Father's Day

Happy Monday everybody! I hope you all had a nice restful weekend. Happy (belated) Father's Day to all the dads out there. I'd like to give a shout-out to my dad, my husband (pictured at left during our beach vacation last summer), and my father in law for being such awesome dads! We love you! We celebrated by making breakfast at home and the kids and I ate liver mush for the first time. It wasn't too bad, Tim fried it crispy and we ate it with biscuits. Camden couldn't get enough of it! Then Tim wanted to go to the flea market to look for some landscaping tools so off we went. The kids liked looking at the chickens and bunnies, I enjoyed people watching. We meandered around the small towns nearby and ate lunch with my in-laws and celebrated Father's Day with them. My dad was out of town so I gave him a call and wished him a happy Father's Day and also a happy birthday. It was a great day all around.

Speaking of my dad, he is a retired pastor so I basically grew up in the Baptist church and was there every time the doors were opened so it seemed. One of the highlights of the year was the Sunday night on Father's Day when the mens missions group (the Brotherhood for all you Baptists) would host a men's cake baking contest complete with judging by the WMU and prizes. I liked the cakes that flopped the best! I remember one cake that was a carrot cake and the man had stuck a big carrot right in the center of the cake. Another year a man baked a cake in his daughter's Easy Bake Oven and placed it on a big cake stand with a sign that said "Ooops, I think I ate too much batter!"

Dad would always bake a sour cream coconut cake the day before and it was SO GOOD by the time we ate it on Sunday night. He won Best Cake a few times with this entry.

***Cake***
3 large eggs
1 carton (8 ounce size) sour cream
1/3 cup water
1 can (8 1/2 ounce size) cream of coconut
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 box (18 1/4 ounce size) white cake mix

***Coconut-Cream Cheese Frosting***
1 package (8 ounce size) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 package (16 ounce size) powdered sugar -- sifted
1 package (7 ounce size) coconut flakes

PREPARATION:
Beat eggs at high speed with an electric mixer 2 minutes. Add sour cream, 1/3 cup water, and next 2 ingredients, beating well after each addition. Add cake mix, beating at low speed just until blended. Beat at high speed 2 minutes. Pour batter into a greased and floured 9x13" baking pan.

Bake at 325°F. for 40-45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on wire rack. Cover pan with plastic wrap, and freeze cake 30 minutes. Remove from freezer.

Spread Coconut-Cream Cheese Frosting on top of chilled cake. Cover and store in refrigerator.

For Coconut-Cream Cheese Frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; add milk and vanilla, beating well. Gradually add sugar, beating until smooth. Stir in coconut.

The longer this cake sits, the better it is. By day 3, if it lasts that long it is "lay on the floor and scream" good.

Until next time,
Melissa