Here are some of your beloved childhood rabbits from all the classic fairy tales….which one is your favorite? I always favored Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby,  as my grandmother told it to me all the time with such animation. 🙂 Uncle Remus was a great folklore writer.

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We are blessed to have a wealth of “muses” to rely upon to help us conjure up creative ideas as to how we want to decorate our havens.  Nostalgia is a wondrous troubadour for creating… Whenever I see the ancient, colossal Oak trees with their beards of hanging Spanish moss or read novella’s with stories about the romantic and remote  Murrels Inlet or Pawleys island, I get so nostalgic for the South, as  a good portion of my heritage is from there. When ever I see ‘The Wizard of OZ,’ I  begin to get a little maudlin and sentimental…it’s almost like a sudden down pour of rain…I reminisce about all the joyous times my large family would huddle up together on the couch to watch the scary flying monkeys… I would always shut my eyes tight whenever the wicked witch appeared in her evil, dark aura.  The same thing happen when I go to Barnes and Nobles and browse through the Children’s book section…seeing all the beloved stories from my childhood. (Especially all the Folklore  with the prominent and mischievous Rabbits in them.) Who can forget Beatrix Potters, Peter Cottontail,? Uncle Remus’ Brer Rabbit, and the Velveteen Rabbit who learns that becoming real is not as easy as he thought, (but surely worth it.)  🙂 In my vignette on the “Enchanted kitchen,”  I hope to inspire each reader with ideas to turn there room of ‘cooking and creation’ into an ambiance and aureole of  a childhood, enchanted forest.You know, the place where the trees roamed the timberland’s and spoke elegantly of their poignant domain, the kaleidoscopic flowers sang such beautiful, whimsical melodies and the fireflies would dance as they brilliantly glowed, fluttering around  the garish weeping willow trees all year long?   These are the fairy lands that brought so much comfort to us as youngsters and still do, when we allow the blissful memories to emerge…So why not create a room that takes you back in a time ?

With each Kitchen Blog, I am sharing a recipe conducive to the decor of that particular “cucino.” For this kitchen, I am sharing my “much loved” recipe for a very delicious Coconut carrot cake. I hope you enjoy it!

The Best Carrot Cake in the World! It’s bunny –  luscious 🙂

You will need; 2 cups  all purpose (unsifted) flour, 2 ½ tsp. Baking soda, 2 tsp. Cinnamon ,  1 tsp. Salt, 1 cup oil, 2 cups sugar, 3 eggs, 1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple in juice, 2 cups grated carrots, 1 cup shredded coconut,  and ½ cup chopped pecans.

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in bowl, set aside.

In another bowl beat oil and eggs and sugar until well blended.  Add flour mixture, beat until smooth. Blend in remaining ingredients and pour into greased 10 inch tube pan or 13×9 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan then remove and frost.

Frosting, (This is the good part.) 🙂 You will need:

1 (3 oz) package cream cheese, 3 cups of powdered sugar, 1 cup shredded coconut,¼ cup butter + another ¼ cup of butter, 1 tsp vanilla and milk or half and half.

Saute coconut in  melted butter until golden brown. Spread out on an absorbent paper towel, allow to cool. Cream ¼ cup butter with cream cheese. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar alternatively with the milk  and vanilla, beating until smooth. Add half of your browned coconut and stir into frosting. After your cake is frosted, top with the remaining browned coconut! (I use Coffee Mates liquid vanilla creamer and half and half cream instead of milk, and I still use the vanilla.) I also use a tad  more butter, creme cheese  and coconut than the recipe calls for…This cake freezes extremely well and tastes just as fresh, when thawed.

If you are serving this for an intimate dinner party or :Mad Hatters” afternoon tea, it looks beautiful on a lovely cake plate.

Enjoy!!!!!!

Additional Links: More Cake Plates

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