I have been on a mission. It is one that has taken me as far as the depths of my kitchen and the to the wiles of the public library. Yes, I have searched long and hard, and waged many a calorie-ridden day happily in hungrily in pursuit of the perfect cake recipe. And by perfect cake I mean this: it has to be versatile, it must be trustworthy, and it has to be simple. Those are the hallmarks of a good recipe if you ask me. And I just may have found the cake of my dreams.
Simplicity, meet coconut cake. Coconut cake, meet simplicity. This cake is really only called a coconut cake because of the thin shavings of golden, toasty brown coconut sprinkled gingerly on top. The cake is truly called Brown Sugar Lightning Cake from Sally Schneider’s tome, The [...]

Never have I been so emphatic about a dessert, and you have to understand that I am a pretty emphatic person, especially about desserts. But these bars, are so stupendous, that I implore you, “Make them please, pretty please, with some shaved coconut on top!”
Last weekend I was out with Brian, and we stopped in for a treat at Amy’s Breads. That is where I ate this sweet-affirming, all American goody, and my life has been forever changed. (Maybe I am being a bit dramatic, but these bars are that good!) Amy simply called them Coconut Dream Bars, but memories of a 7 Layer Cookie Bar that I ate as a child came flooding back to me. There was a restaurant that my family used to go to on occasion, it was known for it ginormous, split-worthy portions, especially desserts. They had a 7 [...]