Coconut Cake, like Gramma used to make!

My gramma made the most amazing coconut cake.  Light cake in thin layers almost (but not quite) dripping with a soft coconut moisture and a delicate icing that formed a crust on the outside...it always reminded me of the rare West Tennessee "sticking" snow on the first morning after it fell: dry and light with a thin layer of sleet on the top that crunched softly when your foot broke through.

My gramma, Marvene Tucker, made this cake at least once a year (sometimes twice), for a big family get-together, usually Christmas.  She was a lady who could take a bit of this and a touch of that and turn it into something not just palatable, but delicious.  She and my Grandpa Leon were farmers who made do with what they had and made it good.  But this cake, this Coconut Layer Cake, was a masterpiece worthy of the finest table.  It was beautiful to look upon, with its pure white towering goodness softly mottled with mounds of fresh coconut.  But it was even better to eat.

Two years ago, I decided to make a coconut cake for my dad for his birthday.  I tried tracking down the recipe from my dad's sisters but no one could remember the specifics since gramma never used a written recipe.  My mom recalled a "boiled icing of some sort."  For once, the intertubes were no help at all.  Recipe after recipe called for cream cheese or sweetened coconut or canned this or that.  I was at a loss and finally hit upon the brilliant idea of asking my neighbor, a True Southern Cook if ever I've met one.  My description of the icing hit home and Charlyn immediately said, "oh, that's Seven Minute Icing."  The cake is another story.  That year, I used a boxed white cake mix and moistened it with canned coconut "milk" and was forced to top the whole thing with sweetened coconut because I couldn't find unsweetened anywhere.

My dad, God love him, appreciated the effort.  And that cake was tasty.  But it wasn't THE cake.  When pressed, Dad noted how sweet the coconut tasted.  Yeah, I noticed it too.  I know Gramma only and ever used real coconut and somehow turned that into this cake, but had no clue how it worked until my husband caught an Alton Brown show about making an "old-fashioned" coconut cake.  Armed with this link and my memories (and parents' memories) of gramma's process, I pressed onward to coconutty delight.  I consider it part of my heritage, after all!

My dad with his authentic, totally from-scratch, like-mama-used-to-make Coconut Cake.

First of all, let me warn you that this cake is delicious.  Truly, truly delicious.  It is also a lot of work.  I did it over three days, which is a great way to tackle a project like this when you are unable to spend an entire day baking a cake.  Since you have the recipe already via my Alton Brown/Food Network link, I'll just note the things I did differently or found interesting enough to photograph.

Day One: Break down coconuts.  Make coconut cream, coconut milk.  

Day Two: Make Cake, soak with coconut water.

Day of service: Make icing, frost cake, refrigerate!

Per my husband's suggestion, I used a drill to make three holes in the coconut to access the coconut water.  This picture shows one coconut still with the hard shell and one (on the right) with the thin, brown "undershell."

Alton Brown recommends using a serrated vegetable peeler, which I do not have.  The regular peeler worked just fine for me.

Coconut freed from the shell, ready to be rinsed.

Now, here I'll note that I followed the directions on the link to make coconut milk and coconut cream.  However, I later watched the actual Alton Brown episode and really like the method he uses in his show better.  It's a little fussier really, but if you're going all out, then go all out, right?

From l-r: coconut water, coconut milk, coconut cream

Frugal tip here: clean and save a few smallish jars.  They work much better for storing liquids, like sauces or stock, than a square saver.  They're nice to have around to mix up a vinaigrette without dirtying the blender.  I don't have many...I try to edit so I don't become a hoarder.  I probably have 5-6 jars in a 3-cup and under capacity and they come in handy frequently.  I can use Mason Jars for anything with more volume.

Day Two: Make Cake

My way to cut parchment to fit -- I made a line in the corner with my fingernail.  Alton has a neat technique but mine works just fine.

See?  Perfect circle for cutting.

Finished pans await batter.

Learn to get out and, if convenient, measure all ingredients before beginning.  Trust me, it makes it soooo much easier.  And then you never have to hunt for something with egg on your hands or realize to your horror that you don't have the very last ingredient you need.

I do not own a stand mixer. I'm sure it would be nice to have one, but I really don't have the space for it right now anyway.  I just mix a little higher speed and a little longer with my hand-me-down hand mixer.  Just like June Dye says, it comes out just fine.

This is what I consider to be "stiff peaks."  I add the egg whites to the batter in thirds, folding carefully each time.

Again, Alton has a neat way of cutting the cake evenly (this is why I sought out the video on the first place).  Unfortunately for me, my cooling rack did not fit into any rimmed pan I own, so I was forced to eyeball it.  This is fine; just be sure to try to assemble it so that the short sides butt up to the longer sides.

Four layers ready. 

Here I must share an important deviation from Alton Brown and his wussy spritzer bottle.  I love Alton Brown, truly, but a spray bottle?  No way!  A real coconut cake (like my gramma made) is almost dripping with moisture.  I used three coconuts and procured quite a bit of coconut water, so I reserved 1/3 cup to make the icing, leaving me with 1 1/4 cups coconut water.  After making the cake, I had some milk  and some cream remaining.  I mixed this all together and brushed it ALL over the cake.  Then I froze it.

Here's my freezer setup: cake layers separated by wax paper and wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. 

Theoretically, you could make this several days before.  Just be sure to pull it out of the freezer with plenty of time to defrost (if serving for dinner, put in the refrigerator the day before or that morning).

Serving Day!

Making icing.  Again, all ingredients are assembled beforehand.  Please don't skip this step!!  It makes cooking so much more fun, especially if you are doing it with children around.

Have a discriminating critic taste-test the icing to be sure it is acceptable.

Ice the cake, alternating icing and coconut.  This icing does tend to be a little runny, so having cold layers helps keep everything where you want it.  Do not be afraid to secure the layers with a toothpick here or there; just try to keep count of how many toothpicks you use so you can remove them before serving to toddlers.

This came out wonderfully!  After eating it, my dad requested another for Christmas because, after all, that was his mother's tradition and if I wanted to be true to tradition then it was obvious.....

When I stopped laughing, I reminded him that she didn't make this masterpiece only a few weeks apart.  Since half of the cake was left, he recommended freezing it "like she used to" and we'd have it after our Christmas fondue.  Aha!  That was the freezing I remembered; however I like freezing the layers after soaking them and think it makes for a softer cake due to the freezing/thawing process.  If you wanted to just refrigerate, that would probably be fine too.  

I'll update in a few days to let you know how the cake makes it after a few weeks in the freezer.

Update: The second half of the cake froze beautifully and tasted great several weeks later. It actually reminded me more of my grandma's cake because she'd do that with her leftover cake. She'd often transfer it from the freezer to the fridge in the morning if she expected us to visit in the afternoon and sometimes the cake was still slightly frozen in the middle. It's definitely a bonus to freeze part when you make a cake requiring this much labor (speaking as a fairly basic baker here).