I'm not a pastry chef. There's too much science in baking for me to be captivated enough to figure it all out. But I am a money saver in the kitchen. So when I decided I was going to buy my Dad his favorite cake from a restaurant chain bakery, I realized I'd have to spend $95 on a cake (!) or become a pastry chef for the day. I decided on the latter.

Nantucket Cafe and Grill (R) do have delicious house-baked cakes and pastries and I am especially a big fan of their coconut cake which happens to be my Dad's favorite cake. So easy decision right? Swing by, pick up a cake and say enjoy! On my way into Raleigh, I called to pre-order the cake. At the end of the call, I finally asked the cost -- $95 was the reply. I was shocked! Basically $100 for a cake? It's not a wedding cake for heaven's sake!

As you can tell, I don't purchase cakes, or desserts for that matter very often. So I was shocked at what seemed to me an exorbitant price. (Several folks have since told me that's pretty reasonable!)

But in these tough economic times I've adopted a food philosophy "if I can make it cheaper myself, why would I pay for someone else to do it?"

I had come across an old newspaper clipping of a cake recipe called "Short-Cut Coconut Cake" and although I didn't have the clipping with me, was pretty sure I remembered the gist of the recipe. So instead of popping by the restaurant to pick up the cake, I headed into the grocery to purchase the ingredients to make my own. Less than ten dollars later, I was armed with the simple ingredients and headed into the kitchen to bake up my cheapo cake.

I wouldn't say it's as pretty as the professional cakes, but it tastes darn near the same. Lots of cocnutty icing that is both tangy and sweet, cake, drenched in coconut flavor from the heavy icing and white as snow. Yep, that all you really need in a good coconut cake.

Do you have a story of saving loads of money by doing it yourself? Let me know in the comments section following this post.