Chocolate Coconut Bars

INGREDIENTS: 

Bars

* 1 cup butter

* 4 oz (1/2 cup) milk chocolate

* 1 1/2 cups sugar

* 1 1/2 cups flour

* 4 eggs

* 1/2 tsp baking soda

* 1/4 tsp salt

* 1/2 tsp coconut extract

Frosting:

* 1 cup flake coconut

* 1/2 cup unsalted butter

* 2 cups confectioners' sugar

* 1/4 tsp coconut extract

HOW TO MAKE: 

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13 x 9 inch pan. To make the bars, combine butter and chocolate in a microwave-sae bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Stir. Microwave another minute. Stir. Microwave another 30 seconds or until the mixture is smooth. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine remaining bar ingredients. Add in chocolate mixture and mix until combined. Pour into pan and bake for 30 minutes or until center is set. Let cool. 

While the bars are cooling, spread coconut flakes evenly on a baking sheet. Place into 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Stir flakes so the bottom doesn't burn and cook a few minutes more or until they are the browned color of your liking. Not every piece of coconut will be browned. Let cool. 

To make frosting, melt unsalted butter and then stir in powdered sugar until dissolved. Add in coconut extract and 2 tbsp water. Stir until it's the consistency of frosting. Spread over cooled chocolate cake and then sprinkle the browned coconut on top. 

These bars taste so much like german chocolate cake!!! I added a little more coconut extract in the frosting just because I love coconut so I wanted to make sure the flavor was there. You may also want to double the recipe of the frosting because it doesn't make that much. Otherwise, this was a very easy recipe. Enjoy!

Steelers Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 4 tablespoons red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
• 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Grease two 9 inch round pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream shortening and 1 1/2 cups sugar WELL. Add eggs and beat well.
3. Make a paste of cocoa and red food coloring. Add to creamed mixture. Mix salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla and buttermilk together. Add alternately the flour with the milk mixture to the creamed mixture. Mix soda and vinegar and FOLD INTO CAKE BATTER. DON'T BEAT OR STIR NOW.
4. Bake for 30 minutes.

This recipe made me so nervous because of all the reviews I've seen about how hard it is to make red velvet cake. Red velvet isn't my favorite but those who tasted it said it was really good so I suppose it was a success. The thing to remember when making this cake is once you mix the soda and vinegar together, you need to get it in the batter as fast as you can and into the oven. The longer you wait, the more dense your cake will be. As long as you follow the directions to a "T", you should be fine.

The only thing I did differently was the food coloring. I only had about 2 tsp of it and just added a bit of water to make the mixture a "paste". It didn't turn out as red as you'd normally expect but it still was pretty red. It's really your preference on how bright you want the cake.

Sorry i couldn't get a picture of the inside.