Coconut Cheesecake
We're in a bit of a celebratory mood this evening, so it's time to break out the cheesecake! I actually made this a couple of days ago, because cheesecakes tastes a lot better when they're left to sit for a couple of days. It's not always easy to do, but 24 hours is pretty much the minimum.
Nonna really likes cheesecake and she really likes coconut, so I thought a combo of the two would be something fun. I was right. It's fun. And really creamy and yummy, too!
I made it a bit differently than my usual cheesecake. Since I put in a whole can of Coco Lopez, I added another egg and cut back on the sugar because the coconut cream is sweetened. The crust was pre-baked to make it crisper and the whole shebang was baked at a low temperature to keep it from cracking.
I have a nasty habit of over-mixing my cheesecake batter - whipping too much air into it - and having them rise too much and then fall. This one is made in a food processor, so the extra air wasn't incorporated.
I didn't top it because I thought it would have enough flavor on its own, but just about any fruit from strawberries to papaya would work.
Coconut Cheesecake
Crust:
- 2 cups coconut
- 1 pkt graham crackers, broken (8-9 crackers)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 stick butter
Fillling:
- 4 8 oz packages cream cheese
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 15-ounce can Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp coconut extract
- 5 large eggs
- Pinch salt
For crust:
Preheat oven to 350°. Blend all ingredients in processor until finely ground and sticking together, 1 to 2 minutes. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and sides of 9" spring form pan. Bake crust until golden, 14 to 15 minutes. Cool crust on rack. Increase oven temperature to 425°.For filling:
Blend cream cheese in processor until smooth. Add sugar and process to blend. Scrape bowl. Add cream of coconut, vanilla, coconut extract, and salt. Blend Add eggs 1 at a time, blending after each addition. Pour filling into cooled crust.Bake cheesecake 10 minutes. Reduce oven to 250°. Bake until center is softly set, about 1 1/2 hours longer. Turn off oven and let cheesecake cool in the oven 1 hour. Refrigerate overnight.
Homemade Ricotta
We're planning dessert for Wednesday. I had an idea for s broiled peach with fresh ricotta and a warmed honey and pistachio topping. Victor suggested figs and balsamic.
I started drooling.
Decisions, decisions... I decided I had to make both and see which one I liked best. Actually, I decided that a balsamic reduction with pistachios would work with either, so I nixed the honey completely.
Victor made the homemade ricotta today, so I went to work...
I sliced a peach and a couple of figs in half and sprinkled them with demerara sugar. Under the broiler they went until the sugar crystallized and the fruit was heated through- just a couple of minutes.
I topped each piece of fruit with some homemade ricotta and then drizzled everything with a balsamic reduction. The final act was chopped roasted and salted pistachios.
Both of them were stellar...
Fresh Ricotta
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 1/2 tsp salt
Add all ingredients to a heavy pot and simmer 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 30 minutes.
Scoop curds into a cheesecloth-lined sieve and drain about 30 minutes. Squeeze to remove as much whey as possible.
Cover and chill.
Balsamic reduction is pretty basic. Place balsamic vinegar in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce by at least half, until it is syrupy. Be careful not to burn it and use the vent or open windows...
So the question is... which one will be dessert on Wednesday?
Find out Wednesday...
Figs and Balsamic
I love me some fresh figs. And added to vanilla ice cream, what could be better? Adding demerara sugar and balsamic vinegar, that's what!
After cutting the figs in half, I coated them with the demerara sugar and put them under the broiler until the sugar melted and made a nice glaze. Onto the ice cream they went, and then the whole thing was lightly drizzled with a good balsamic.
Slightly out of the ordinary and extraordinarily good.
We're eating well, tonight...
Apple Sour Cream Streusel Pie
Of all the pies I have made in my life, I don't think I've ever made a sour cream apple pie. Until today. I now have a new favorite pie.
Granted, just about any pie I happen to be eating is my favorite pie of the moment, but this one really is special. I'm impressed.
It's put together differently than I usually do, and since the recipe stated "thinly-sliced tart apples" I used my mandoline to get a thin, uniform cut on all of them. A winner.
Everything about this pie worked - from the flaky crust to the still-crisp but fully-cooked apples. The only thing I might change next time I make it - and I will make it again - will be to crumble the butter into the streusel a bit more and add a few more walnuts. But it was prit-near perfect the way it was.
