a try. This recipe was a disaster from beginning to end in the making. I was rushing to get it done and in turn destroyed two batches of lemon curd, which was supposed to be the filling (that's a lot of lemons and eggs!). Luckily, the icing I chose for the outside of the cake was amazing and the batch turned out to be plenty to frost the whole cake. I liked the final product so much I won't be trying this recipe with lemon curd, it was perfect how it was. Because the original recipe calls for it, I'm sure it's even better with it. I think I'm just fed up with lemon curd for now, but that doesn't mean you all shouldn't give it a try! My only suggestion would be to put parchment down in the bottom of the pans before pouring the batter in. Not doing this contributed to part two of my disaster: One of the layers split in two.
Like I said before, no one in my family likes coconut, but everyone tried this cake and liked it. I didn't add the extra coconut between the layers so the lemon flavor came through much more which made it more appealing to everyone. My mom said she thought it would've been even better with it, though, so if you like coconut, add it. I ended up taking these pictures three days after I made it and after it had been put in the fridge so they don't do the cake justice. Trust me on this though, this recipe has made me like coconut even more than when I tried the Samoa (and it's pretty hard to beat Girl Scout Cookies). I thought it was much better before going in the fridge so I would recommend covering it and leaving it out to help it stay moist.

Coconut Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe from The Foster's Market Cookbook

Ingredients for the cake:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cup sugar
6 large eggs, separated
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup canned coconut cream (such as Coco Lopez)
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

Ingredients for the frosting:
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
5 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

*This is a great recipe for just plain cream cheese frosting too if you leave out the coconut. It also can be made into a fruit cream cheese frosting with the addition of 1 cup fresh berries. YUM!

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Grease and lightly flour two 9-inch cake pans and set aside (I used 3 pans)
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and stir to mix. Set aside.
4. Cream together the butter and sugar in a separate bowl with an electric mixer.
5. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition until mixture is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and stir by hand to mix well.
6. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the buttermilk and coconut cream. Stir until all the dry ingredients are moist and blended. Do not overmix.
7. With an electric mixer whip the egg whites in a separate bowl 2 to 3 minutes, until soft peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the cake batter.
8. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake 40-45 minutes (If you use more pans, like I did, decrease this time by about 10 minutes. Remove from oven when cakes are firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. 
9. Remove from the oven and cool the cakes 10 to 15 minutes in the pans. Remove from the pans and continue to cool on a baking rack.
10. Place the butter and cream cheese in a bowl and cream together with an electric mixer until light and smooth.
11. Add the confectioner's sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition until smooth.
12. Add the orange zest and vanilla and continue to mix on high speed about 1 minute to make the frosting light and fluffy.
13. Add 2 cups sweetened falked cocnut and stir until well blended.
14. Once the cakes have cooled completely, use a long, serrated knife to slice off the top rounded potion of each cake to make a flat, even surface. Discard trimmings.
15. Place one layer cut side down on a cake plate. Spread generously with icing and sprinkle cocnut over layer. Continue with next layer and spread top and sides of cake with frosting.