Enchilada Sauce

I messed around with different enchilada sauce recipes. Everything from soaking the dried chiles and straining, etc., to easy ones with chili powder.  This is my favorite recipe that I finally created after a lot of trial and error and adjusting to my family's taste.  My grandmother who is a self proclaimed "wet-burrito expert" loved it.  That's saying something.  By the way, this makes a LOT. I have a large family and still have leftovers. My husband loves to just dip chips in it, and he thinks it would be great as a basis for chili dog sauce with ground beef added.  Whatever you decide, the leftovers refrigerate and reheat beautifully.


Enchilada Sauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 Tablespoons flour
1/2 cup chili powder
1 (15 ounce) can Mexican style stewed tomatoes, blended in a blender until smooth
1 can beef (or chicken) broth
1 cup water
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons minced garlic

Heat oil in saucepan. Add flour and cook flour for a couple minutes stirring often. Add chili powder. Slowly add blended tomatoes, broth, and water. Add cumin and garlic and simmer until thickened.

My Mom's Coconut Cake

Oh my. This cake is so good.  This is the cake I requested for my birthday and looked forward to for about 2 months.  It weighs a ton, but is moist and delicious.  One cake will serve about 20 people I'd say. It's very rich.

Ingredients for the cake                                                        

1 and ½ stick sweet butter ( 6 oz.) softened

2 cups sugar

6 egg whites

2 ¼ cups cake flour

2 tsps. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. coconut flavor

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

1 cup flaked coconut

Ingredients for Icing

2 sticks butter

½ cup shortening

1 ½ lb. confectioners sugar

1 tsp. coconut flavoring

4-5 TBS. coconut milk

1 ½  cups flaked coconut

2 ½ -3 cups flaked coconut to cover cake

Method for the cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter liberally and flour 2 - 9” cake pans. In an electric mixer beat the butter with the sugar for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Slowly add the egg whites until incorporated. In a large bowl sift the cake flour, the baking powder and the salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until incorporated but don’t over mix. Add the coconut flavoring, and the coconut milk until combined . Add the 1 cup coconut. Place half of the batter equally in each pan.  Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes until lightly golden and firm to the touch. Let cool on wire racks then carefully unmold. When cakes are cool cut each cake horizontally in 2 equal layers.

To Make the Icing

Cream the butter, shortening and sugar in the mixer with the paddle until light and fluffy. Beat in the coconut flavoring and the coconut milk. In a separate bowl  combine 2 cups of the  whipped frosting and 1 and ½ cups of  flaked coconut. Set aside.

When ready to ice the cake place 1/3 of the frosting with the flake coconut between 3 layers evenly. Carefully place the cake layers on top of each frosted layer.

Frost the top and sides of cake with the smooth frosting. Finish the top and sides of the cake by gently pressing the remaining coconut on the frosted cake.