— whollyKao

celebrating 60!

Last Friday, the father-in-law turned 60. He, my mother-in-law, and DK came to Dallas for the occasion. Sadly, Emmy was sick, so neither she nor Amyie could make it.

We ended up cooking dinner for the fam, and FaceTiming with Emmy for a bit. I made ’60s’ glasses for all of us to wear, and we celebrated with cake.

It was a coconut-lime papaya cake with lime curd and lime cream cheese frosting. phew! Try saying that ten times fast!

It was my first time making a layer cake. I used a cupcake recipe from my friend Tina for the cake, and took the lime curd recipe from Epicurious. I’m not a huge frosting fan, but there’s something about this stuff that was so addicting.

I did a little taste test of both the frosting and the curd, from the bottom of the mixing bowls. I had to!

The end result was very tasty. The cake was dense, the curd and frosting complemented the coconut. It was better the second day, since the curd had time to seep in.

Overall, I’m glad we all got to celebrate with Jeff’s Dad on his birthday!

I’ll be posting a tutorial on how to make the ’60′s’ glasses soon. Stay tuned!

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Coconut-papaya-lime cupcakes
*layered cake recipe is posted right under this cupcake recipe.

papaya coconut cupcakes
makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 ounces papaya, chopped (available at the asian grocery store)
1/2 cup shredded coconut, sweetened

Steps
1. Preheat oven to 350. Mix flour, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium sized bowl.
2. In a separate small bowl, beat eggs, then add oil and coconut milk to the eggs and mix to combine.
3. Add eggs/oil/coconut milk mixture to the dry ingredients, mix to combine.
4. Add vanilla, papaya, and coconut to the rest of the ingredients and mix to combine.
5. Line cupcake tin with liners. Scoop batter into each cupcake liner, filling 3/4 full.
6. Bake at 350 degree oven 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
lime cream cheese frosting
Ingredients
8 ounces or 1 package of Philly cream cheese
1/2 stick butter
3 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice (add zest for more flavor)

Steps
1. Bring the butter to room temperature by letting it sit out for 1 or 2 hours.
2. Sift powdered sugar into a bowl or onto parchment.
3. Beat butter and cheese at medium speed until creamy.
4. Add the sugar and beat until combined.
5. Add lime juice, beat until combined.
*You can add more sugar until you get to the consistency and sweetness you like.

Frost the cupcakes with the frosting, then top each with shredded coconut and lime zest.

To make the layered cake in this post:
1. Make the lime curd:

Lime curd
Ingredients
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup grated lime peel
pinch of salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces.

Steps
1. Whisk eggs, yolks, sugar, lime juice, lime peel, and salt in large metal bowl to blend.
2. Place bowl over saucepan of barely simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch simmering water); whisk constantly until curd thickens, about 8 minutes.
3. Remove bowl from over simmering water; whisk butter into curd.
4. Strain through fine strainer set over bowl; discard solids in strainer.
5. Press plastic wrap directly onto surface of curd; chill overnight. (Curd can be made up to 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated.)

2. Double the papaya-coconut cake recipe, and pour batter in greased 9-inch round cake tins (this will make 2 round cakes).

3. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

4. Take the pans out of the oven, and let them cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Then take them out of the pan and cool them right-side-up on a rack until they come to room temperature.

5. Assemble the cake:
Slice each round cake horizontally, to create 4 rounds. Spread equal amounts of lime curd on top of 3 of the rounds, leaving 1/2″ inch plain border around edge of cake. Let the curd sit on top of the cakes for 15 minutes, so that the curd has time to seep into the cake. (If you don’t give the curd time to settle, it will seep out the sides of the cake when you put it all together).

Carefully stack the rounds on top of each other, placing the one with no curd on top. Frost the entire cake, then top with additional shredded coconut. If you want, add lime zest to the top.

You can put the cake in the fridge overnight, but let it come to room temperature before serving. And like I said before, it’ll be more moist the second day. Enjoy!