Flaky Pastry for Pie Crusts
adapted from Frog Commissary Cookbook
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp lard and butter mix (equal parts of both)
- 2 tbsp ice water
Place flour, butter, lard, and salt on counter. Cut butter and lard into flour until ity is coarse and crumbly. Add 2 tbsp water and mix well. Gather into a ball and roll into a 12" circle. Place in pie plate and crimp edges.
If you want, use your food processor to cut the fat into the flour. It's easier.
Apple Sour Cream Streusel Pie
adapted from Frog Commissary Cookbook
Streusel Topping:
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp flour
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 stick cold butter
- 1/2 cup coarsely-chopped walnuts
Filling:
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups sour cream
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 4 cups thinly-sliced tart apples
Putting it together:
Streusel:
Combine sugars, flour, and cinnamon. Cut in butter until crumbly. Toss with walnuts. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Filling:
Preheat oven to 350°. Line 9" pie plate with pie dough. Mix together flour, sugar, and eggs. Add the sour cream, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon rind. Mix well.
Stir in the apple slices, making sure to coat them all well. Place in the pie shell and bake in lower third of oven about 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and top with streusel topping. Return pie to oven and continue baking for another 30 minutes.
Cool completely before serving.
This is another recipe that took a couple of extra steps but was so worth it.
It really is restaurant-quality food you can make at home.
I'm old enough to remember when folks had dinner parties and they spent most of the day cooking and making desserts from scratch. No one would have dreamed of buying frozen pre-made appetizers and dinner most definitely would not have come out of a box. Today, it's all about "convenience" - which translates to overly-processed-soy-lecithin-and-carrageenan-laced franken-food. An organic Pop Tart is still a nutritionally unsound food choice.
So I have my new friend, and I plan on making a few more of the recipes. The salad dressings, alone are worth the price of the book. And home-made avocado mayonnaise!
I'm going to have me some fun!
Polenta Pound Cake with Cherries
I had a 2-pound package of fresh cherries in the 'fridge just screaming to be made into a dessert. And I had a magazine with a polenta pound cake with blueberry sauce. A dessert was born.
The pound cake recipe looked solid - it just needed a few tweaks. The blueberry sauce just looked too expected. The cherries, on the other hand, mixed with key lime juice, was the UNexpected.
I went to work.
I reworked the cake recipe, made up the cherry sauce recipe, and smiled at every bite. The polenta adds a nice little bite to the cake. It changes the texture juuuuuust a tad in a really good way. The pinch of thyme adds a slight hint of savory that plays off the cherries and key lime. I used dry thyme because my herb garden is still in its infancy. If you use fresh, use more.
Polenta Pound Cake
adapted from Fine Cooking magazine
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 2/3 cups cake flour
- 1/3 cup polenta
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 5 large eggs - room temperature
- 1 tbsp key lime juice
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 325°. Butter and flour a 9x5-inch loaf pan.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, polenta, thyme, and salt.
Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add key lime juice and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and slowly add the flour until just combined.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out with just a few small, moist crumbs attached, 75 to 90 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for about 15 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate or cutting board. Slice and serve warm or at room temperature, topped with the cherries.
Key Lime Cherry Sauce
- 1 pound fresh cherries, pitted
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp key lime juice
- pinch salt
Combine ingredients in saucepan. Bring to a boil and let boil uninterrupted for about 5 minutes. Cool and then chill. Serve cold or at room temp.
The cherries would totally rock over ice cream and the pound cake could be eaten out of hand.
Two separate concepts that just rock together.
Key Lime Coconut Cake
I don't really need an excuse to bake a cake, but it's always nice when I have one. And what better excuse than Mother's Day and Birthday celebrations?
Yesterday was Victor's mom's birthday, today, of course, is Mother's Day, and tomorrow is my mom's birthday. Our mom's were born 2 days apart in the same year on opposite coasts. They could not have been more different, yet they were both perfect examples of their place and time.
Victor's mom was the 10th of 11 children of Italian immigrants who came through Ellis Island and settled in Philadelphia. Her parents both died within a year of one another and the youngest four kids were raised in a Sons of Italy Orphanage just outside of Philadelphia until they were old enough to live with their older married-with-children siblings. My mom's paternal family was here in the early 1800's in North Carolina and Tennessee, before migrating to Missouri and finally to California in the late 1800's. The maternal side started in Ireland and made it to Galena, IL in the 1840's and ended up in California via Pueblo, Colorado, at the turn of the 20th century. She was the second of three kids.
