Coconut cake with coconut cream cheese icing

This was my second attempt at a "real" cake with icing and I chose my dear friend Vindhya's birthday for this because my first attempt was a simple cake with whipped cream icing for her birthday last year. That was when I first got my stand mixer and I am in love with it ever since. I chose a coconut cake with coconut cream cheese icing because she is not a big fan of chocolate. A lot of things wen wrong with this one - the cakes had an uneven surface that I did not bother sawing off, the icing technique left much to be desired which meant that I had to cover it up with coconut flakes and that did not leave me any open space to ice "Happy Birthday" :( but the cake did taste ok and I hope she liked it:). Thankfully the candles made it look a little festive and the end product was passable.




I used this recipe for the cake and this one for the icing. The modification I made were -

1. I added coconut milk to the cake instead of regular milk to give it a coconut flavor and did not blend in the fresh coconut.
2. I also added 1tsp of coconut extract to the cake batter.
3. I added only one cup of sugar to the cake batter and and two cups of powdered sugar to the icing instead of the amounts prescribed.
4. The icing was made with low fat cream cheese instead of regular cream cheeses.
   

My next attempt will be the black forest cake using Nupur's (One Hot Stove) recipe for my hubby's birthday this weekend. I have my fingers crossed and I hope it turns out well.