Community Corner
Serve a Pina Colada Cake with Your Easter Dinner
Peachtree Corners resident Donna Cosola and her family have been celebrating Easter together for as long as she can remember and a big part of that get-together is, of course, the meal.
Since she was a girl, Donna Cosola remembers being with extended family to enjoy Easter dinner. They often gathered at her grandparents house. Cosola recalls it as a special place with a weathervane on top of the garage and rhubarb and strawberries growing along the fence.
More special than the place were the occupants, her grandparents. Her grandfather, who had grown up in Germany and been a professional soccer player, loved spending time with Cosola and her sister. Her grandmother, a first grade school teacher, always had lots of arts and crafts for the girls to enjoy when they came over. And, of course, there was always an Easter egg hunt.
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Cosola’s family still gets together each Easter with her sister and family along with their mom. Cosola commented that “I like my boys to have holiday memories with family.” Since the families attend different churches they will gather in the afternoon to share their meal together.
Here’s the menu for their Easter dinner for 2012: Leg of lamb, carrot souffle, green vegetable, spinach salad with goat cheese, pecans, sliced apples and a vinaigrette dressing, homemade yeast rolls and pina colada cake. She has my phone number; maybe I’ll get invited!
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Below Cosola shares with us her pina colada cake recipe. It sounds like a winner.
Pina Colada Cake
preheat oven to 350 degrees
to be baked in a 10” tube pan
ingredients:
- 1 (18½ oz.) package yellow cake mix
- 1 (3¼ oz). package instant vanilla pudding
- 1 (15 oz.) can Coco Lopez cream of coconut, divided
- ½ cup plus 2 Tbs. rum, divided
- ⅓ cup canola oil
- 4 large eggs
- 1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple, well-drained
garnish:
- whipped cream
- pineapple chunks
- maraschino cherries
- toasted coconut
prep:
In a large mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, pudding mix, ½ cup Coco Lopez, ½ cup rum, oil, and eggs.
Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
Stir in drained, crushed pineapple and pour into well-greased and floured 10" tube pan.
Bake for 45-50 minutes.
Remove from oven and cool slightly, about 25 minutes.
Remove from pan. With a steak knife or skewer, poke holes in the cake about 1” apart almost to the bottom.
Combine the remaining Coco Lopez and the rum in a small bowl and pour over the cake.
Chill thoroughly before serving.
Garnish as desired.
Refrigerate leftovers.