Different as night-and-day.
There is one trait that both shared, however - dessert. My mom was Dessert Queen. We had dessert every night growing up and her cook books prove it. The Dessert binder is twice as big as the one for entrees, appetizers, and side dishes! Victor's mom loves her sweets, as well, and while she is diabetic, I keep her supplied in illicit goodies - in moderation, of course.
One of her favorites is coconut. She'll turn her nose up at chocolate cake and won't even look at a pumpkin pie, but mention coconut and she can lay skid marks with her walker heading to the kitchen. She likes her coconut.
I've made her a few over-the-top coconut cakes in the past. One, a couple of yeas ago, The Ultimate Coconut Cake from South Carolina, is a heart attack waiting to happen. You need a week to make it and two weeks to recover from a slice. Last year's Coconut Cake was a lot lighter - and actually more enjoyable.
This year, I decided to go single-layer and a little less caloric. Just because I can go multi-layered and overly-indulgent doesn't mean that I should. Almost 61 and starting to practice restraint. Does this mean I'm finally growing up?!? I didn't think so.
Oh well...
I picked up a bottle of key lime juice a couple of weeks ago and have been dreaming of a coconut key lime combo ever since. And today, it happened! (I used conventional limes for the zest.)
Key Lime Coconut Cake
adapted from Gourmet Magazine
- 1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp grated Key lime zest
- 2 large eggs
- 1 3/4 cups self-rising flour
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup fresh Key lime juice, divided
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp Meyer's rum
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Generously butter a 10" springform pan and line bottom with a round of parchment paper.
Toast coconut in oven, stirring once or twice, until golden, 8 to 12 minutes. Cool. Leave oven on.
Beat together butter, granulated sugar, and zest with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Stir together flour and 1/2 cup coconut (reserve remainder for topping). Stir together milk and 2 tablespoons lime juice. At low speed, mix flour and milk mixtures into egg mixture alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour.
Spoon batter into pan and smooth top. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool about 15 minutes then turn out of pan and discard parchment.
Whisk together powdered sugar, remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice, and rum and pour over cake. Sprinkle with remaining coconut.
The cake came out perfect. It had a great lime flavor, a great coconut flavor, and the little bit of rum in the icing sent it right over the top.
I had two pieces and could have gone back for another. Nonna said "This is really good" after every bite. Her plate was so clean we could have put it back in the cupboard.
Watching someone thoroughly enjoy something is the best thanks in the world. It really does make it all worthwhile. And since my mom is no longer around to spoil, I guess Nonna is gonna have to be the surrogate.
Somebody has to do it.
Lemon Cake
It's so nice to have a man around the house - especially a man who knows his way around the kitchen!
While I was working, Victor was creating - and what a creation it turned out to be - a pecan-topped lemon cake based on his apple cake recipe. Genius.
This is a bit drier than a traditional layer cake and would work equally-well as a breakfast or coffee cake.
And any cake that one can eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner is a perfect cake in my not-so-humble opinion!
Pecan-Topped Lemon Cake
- 3 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup oil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 4 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 3 tbsp sugar
Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and set aside.
Beat together eggs, lemon juice & vanilla. Add oil, mix in flour mixture.
Pour batter into a well-greased springform pan. Top with pecans and sprinkle sugar on top.
Bake at 350° for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until cake tests done.
Cool before slicing.
I see more of this in my future...
Oatmeal Cookies
Victor is in Dallas, so Nonna and I need cookies.
Oatmeal cookies are one of my favorites. Actually, any cookie I'm eating is one of my favorites, so these are just my current favorite. I usually like to add lots of stuff - nuts, raisins, and the like - but I thought this time I'd go simple and basic. It was a wise decision and they came out great in all their simplicity
These are a softer cookie rather than a crisp cookie. I also like both, but thought Nonna would appreciate a softer variety.
Nice texture and flavor. probably could have used a bit more cinnamon, but otherwise, they came out pretty good.
Oatmeal Cookies
- 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1 stick butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup milk
Preheat the oven to 350°.
Mix together the rolled oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and allspice.
