Let me eat cake

People can not live on veggies alone.  Sometimes we need cake.

One of my favorite cakes to make is this Hawaiian Wedding Cake (I can not vouch for the authenticity of the name).  My mom got the recipe from a co-worker at a job long ago.  It's very easy to make: put all of the ingredients into one bowl, stir, pour into a greased and floured pan, bake, cool, and frost.

My well-worn copy of the recipe:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Take out a stick of butter (or margarine, if you insist) and a 8 oz block of cream cheese to soften on the counter.

Gather the ingredients for the cake:

2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. coarsely chopped walnuts
1 c. sweetened coconut
1 20 oz can of crushed pineapple, including juice
2 tsp baking soda

Later, for the frosting, you will need:

1 stick of butter
1 8 oz block of cream cheese
1 1/2 c. confectioner's sugar
2 tsp vanilla

Put all of the cake ingredients into a mixing bowl.

Stir.  It's quick; I promise.

Pour the batter into a greased and floured pan.

Bake.  The recipe says 30-35 minutes, but I usually end up needing to add another 10-15 minutes.  You want the cake to be browned on top and solidly baked.  Test the center with a toothpick.  Even before that, you can see the center wiggle when you pull out the rack -- if that's happening, so need to test with a toothpick, as the cake isn't ready yet. 

When it's done, take it out of the oven and cool for at least an hour.

After the cake cools for a while, start your frosting.  Cream the stick of butter and block of cream cheese together.

Then add 1 1/2 c. of confectioner's sugar and 2 tsp of vanilla.

Mix until very well blended.

Frost the cake, then refrigerate it until you're ready to eat it.  I frost the cake in the pan rather than turning the cake out.  I think the frosting is too rich to have it on the sides of the cake as well.  Besides, the cake tastes so good that you don't need to worry about how it looks when you present it.

Piece of cake.  A secret: the center of the cake will end up being a bit thinner (or more compressed) than the edges, despite fully baking the cake.  When you put the frosting on to make it look even on top, the center of the cake will get a bit more frosting.  If you're a fan of frosting, those are the pieces you'd like to have.

My mom says that her co-worker made these as cupcakes.  I've never done that, but suppose it would be a good way to serve the cake on a table of finger foods.  I also suppose it would account for the baking time being so much different on the recipe than what I usually experience.

I always keep the ingredients for this cake in the house, as it's so easy to make when you need to bring a dessert somewhere (or when you just decide that you'd like to have cake for dessert tonight).