Ugh.

So baking season is upon us. I love to bake but don't do it as often as I'd like because DH and I are total sweet tooth people. I mean, if I make cookies for my friends, at least a half dozen will be missing before we even start packaging!

Anywho, we're celebrating birthdays in my office tomorrow and I wanted to make Bobby Flay's coconut cake from Throw Down. I read through the recipe last night and it isn't difficult - a simple vanilla cake, coconut simple syrup, coconut custard filling, and coconut buttercream.

Yeah, right.

The cake was easy. Truly, it was. My mother always, always, always baked from scratch so I've been sifting cake flour since I was a lil' thing. Ditto the coconut syrup. (FYI - flavored simple syrup is awesome for baking but even better for cocktails. Mmm...)

Now here's where the recipe went to hell and a handbasket. The coconut custard is used both as a filling and as the flavoring in the buttercream. I approached this with apprehension - puddings are not my friends. You'd think bringing something to a boil while constantly stirring would be easy. No, no it is not.

Try #1: Boiled over when I went to turn off a timer.

Try #2: Scrambled eggs. 'Nuff said.

Try #3: Wouldn't thicken.

At this point I've wasted $20 worth of vanilla beans, I'm out of coconut milk, and my previously spotless kitchen looks like a Jackson Pollack impression from all of the milk explosions.

So now my cake is custard-free, the buttercream is just plain ol' vanilla, and it still looks pretty. It'll be way less coconutty than I wanted it but that's just fine, I think. DH is out of town this week so my favorite taste tester isn't here. Cross your fingers that it tastes ok!