Cream butter with the two sugars until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until light and well blended. Add the oat mixture and the milk, beating until well combined. Use a 1 tbsp scoop and drop about 2" apart onto parchment-lined (or lightly-greased) cookie sheets. Press the tops gently to flatten very slightly.
Bake until the edges are brown and the centers are still soft and puffy, about 12 to 14 minutes.
Coconut Cookies
I make these for Victor's mom. She loves coconut!
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups shredded coconut, chopped in processor
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 1 tsp coconut extract
- 2 cups minced shredded coconut for rolling cookies
Preheat oven to 350°.
Whisk together flour, coconut, baking powder, and salt.
Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla, and coconut extract. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined.
Using a 1 tbsp scoop, form into balls and roll in coconut.
Place on cookie sheets and bake for 14 minutes, rotating pans halfway through.
Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
Coconut Cookies and the Gay Agenda
Today is a rather auspicious day for us - The Supreme Court heard the California Prop 8 case.
Prop 8 is very personal for us, because we had planned on getting married at home in San Francisco in November of 2008. We had the venue booked, the marriage license secured, invitations sent - and then Prop 8 pulled the plug on us. We flew home, anyway, had a fun family party, and took the train back to PA. A fun trip - it wasn't our honeymoon.
Two years later, we did get married in New Hampshire - by a dear friend.
We're legally married today, but for all intents and purposes, our marriage certificate is worthless outside of a handful of states. And meaningless to the Federal Government.
That, of course, is the issue.
Forget about the fact that Victor and I couldn't use my VA benefits to buy a home together. Forget about the fact that the surviving partner would have to inherit and pay inheritance tax on half of our home. Forget about the fact that, legally, his mother is his next of kin - not me.
We just moved his mom in with us because she can no longer thrive on her own. It was a decision we made gladly. She will be taken care of no matter what it takes. But if I needed to take time off to help care for her, I do not qualify for FEMLA - the Family Emergency Medical Leave Act. According to the United States Government, my mother-in-law is not my family.
That's a really bitter pill to swallow.
And trying to do the basics - like cancelling her cable TV and phone service... The roadblocks and hoops I had to jump through have been crazy. Fortunately, both pharmacists know me, so the transferring her prescriptions from one pharmacy to another has been relatively painless.
But even if the government and the utility companies fail to believe she's my kin, I most certainly do. And she of me.
So what does a good son-in-law do for his live-in mother-in-law after dealing with utilities and pharmacies?!? Bake her cookies, of course!
Nonna loves coconut in all its various forms. When she lived on her own, I did her grocery shopping every week for her and whenever I could find a Cadbury Coconut Egg, I'd sneak one into her grocery bag. She's diabetic and not supposed to eat them, but she's always been really good about keeping her blood sugar in line.
I made her a ridiculous coconut cake a few years ago for a combo birthday/Mother's Day bash - she had the smallest slice imaginable and loved every forbidden bite.
So today I made her cookies - coconut cookies.
Coconut Cookies
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups shredded coconut, chopped in processor
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 1 tsp coconut extract
- 2 cups minced shredded coconut for rolling cookies
Preheat oven to 350°.
Whisk together flour, coconut, baking powder, and salt.
Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla, and coconut extract. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined.
Using a 1 tbsp scoop, form into balls and roll in coconut.
Place on cookie sheets and bake for 14 minutes, rotating pans halfway through.
Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
They came out really good. Nice and chewy - a bit macaroon-like, but with more substance and less sweetness.
She ate one.
So there's the real Gay Agenda. Just trying to get by....
Saffron Rice Cake
I seriously think the best cooking magazine on the market is La Cucina Italiana. There is always something I just can't wait to make and everything I have made from the magazine has been stellar. Tonight's cake is a perfect example of stellar with a side of unexpected thrown in...
The March/April issue has a section on saffron... the world's most expensive spice. Fortunately, while saffron is ridiculously expensive, a little goes a long way. It is measured and used in pinches and quarter-teaspoons. I can spring for a quarter-teaspoon now and again - and there are several recipes in the magazine I shall be making - but the first one to really whet my appetite was a saffron rice cake.
I started drooling while reading.
Rice desserts - especially rice pudding - definitely are childhood memories. Mom made a wicked-good Baked Rice Pudding as well as stove-top variations. I remember many hot-from-the-oven bowls because none of us ever had the patience to let it properly cool. And mom was probably the worst offender. She taught us well.
