Dolly's Doughnut - Baked Occasions - Dolly Parton's Birthday

I have never been a huge fan of Dolly Parton, but I have certainly heard many of her fans and enjoy her sound. I have heard more of her songs after watching the new movie on Netflix, Dumplin'. I enjoyed how Dolly's music influenced the characters in the movie to be themselves and be proud of who they were.

Moving on to the cake, it was a lot of fun to make. Mr. T was helping me out since he was around and couldn't wait to add the sprinkles. It took a bit of waiting on his part, but he was rewarded at the end with sprinkles and a taste. I was not sure about this cake to begin with because except for Hubby no one in the family is a fan of coconut. For me, it is a texture issue more than a flavor issue and since the kids do not say whether it is taste or texture I went with texture in this case.

So in the filling for this cake, there is supposed to be flaked coconut, but I omitted that completely. In the icing and cake itself, there is coconut milk and coconut flavoring, I decided to use the coconut milk, but use all vanilla flavoring instead of any coconut. I did this knowing that we would not use the coconut flavoring and did not want to waste it. I was so happy I made this choice. The cake had a hint of coconut flavor, but it was not overpowering and my kids thought the cake was great. Big Man was not a fan of the icing, but he really enjoyed the cake.

I thought the cake was wonderful and the icing was fun and whimsical. It truly made the cake look like a doughnut. I was not so impressed with the chocolate cream cheese filling. Perhaps it needed the coconut to give it some additional texture, but it seemed like it was just there and didn't add anything to the cake. The cake itself had a crust on the outside just like a cake doughnut would and the icing drizzled over the top was just like a glaze on a doughnut. The filling just didn't seem to belong, otherwise, the cake was wonderful!

You can find the recipe at Baked Sunday Mornings and reviews from other bakers on the recipe here.

Timing: Recipe States: , My Actual Timing: 2 hours, including baking and cooling time
Servings: Recipe States: 12-16 servings, Servings For My Family: 16 servings
Leftovers:

Family Ratings:
Me: I thought this was great with the adjustments I made and could be even better leaving out the filling.
Hubby: He doesn't do desserts, but probably would have wanted the coconut.
Big Man: He thought the cake was good, but was not a fan of the icing.
Bear:
Mr. T: Mr. T had so much fun making this one and loved it, especially the icing.

Will I repeat: Yes.

What will I change: I will omit the chocolate filling.