How do you feel about coconut? Coconut seems to conjure extreme emotion. Most people can be categorized into two groups: lovers or haters of coconut. I am definitely a coconut lover. Whatever form it is in, from sweetened and flakey to unsweetened milk or hunks of soft fresh flesh to coconut water, it is all delicious to me. When you add my appreciation for the white coconut goodness to my equal passion for deserts, the pleasure of the experience grows exponentially. There are three coconut deserts that are always at the top of my favorite desserts list. Appropriately, one is a cake, one a pie and one a cookie.
“Wonderful Coconut Cake”
The first time I tasted this cake recipe, I was truly in ”wonder” (yes the title really does include the adjective wonderful). I had never tasted a cake with such coconut deliciousness. I also had by this time in my life (I was in my mid 30s) developed a pretty good ability to breakdown a recipe by taste. This ability was increased if I was with one of my foodie friends and we could brainstorm about the breakdown. However, with this recipe I was stumped. No matter how hard my friend, Cheryl Roach, and I tried, we could not decipher the recipe. Our frustration and challenge was increased because the lady that made the cakes would not share her recipe! Although Cheryl and I had personal conviction about sharing any recipe with any who requested, we could not put our convictions on her. It was understandable that the cake lady wouldn’t share because she sold the cakes as a side business and due to their ever increasing popularity she could sell them quite often. Well, Cheryl and I were relentless. We would take turns purchasing the cakes and then get together to try and figure out the ingredients. We were enjoying the task, but were afraid we were going to gain weight at the rate we were eating. We knew the cake was a simple white cake so we put our attention on the icing. Of course the outer coating of flaked coconut was pretty obvious, but it seemed to be extra fresh. The creamy, fluffy, sweet white icing continued to stump us. The sweetness was from granulated sugar. We thought the fluffiness was whipped cream. There was also a slight tang that could have been from sour cream or cream cheese but we weren’t sure. The texture was also slightly different from whipped cream, being a little firmer and silkier. We were about to tire of our efforts when Cheryl had a miraculous conversation with the “cake lady”. Cheryl asked her one more time if she would mind sharing and to Cheryl’s surprise she agreed. It was awesome. Cheryl went straight to the grocery store and bought all the ingredients and called me. We got together and made the cake. We were on the right track with the ingredients but I don’t think we could have ever guessed the quantities. The cake was a white cake mix, we like Duncan Hines the best. The icing was sour cream, granulated sugar and cool whip. We discovered the coconut was special because it was fresh frozen. We had to substitute the common sweetened grated variety after a few years because we couldn’t find the fresh frozen in our local stores anymore. After years of making this cake, I tried whipped cream instead of cool whip, which in my opinion, gives even better results. I make a layer cake 99% of the time because the icing touches more cake surface area. Try this cake for a special birthday or Thanksgiving or Christmas or enjoy it with a fellow coconut lover.
WONDERFUL COCONUT CAKE
1 White cake mix (I prefer Duncan Hines but Betty Crocker Super Moist is good too)
3 Packages of fresh frozen coconut (18 oz) or 1 large package of grated sweetened (such as Angel Flake by Bakers)
Quantities of egg, water and oil suggested on cake mix box
16 oz Sour cream
8 oz Cool Whip or 3 half pints of whipping cream whipped to soft peaks. You will need 6 to 7 cups of whipping cream. (if you use the whipping cream, add 3/4 cup sugar just before soft peaks are formed)
2 cups sugar (you can cut the sugar to 1 1/2 cups for a tangier icing)
Bake cake mix according to package directions in three layers. (see Tip 1) For the icing, mix sour cream and sugar until sugar is dissolved. If you are using whipping cream, whip until there are soft peaks and then add sugar slowly while whipping. Continue to whip until nice peaks form. Fold in cool whip or whip cream. Begin icing each layer until all layers are iced and stacked nicely. Remember to reserve at least half of icing for sides and top. Ice sides and top. Open coconut and begin to sprinkle it all over sides and top covering well. The original recipe says to refrigerate the cake for three days before serving. This allows icing to soak well into cake. It is delicious, but we can seldom wait three days to enjoy.
The pictures for this cake show fruit added to the top. Most of the time the coconut by itself is what I prefer, but the fruit is a fresh and festive addition.
Tips:
- You can cut the layers in half making six layers and increase the surface area exposed to icing even more. The more surface exposed to icing, the more moist the cake is. You can cut perfect layers with dental floss. Tear off a piece that will go around the middle of the layer with about twelve inches left over. Holding the floss on each end with each hand, place around middle of layer. Cross hands and floss where the floss meets and pull firmly but gently until it slices the cake in half.
- The original recipe calls for part of coconut to be mixed into icing and between layers and the rest on outside, but I prefer to coat heavily on the outside making a giant white beautiful ball of fluff.
The cake, iced and ready for coconut
With the addition of the coconut flakes
With the addition of fruit