So fast-forward many years and I come across a recipe for a rice cake - with saffron, Sambuca, and almonds - and there's no way I'm not making it! This had Mom written all over it.
Torta di Risoallo Zafferano
adapted from La Cucina Italiana magazine
- 5 cups whole milk
- 1/4 teaspoon coarsely crumbled saffron threads
- Fine sea salt
- 1 cup Arborio rice
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
- 1/3 cup blanched almonds, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter plus more for greasing cake pan
- 1 tablespoon Sambuca or other anise-flavored liqueur
- Freshly grated zest of 1 lemon
- 5 large eggs, separated
n a medium saucepan, combine milk, saffron and pinch salt; bring just to a boil, then stir in rice. Reduce to a gentle simmer and cook, stirring frequently, until milk is fully absorbed and rice is tender and creamy, about 45 minutes.
Transfer rice to a large bowl; stir in 1/2 cup granulated sugar, and confectioners sugar, almonds, butter, Sambuca and zest. Let cool completely, about 30 minutes.Heat oven to 400º with rack in middle. Grease bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with butter and line with parchment paper.
In a bowl, vigorously whisk together remaining ¼ cup granulated sugar and egg yolks until thick and pale, about 2 minutes; stir into rice mixture. In a clean bowl, using a clean, dry whisk, beat egg whites to soft peaks, then gently fold into rice mixture.
Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly with a spatula. Bake, rotating once halfway through, until dark golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool 15 minutes in pan on wire rack.
Release cake from pan and dust and with powdered sugar. Serve warm or at room temperature.
I am glad the recipe stated dark golden and the picture in the magazine showed a fairly dark crust. I was a bit nervous baking it at 400° for 45 minutes and towards the end it was looking pretty dark, indeed. But I let it go and was rewarded with a really unique cake.
In the grand scheme of things, it was really more like a slice of rice pudding than a cake - but oh, what a slice! All of the flavors were there - the lemon, the saffron, the anisette - I didn't have Sambuca - but nothing overpowered and they blended perfectly.
The texture was like a firm pudding. Rich and creamy, but with hints of surprise from the chopped almonds.
Seriously good. And Mom, you would have loved it.
Pumpkin Cake
Today felt more like a Fall day than the dead of Winter so I thought a Pumpkin Cake was in order.
I have used up the massive amount of Fairytale Pumpkin I cooked off in September, but I still have several cans of pumpkin sitting around for when the urge strikes. It's nice to have a well-stocked larder.
I do have to admit that I love my desserts, and trust me when I say it's a bitch being able to walk into the kitchen and just bake something. I can't use the excuse that I don't have something or it's too much trouble. There's always flour, butter, and eggs in the house.
And right now, plenty of canned pumpkin.
I suppose I should just blame my mother. She was the Dessert Queen and had dessert virtually every night of her life. There was more than one night we would be watching TV and eating fudge with a spoon because no one (especially her) had the patience to let it set.
It's genetic. I absolve myself.
Tonight's cake is a pretty basic bundt. I reworked a recipe I had found some time ago. It called for some ridiculous cup and something of pumpkin. There is just not a lot one can do with a half-cup of pumpkin. More often than not, it goes into a little tupperware container, grows mold, and gets thrown out. I decided we needed to slow down on the science projects. Waste not, want not. That part is genetic, as well.
Pumpkin Cake
- 3/4 cup butter
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp allspice
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 15oz can pumpkin
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp vanilla
For icing
- 3 tbsp (about) buttermilk
- 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 350°. Butter bundt pan and dust with flour.
Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices, and set aside. Mix pumpkin, buttermilk, and vanilla in another bowl.
Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add eggs one at a time and mix well. Add flour and pumpkin mixtures alternately in three batches, beginning and ending with flour. Mix until just smooth,Spoon batter into pan, smoothing top, and bake 50 to 55 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Cool cake in pan about 15 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely.
For the icing:
While cake is cooling, whisk together buttermilk, vanilla, cinnamon, and powdered sugar until smooth. Drizzle icing over cake.
The cinnamon glaze is good, but you could easily just dust with powdered sugar or go crazy and make a cream cheese icing. It's a nice, moist cake and will handle any sort of topping.