Monday, December 10, 2007

Italian Coconut Cake

This is a recipe that I got from my sweet friend Lora. It's actually her husband's grandmother's recipe and is the BEST coconut cake I have ever tasted. It's a heavy, old fashioned YUMMY treat! I made it for an event at church this past Friday night and one sweet gentleman came back after eating a piece and told me it was the best cake he had ever eaten.


Cake:
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup Crisco
1 stick butter
5 eggs, divided
2 cups flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 t baking soda
1 t vanilla
1 pinch salt
2 cups coconut


Frosting:
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
2 boxes powdered sugar
1/2 cup coconut, optional
1/4 cup nuts, optional


Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together sugar, Crisco, and butter. Add 5 egg yolks, flour, buttermilk, baking soda, vanilla, and salt. In large mixing bowl, beat 5 egg whites and fold carefully into the batter. Stir in coconut. Pour into 3 greased and floured round cake pans. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly and turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.


Frosting: Mix together cream cheese and powdered sugar. Stir in coconut and nuts. Spread on cooled cake.


TIP OF THE DAY: I do not put coconut and nuts in my frosting but I'm sure it would be yummy. The frosting recipe makes alot of frosting, but if you half the recipe, you really don't have enough to completely cover the cake and make it pretty!


Tomorrow's Daily Special: Dark Chocolate Cheesecake Stuffed Cake