Sweet Orange and Coconut

Posted on April 11, 2016

Last Monday would have been Grandma’s 82nd birthday. This was the first year I didn’t get to call her, hear her laugh, and share in another year of her life. Since Gram’s birthday was typically around Easter, we always double downed and did 2x the celebrating. If you’re part of the Yoder clan, every birthday my mother (or grandma) will cook you a dinner and dessert of your choice. Seriously, one of the biggest perks ever. Anything and everything. Nothing is off limits. My gram’s always requested orange cake with whipped coconut icing. It was her favorite. One of my favorite photos of her is two years ago blowing out the cake my mom had baked for her.

Today, in my little ode to grams, I decided to make her favorite. Orange cake with coconut icing. Now, in normal grandma form, I decided to spruce up something store bought. Yes, I bought a box cake. Sue me. I went with Betty Crocker Butter Recipe Yellow Cake. This calls for 3 eggs, 1 cup of water and 1/3 cup of butter. By changing the water into orange juice, a dash of orange extract and some orange zest… VOILA, awesome cake that NO ONE would be able to tell was store bought. Save’s you some time and money, which in my book is always a plus!

Now, I did make the icing from scratch. Cream cheese icings are always my favorite and gram’s LOVED whipped sugar icing so I combined the two into one awesome combo. I know that orange and coconut is not normally a combo most people are used to, but trust me, you’ll enjoy this! A little tangy with a little sweet. It’s the perfect combo for the wonderful lady that was grams. So without further ado, Orange Coconut Cake.

Quick Orange Cake:

1 box cake mix (I used Betty Crocker’s Butter Recipe Yellow Cake)
3 eggs
1/3 stick softened butter
3 Oranges (to make 1 cup of juice + zest)
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
Zest of 1 orange
1/2 T orange extract

Preheat oven to 350 °. Open and pour cake mix in a large bowl. Add butter, eggs, and orange extract. Zest one orange into mixture. Juice three oranges to make 1 cup of orange juice (you could just use orange juice as well if you want). Mix all ingredients together well. Pour in pre-greased 8″ cake pan (make sure this is a tall 2.5-3″ pan). Put in oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until inserted knife comes out clean. Place cake on cooling rack and allow to cool completely before icing.

Make sure someone enjoys the batter with this one haha. Don’t worry, the hubs licked the bowl first. Now, onto the icing!

Coconut Whipped Icing:

1 – 8 oz package of cream cheese
1 stick softened butter
3 cups powdered sugar (or icing sugar)
1/2 T orange extract
1/2 T of vanilla extract
1-3 T of milk (optional, add to icing if you would like it more runny)
1-2 cups of shredded coconut (put more/less depending on taste)

Place softened butter in bowl. Beat until creamy. Add room temperature cream cheese, whip with butter until smooth. Add both vanilla and orange extract. Beat until smooth. Slowly incorporate powder sugar. If the icing is too thick, add milk a tablespoon at a time to thin out. Before icing cake, add wax paper around bottom of the cake. This will make sure that you don’t get icing all over your plate and create a picture perfect cake! Pour icing on cake and spread evenly. ***Make sure cake is completely cool before doing this. Once icing is even, sprinkle coconut on top and sides. Allow icing to set, remove wax paper, and serve. Enjoy!

Photography and writing by:

Alysha Yoder Photography

(b) www.alyshayoderphotoblog.com www.alyshayoderphoto.com

(e) alyshayoderphoto@yahoo.com (p) 610.762.7810

6 Comments

Rain with A Craving for Peanut Butter

Posted on February 22, 2016

What a beautiful Saturday, but terribly gloomy Sunday. As I sat on my couch sorting through the piles of gram’s recipes, I came across two matching cards. One for Peanut Butter Cake and one for Peanut Butter Icing. What delicious pairing for this gloomy day!

Now grams was a BIG cake person. She always had some lying around the house for ‘just in case anyone dropped by.’ My uncle Dave also has a mild obsession with angel cake with homemade sugar icing (heaven forbid it’s anything but homemade sugar icing, you’d never hear the end of it). I’m actually fairly certain that gram’s thought everything was better with icing. I’ll never be able to prove this of course, but it was her thing. Cake too dry.. add icing.. brownies too plain.. why not a good batch of icing? Almost every cake recipe in all her cookbooks and recipe cards include icing.

I have so many fond memories of grams pulling out the beaters and whipping up fresh icing for all her baked goods. Dave would always just ‘happen to wonder into the kitchen’ and be on hand to lick the beaters. Now I will ALSO admit my hubs had a little say in this selection, as he has a mild obsession with everything peanut butter based. As payment, he helped model for a few of my shots AND I made him homemade mac and cheese tonight, so double bonus for him.

