Strawberry shortcake is wonderful on its own, but sometimes I just want to pretend I am on
vacation somewhere beach-y while I have my dessert.

Coconut Cake

This cake is rich and dense, and is great with a cup of coffee, but also makes a perfect base for strawberry shortcake. Browning the butter is well worth the effort.

Hands-on time: 15 minutes

Total time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup unsweetened dried coconut
• 2 eggs
• 1 1⁄4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1⁄2 cup melted butter (browned if you like*)
• Vegetable oil or butter to grease pan

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease a large baking dish or two smaller cake pans
3. Combine 2 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup coconut in a large bowl
4. Combine eggs, milk, vanilla and butter in a medium bowl
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and mix gently, be careful not to over-stir
6. Pour the mixture into the greased cake pan and place in the oven
7. Bake for about 30 minutes (I suggest you start checking the cake after 25 minutes – to test them just put a toothpick into the middle, when it comes out dry and clean or with just a few crumbs, the cake is ready)
8. Let cool 10 minutes before removing from the cake pan

*How to brown butter? Just put it in a small sauce-pan over medium-high heat. The butter will melt, then it will start to darken. When it starts to turn brown and smells nutty, you have browned butter! Be careful, it is really hot and might spit a little.

Easy Strawberry Sauce

No cooking required, the sugar in this sauce will soften the berries perfectly. Any leftover sauce would be perfectly at home on top of pancakes or ice cream.

Hands-on time: 5 minutes

Total time: At least 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sliced strawberries
• 2 tsp sugar (adjust depending on how ripe your strawberries are, but you will need at least 1 tsp)

Directions:

1. Combine the sugar and strawberries in a medium-sized bowl, give them a good stir
2. Cover and let sit on the counter or in the fridge for at least 1 hour or up to 8 hours, stirring occasionally (if you remember)

Whipped Cream

Canned whipped cream is ok in a pinch, but you can’t control the sweetness or texture and it really just isn’t the same as fresh, homemade whipped cream. If you don’t have a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer, this can be done by hand with a whisk, but you will get an arm workout. For this recipe I suggest you err on the soft side for the texture so that it soaks into the cake.

Hands-on time: 5 minutes

Total time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cold whipping cream
• 2 tsp sugar (or more or less, depending on how much sweetness you like)
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer
2. Whip on high speed with a stand mixer or hand mixer, the mixture will gradually thicken to a whipped cream consistency
3. Stop as soon as you get to the texture of whipping cream, if you keep mixing after that point you might accidentally make butter!