Coconut Macadamia Cake

I love coconut, and I love making cakes:

This elaborate recipe seemed to be just the ticket for a recent celebration.

The first step was to melt sugar in a skillet and coat the macadamia nuts:

Once those were cooling, I moved on:

The pastry cream was next. I cooked together egg yolks, sugar, milk and cornstarch until it was thickened, and then whisked in vanilla and set it in the fridge to chill. To the side, you can see the egg whites, soon to be beaten into the cake batter, and behind that, a covered bowl where butter is softening, ready to be creamed:

The next step was the cake batter. This mixture below was almost ready...

Once it was lightened with stiffly beaten egg whites, off to the oven:

I chopped my macadamia praline rather than grind it while my cake layer cooled:

I was all set for the most fun part...

Construction!