So without further ado, I give you gram’s Peanut Butter Cake with Peanut Butter Icing.

Peanut Butter Cake:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Sift into mixing bowl:

2 1/4 cups Softasilk Flour (I seriously thought I wouldn’t be able to find this at the store but VOILA there is was. This is just fancy cake flour so if you can’t find Softasilk feel free to use other cake flour)
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Add to bowl:

1/3 cup shortening (I didn’t have any on hand so I used butter)
1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter (feel free to use creamy too!)
2/3 cup milk

Mix all ingredients for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.

Now add to bowl and mix till smooth:

1/3 cup milk
2 eggs

Spray or butter a 9×13 pan and evenly pour batter into. Place in oven for 30-40 minutes until toothpick or knife comes out clean. Once done, remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Peanut Butter Icing:

This was easiest to make while the cake was cooking and just cover it until ready to use.

Mix together the following ingredients until smooth.

1/4 cup crunch style peanut butter (or creamy, your choice)
3 cups sifter confectioners sugar
1/4-1/3 cup milk (add more if icing too thick)

Once cake is cooled pour icing over cake and spread evenly. Cut and serve. Enjoy!

Alysha Yoder Photography (b) www.alyshayoderphotoblog.com

www.alyshayoderphoto.com (e) alyshayoderphoto@yahoo.com (p) 610.762.7810

Category: Alysha Yoder Photography, recipe Tagged: alysha yoder photography, baking, cake, food, foodie, grandma, homemade, icing, peanut, peanut butter, peanut butter cake, peanut butter icing, recipe, recipes

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Jen and Joe – 12.19.15

Posted on January 20, 2016

What a fun and long brewing romance Jen and Joe had! This couple, originally both Carlisle natives, had a thing for each other in high school. It fizzled out and both went their separate ways. Fast-forward 35 years and BAM! They reconnected, had a whirlwind romance and before you knew it, wedding bells were ringing!

While these two both call Atlanta home now, they came back to the Carlisle area to celebrate with everyone they grew up with and got to show off their hometown to their Atlanta friends in the process. And what a party it was! Nothing could have gone more smoothly and look more lovely (thanks to the awesome planning and design of Tracy over at La Carta Luna Planning and Design). Seriously, did you see these venues and all the decor? It was stunning!

Jen and Joe’s wedding began with the ladies all getting ready at the beautiful Fallen Tree Farm B&B. Lots of laughs, smiles and dress adjustments were shared. Everyone exchanged small talk while oohing and awwing over dresses, shoes and accessories. The bride’s mother even matched her shoe and hair piece, how fun is that?

Shortly after, we all headed over to The Carlisle Ribbon Mill. The ladies freshened up in the bridal room while finishing touches were placed throughout. All the small details were just stunning, from the Gingko leaf earrings the bride wore, to the flowers frozen in ice centerpieces, little flower and feather bundles for each guest with their place settings and a beautiful ribbon alter piece to pull all the colors of the wedding day together!

As the groom and his groomsman started to arrive, they shared handshakes and hugs with all the wedding guests. The ceremony began shortly after. The lovely bride walked down the aisle escorted by her uncle as the groom looked on, beaming with a sheepish grin. The ceremony was beautiful with some tears and hand holding being shared by the audience. Everyone applauded as Jen and Joe were kissed for the first time and were announced as husband and wife.

While guests sipped on drinks and enjoyed a lovely cocktail hour I got to go out with Jen and Joe to get some outdoor shots. Despite the cold, the bride and groom champed through and Jen even rocked a little bridal overcoat! Their brother and sister assisted me through the whole thing. Who says iPhone’s aren’t good for some front lighting lol! Upon returning, while waiting for their entrance, Jen and Joe indulged me in a little one on one photo session with all the cool backgrounds The Carlisle Ribbon Mill had to offer! One of my favorite photos from the whole night is them against the white wall, holding hands and looking at each other. It’s just adorable and puts a smile on my face 🙂

Following their entrance, speeches were given. What a wonderful job all the speakers did! From a brother, sister and uncle, all of them had the crowd in stitches over childhood stories and relationship advice for the new couple. A beautiful dinner was served by The Uncommon Caterer prior to dancing and what a dancing crowd this was! After the couple’s first dance everyone joined in and got their groove on! From slow dances to disco this was a party crowd! Shortly thereafter, the beautiful cake was cut and guests enjoyed this delectable treat from The Camp Hill Bakery.

What can I say? This was such a wonderful wedding. The couple, their friends and family were just all so lovely. Happiness, love and laughter enveloped Jen and Joe’s whole wedding day. I am so thankful to be a part of it! Here’s to a long lasting a beautiful marriage! Enjoy all the photos celebrating Jen and Joe’s big day!