Weekend Recap + A Recipe

Good Monday morning, all!  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  Here's a quick rundown of ours, and make sure you keep scrolling to the bottom for one of my new favorite summer recipes: we had dinner at a new spot with friends on Friday night - risotto balls and deep dish chocolate chip cookies sundaes for the win!  On Saturday, we started our usual errands and moving, then all you-know-what broke loose.  Winds whipped up to 50 mph and a crazy thunder storm came out of nowhere.  Eleven trees were uprooted in the park next door to our new house, but luckily, no one was hurt in the neighborhood.  Saturday night, the weather cleared up enough to go to a friend's birthday party (and play with his new puppy!!), and Sunday was filled with golf with friends and intervals of pool time and packing time.

I am all about baking cakes for my friends' birthdays.  When this birthday boy said the only kind of cake he liked was angel food, I knew I had to give it a try.  He also told me that coconut is his favorite, so why not combine the two?!  It came out great, and it will definitely be a go-to for summers to come - especially with those berries!

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon coconut flavoring
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups of berries (such as strawberries, blackberries, or raspberries)
- 3 additional tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons coconut water

Recipe adapted from Blahnik Baker
1. Place your oven rack on the lowest position in the oven.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift together the powdered sugar and cake flour three times, and set it aside.
3. In a stand mixer, combine egg whites, cream of tartar, vanilla extract, and coconut flavoring.  Mix until soft peaks form.
4. A few tablespoons at a time, add the 1 cup of granulated sugar to the egg whites, constantly mixing until stiff peaks form.
5. Remove egg white mixture from the mixer, and fold in the sifted powdered sugar and flour in four parts.
6. Spoon cake mixture into a 10 inch bundt pan.
7. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the cake bounces back when you touch it.
8. Flip the cake upside down on a cooling rack and allow to cool fully.
9. While the cake is cooling, combine the berries, 3 tablespoons of sugar, and coconut water in a bowl. Place in the refrigerator and allow to macerate for an hour.
10. Once the cake is cool, use a knife to loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and serve with the berries!