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Sorry its taken so long to post, been crazy few days. It was hard enough translating my moms southern generational cooking slang. You know, a pinch of this and a smigon of that with a little thrown in for good measures. Decided the coconut cake recipe deserved its own post. So here it is Rick and whom ever wishes to roll up their sleeves and sift some flour.
Cake Layer (Mom always did 4 layers but 3 will work)
1 cup Butter
2 cups Sugar
3 cups plain flour (sifted)
1 cup milk
4 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
Combine all ingredients, mix. Pour batter into greased and floured cake pans. Has to be ones with the old fashioned cutter bars according to my mom but any cake pan will work….maybe, she says…ha. Bake at 325 20-25 minutes or until light brown.Filling and Frosting
Crack that coconut shell !! Be careful, must save the coconut milk for later use. Hand grate the coconut to a medium grade texture (store bought grated coconut will work but if you want it Mom approved, find a real nut)
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tbs white corn syrup
2/3 cup boiling water
3 egg whites
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup lg marshmallows
Combine sugar, syrup, salt in pot over double broiler pan of water. Stir until dissolved. Or as my mom says, “until the mixture will spin a thread”. Or consistency that forms a soft ball when pinch is dropped in cold water. The unwritten method or things a good cook just know according to mom, lol.
Whip the egg whites until will make stiff peaks (her southern for a foamy thickness), add vanilla.
After whipped to peaks, while still using a mixer, slowly add the warm syrup mixture with an occasional marshmallow one at a time until completely melted and combined.
Start with first layer of cake on cake stand, (preferably one that revolves she says) drizzle some coconut milk (juice) on top of first layer. As my mom says, if need more coconut juice, add some regular milk for enough on all layers. Another step you just know by eye balling if have enough juice says mom. Ironically this step is similar to “soaking” a fruitcake cept its coconut milk not alcohol. Once juice has soaked in, spread frosting evenly on layer, sprinkle with shredded coconut, repeat process depending on how many layers your cake will be. Once layers are “layered”, carefully frost the sides of cake with a spatula. Once done, finish the cake off by adding shredded coconut to the sides. This is another part that you just know how to do by hand according to my mom. The frosting should be thick and sticky enough to hold the white gold to the sides. But don’t hesitate to pile it on until covered so coconut will not stick to sides. Enjoy.As mentioned before, I always liked my moms coconut cake best after it has “set” up a while or in the frig allowing the sweet coconut juice to soak into the cake layers. Hope this translated into a usable recipe. Like said, my mom is 80 something and could do it in her sleep. Never wrote recipe down, its was just handed down by doing. Hope I did not leave out a step or ingredient and it meets the eyeball test first as mom put it. If have ever tried to get a recipe for an elderly mom or grandmother, you can hear them saying, “child, you just know… its just how my mom did it”.
Merry Christmas !!!
Excellent.
Now this is real culture: food, music, faith.
Side note: always double butter, sugar, fat, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine and gluten.
McCallum
Bass, that looks like it will be good, have to try it sometime. I feel your pain, currently going through Mom’s recipe boxes to try to get them published for the family.
McCallum posting here is funny, he does not know the difference between a Chicken Mull and Chicken Rice Soup!!
Excellent.
Now this is real culture: food, music, faith.
Side note: always double butter, sugar, fat, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine and gluten.
McCallum
PTL and pass the ammunition
Bass, my grandma used to make me that EXACT cake for my birthday which is in Feb. Reading it took me back to shredding the coconut for her with one of those hand cranked cone shredders (I wish I still had that thing). I could almost taste it as you described it. Tall eatin’ right there. As Jerry Clower would say AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! She taught me to make pecan pies (pronounced PEEE can, not pucahn, I have no idea what those are). She always added something to them that she never told anyone and the secret went with her to her grave. I’ve been searching for over 40 years for what it was that she added. Mine are good but her’s were better. Last but not least were her butterscotch brownies with walnuts at Christmas. I’ve been thinking about those since Thanksgiving. The great memories of my youth. Simpler, easier, happy times.
Smarter than the average bear
I know the difference between chicken mull and chicken rice soup. It is chicken mull weather by the way.
Leave me be or I’ll let this crowd know that Summer Erb is something for you other than a seasoning to be used from June til September.
McCallum
And for those from the coastal plain in SC the pot would have chicken bog in it. My home town has a festival every year in October called the Loris Bog Off, 2500 bucks for the best pot.
Smarter than the average bear
This sure looks like the cake I grew up with, thanks to two “old maid” aunts who could cook with the best of ’em. I’m going to copy this recipe and will give it a shot after the Christmas and New Year’s holidays have passed.
