Mama's Southern Coconut Cake!

  

Coconut cake is just sort of a tradition in the south at holiday dinners and special occasions.  My mother makes one of the best coconut cakes you will ever taste.   She has been making this cake for years.  I am not sure how many years, but for a long time.  She used to make these and sell them during the holiday season.  I can remember our dining room table being just full of finished coconut cakes waiting in their boxes to be picked up.   

She still makes one for special friends now and then, but she is basically out of the baking and catering business and she says she wants to keep it that way...lol.  I don't blame her one bit, she has worked hard all of her life.

Coconut cake is a big favorite in my husband's family.  I joke that my husband is the connoisseur of coconut cakes.  You could line up 10 coconut cakes and blindfold him and give him a taste test and he could tell you which cake was made by my mother and what was not quite as good about all of the others. 

 Not too long ago, I went to a dinner that he didn't attend and I brought him a big piece of coconut cake home from it.  As soon as he took a bite  he said, "Your mother didn't make this, did she?"   Actually, it looked pretty much like her coconut cake so I was surprised.  I asked how he knew.  He said it was the difference in the icing and the cake itself was not as moist.   Then he went on to say, "It's good, just not as good as your mother's." 

People always ask for the recipe for this cake and they are always surprised it starts with a cake mix, because it tastes and looks like a from scratch cake. However, the cake mix is dressed up a bit with a few family secrets.


 Here is what you will need for this cake:

1   15.25 butter cake mix (Be sure to get the full size cake mix and not the reduced size some companies are now marketing)

3 large eggs

1 cup Sprite or 7 Up

1 stick of butter, melted

1 tsp. vanilla

Icing

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup white corn syrup

3 egg whites

1 tsp. baking powder

2 cups shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all of the cake ingredients together with a wire whisk until well blended. Don't use an electric mixer for this.  Mama says it makes a cake dry when you beat the batter up too long. Butter and flour 2 8 inch round cake pans.  You  can use 2  9 inch cake pans, but the cake won't be as high. Divide cake batter between pans. 

Place in oven and bake for 25 minutes.

While the cakes cool, make the icing.

Place the sugar, water, and corn syrup in a sauce pan on medium heat.  Using a candy thermometer cook to the soft ball stage or 240 degrees, stirring constantly.  The mixture should become almost clear.   You can also do this in the microwave to make this step easier.  Cook on high for 4 minutes, remove and stir well and then cook for about 3 more minutes on high.  This could vary by a minute or two depending on the power of your microwave. It still needs to reach the soft ball stage.

  With an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the baking powder until it reaches the soft peak stage. 

 Slowly pour in the syrup and keep mixing until the icing stands in peaks.  This takes some time to accomplish so don't give up on it. Just keep beating it and eventually the peaks will form.

Place one of the cake layers on a pretty cake plate.

Frost the top of the first layer and sprinkle with 1/2 cup coconut

 Place the other layer on top of the first and frost the entire cake.

Sprinkle the rest of the coconut over the top and sides of the cake.

Mama's Southern Coconut Cake!