Cut Out -Turkey Cake ( Grandmas Recipe) FAIL!

what you will need:

2 round pans 8 or 9 inch
5 1/2 cups of seven minute frosting ( tinted orange)
Food coloring
1 bag of Sweetened coconut
1/2 cup of chocolate coated coconut
Twizzlers
Gumdrops
Licorice candy


Cake mix:

2 1/2 cups of flour
3 tbs of baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup shortening ( room temperature)
3/4 cup of milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk

Seven minute frosting:

3 egg whites, unbeaten
2 1/4 cups of sugar
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract


Chocolate covered coconut:

1 package of bakers Germans sweet chocolate ( broken in pieces)*
1 and 1/3 coconut

* or use 2 squares of bakers semi- sweet chocolate

Step 1: Making the Cake and the Frosting

For the cake gather all your ingredients :

Sift flour with baking powder , salt and sugar
Stir shortening to soften. Add flour, 3/4milk,vanilla and mix it up. You can do this with an electric mixer at a medium speed for 2 minutes or you can do this by hand , scraping the bowl occasionally ( grandma always said by hand is better)

Add the eggs, and the remaining 1/4 of the milk now mix vigorously.

Pour the batter into your 2 pans ( make sure and coat them first ) bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 ( remember all ovens are different keep an eye on your oven)

Cool the cakes completely ( use cooling racks if you have em,

Now for your frosting:

Combine the egg whites , sugar. Salt, water and corn syrup beat about 1 minute, place it over boiling water and beat with a rotary beater for 7 minutes .
Remove from the boiling water. Now for a super smooth, super satiny frosting appearance, pour into a large bowl , add vanilla and beat for an extra minute( make sure it's thick enough to spread)

Chocolate covered coconut:

Heat chocolate in sauce pan ( small) until partly melted. Remove from heat and stir rapidly until entirely melted , add your coconut and mix well. Spread on a baking sheet , separate your flakes , chill it in your fridge till its time to use

Step 2: Frosting , Arranging and Decorating

Now that your cakes have cooled, spread one cake layer with your frosting , and top with your second layer now cut and arrange the cake accordingly to make a turkey ,use your frosting to "glue" them securely.
Now finish frosting , cover thickly with coconut ( you can toast before you use if you like) use your chocolate covered coconut to make little wings
Now decorate your turkey!
Use your gumdrops to make a face, a beak, some texture for the tail and use your licorice for its little feet!



TOASTED COCONUT:

Thinly spread in shallow baking pan , set your oven at 350 for 7 to 8 minutes ( or until lightly browned) shake pan often to toast evenly)

So I burned the coconut in the pan, so instead of beautiful coated coconut, I had hard weird pieces , that I tried to manipulate into some kind of shape in the cake,

And only when I was done with everything I realized my cut out turkey looked more like a weird cross like hybrid between a chicken and a turkey covered in a while lotta coconut :/ ugh can't say I didn't try :( lol we still are it though just not so much displayed it for all of our relatives to see LOL , it looked a littttttttttle like my grandmas cakes ..... A little...

Let's be grateful for all the little memories , for every burnt cake, for hard cookies and for having our loving families who get to eat them!!


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!