I have to put in a plug, though, for the best “commercial” coconut cake I’ve eaten to date. Anyone who lives in the Triangle area has probably heard of the Meadow Village Restaurant, located at the junction of NC highways 50 and 96 in southern Johnston County. Except for what tastes like a little bit of sour cream, their coconut cake tastes a lot like Bass’ cake, and they do use real coconut and not the bagged stuff from grocery stores. That cake (and their chocolate pie) is well worth the 40-mile trip down there, not to mention the country buffet. Not huge, but everything on the buffet is Grade-A quality. And yes, the secret is the moistness of the cake itself, thanks to the coconut milk.
And the Meadow dessert bar……oh my!
BP… one quick read and I know this cake is the real deal…
it’s gott all the right ‘touches’…but I need to tell ya’ll…
I don’t ‘member nuttin ’bout no marshmellas…now… ya’ll know a whole lot old cooks had their secret ‘touches’…
it coulda have well bin dat dem marshmellas stayed hidden in the cabinet the whole damn time… except for 30sec grab when nobody was looking… idk…
not that it makes anything a case of right or wrong…
just saying, I don’t remember dem marshmellas…#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!BOTB, think about it, marshmellas ain’t nothin’ but pure sugar puffed up (my grandma’s recipe had powdered sugar in the icin’ and that’s probably the only difference). In this case I can easily see them bein’ interchangeable.
13OT, been to Meadow many times and they DO have great food. If’n you get down that way before new years you can see one of the best Christmas Lights at what is called the Meadow Lights. the train ride is only 2 bucks and the country store has candy blasts from the past for stuff I ain’t seen since I was a youngun. I bought two bags of squirrel nuts. YUM!
Smarter than the average bear
Marshmellas are the glue that holds the white gold I guess, ha. Rule one: Never argue with a good experienced cook. Rule two: Refer to the cook. I hope it turns out well for those who are gonna give it a go. I’ll be honest, I’m little nervous since it was my adaptation penned to paper from her memory. Between my moms age, and my cooking knowledge, something could have gotten lost in the translation, ha. In between it all, my 80 something Dad is gonna be the most disappointed as he is expecting me, or my mom to surprise him with a coconut cake for Christmas Day after all our “secret” cake talk. He’s already ask me twice how my cake turned out.
BP — as an AWB … You GOTT to COOK THE CAKE!
but it doesn’t have to be a One Man Show…
This story needs more women….Yogi…. powdered sugar … it was….
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!Bass,
Quick question. You reference 2/3 cup boiling water in the icing but you don’t use it. I assume it is added to the sugar and syrup.
Help?Yep,
Combine sugar, syrup, salt in pot over double broiler pan of water…
that won’t work without the 2/3 cup of water.Smarter than the average bear
Yogi is correct, add 2/3 cup boiling water to the sweet mixture over a double broiler of water. Do it slowly as mixing. Just an AWB in the kitchen Bill, one that is more at home in front of a grill with a cold adult beverage within reach.
This recipe got me to thinking about others from my youth. Thought I’d share my favorite Christmas food memory. My Grandmother made these only at Christmas and they were wiped out in short order. I made them two days ago, took them to work and they were an instant hit with lots of people wanting the recipe. This recipe makes a small batch. A 9 X 9 or 8 X 8 pan is perfect. Double the recipe for a larger batch. I’m pretty sure my grandmother made triple batches (I had 13 cousins).
Butterscotch Brownies from The Joy of Cooking, 1964 edition
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt in a saucepan: 1/4 cup butter
Stir into it until dissolved: 1 cup brown sugar
Cool these ingredients slightly. Beat in well: 1 egg, 1 tsp. vanilla
Sift, then measure: 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
Resift it with: 1 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt OR
use 3/4 cup presifted self rising flour which is what I did.
Stir these ingredients into the butter mixture.
Add: 1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)
Pour batter into a greased 9 x 9-inch pan.
Bake for about 20-25 minutes. Cut into bars when cool.When I made them I put the butter in a large flat bowl and melted it in the microwave, 30 seconds or so and stir until all the butter is melted (something my grandmother would have loved). Then added the ingredients to it and mixed it all up in the bowl.
WARNING: These things are habit forming.
Smarter than the average bear
I made the cake. Holy cow that is time consuming. I hope it is good. Will more tomorrow.
Merry ChristmasThere aren’t many cakes that are really good that don’t require a time investment. Yep, this one is really time consuming. My grandmother would send me away to play when she made it because I was somewhat impatient. I’ll say this, unless you really messed it up it WILL be worth the effort. Merry Christmas.
Smarter than the average bear
That recipe is very similar to my Mom’s. My birthday is in August. I always wanted a coconut cake but Mom insisted the weather was too hot. She always made me one for Christmas to make up for it.
Cake was a huge hit. It was must like my grandmothers.
Thanks again. It brought back great memories.
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