By Request

BETTY SHIMABUKURO

Wednesday, June 6, 2001

RICHARD WALKER / STAR-BULLETIN
The Liliha Bakery recipe for Chantilly Cake
is a tightly held secret.

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Yummy chantilly
frosting requires real
butter and a double boiler

The holy grail for many local bakers is a chantilly frosting like the sweet, buttery concoction made by Liliha Bakery. It tops chocolate cakes and Liliha's famous Coco Puffs.

Jasmyn Nuga wrote recently for the frosting, although she specifically mentioned the old Hau'ula Bakery version -- "da kine with macadamia nuts."

Chantilly frosting of this style is a very local creation. Classic French chantilly is made of sweetened whipping cream, sometimes flavored with nuts, toasted coconut, fruit, mint or maple sugar.

What we know as chantilly, however, is a buttercream frosting, maple colored and very smooth.

Liliha Bakery's Chantilly Cake -- chocolate, with the signature frosting (but no nuts) is the second most popular item, after the Coco Puff. President William Takakuwa closely guards recipes, but he does allow that it is basically a German chocolate cake frosting, without the nuts and coconut, and with a whole lot of butter added.

Getting it exactly the same would take hours of experimentation, but here is an approximation, based on a recipe from www.cakerecipe.com (where contributor Linda Waddy calls it "a Hawaiian favorite") and other German chocolate cake recipes.

It's not the Liliha formula, but it is tasty. The key is to cook the frosting in a double boiler -- not direct heat -- for smoothness. Also, use real butter, not margarine, and fully fatted evaporated milk, not skim.

CHANTILLY CAKE FROSTING

1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup white sugar
3 egg yolks, beaten
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Optional: 1-1/3 cups flaked coconut and/or 1 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Combine milk, sugar, egg yolks, butter and vanilla in the top portion of a double boiler, or in a bowl placed over a saucepan of boiling water.

Cook over medium heat until thick, about 12 minutes, stirring constantly to keep the eggs from scrambling and the frosting from clumping.

Remove from heat. Add coconut and/or nuts if desired. Cool, stirring occasionally, until thick enough to spread.

Makes enough to frost a 9- by-13-inch cake or two 8-inch layers.

Nutritional information unavailable.

Food Stuffs: Morsels

Send queries along with name and phone number to:
"By Request," Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
500 Ala Moana, No. 7-210, Honolulu 96813.
Or send e-mail to bshimabukuro@starbulletin.com

Asterisk (*) after nutritional analyses in the Body & Soul section indicates calculations by Joannie Dobbs of Exploring New Concepts, a nutritional consulting firm.