Holiday Update

Hello Lovelies,

I have been silent for a while, but now I want to share a special holiday recipe. I just returned from spending Thanksgiving with a friend, so I missed the opportunity to cook my usual foods. But never fear, here is a recipe that you can file under “What Jackie Would Have Made”.

This is my mother’s coconut cake recipe. It’s a Southern staple and what I make when I miss Mama. She only made this on special occasions like Thanksgiving or Christmas. Every Southern cook has her own way of doing coconut cake. Mama used a 1-2-3-4 cake as her base. Some cooks put coconut flavoring in the batter and you are welcome to do that. Sometimes, Mama would put coconut milk in the batter, but usually she just made the cake plain and put coconut on the frosting, That’s the version I liked best, so that’s what I’ve given you here. Now here is the main secret for making delicious cakes. All your ingredients MUST be at room temperature. You can help yourself along by using evaporated milk. I don’t dilute the milk for this recipe, and I get a really rich cake without using cream.

Miss Iva’s Coconut Cake with Lemon filling

You will need:

1 recipe of 1-2-3-4 cake

1 recipe of frosting

1 recipe of lemon filling

1 bag of sweetened shredded coconut

For the cake:

Before you start:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F

2. Get three 9 inch round cake pans. Use a little unsalted butter to grease them.

3. Cut wax paper or parchment circles to fit the bottoms of the pans.

4. Slip the circles into the pans and grease the paper.

5. Dust the whole shebang with cake flour and shake out the excess. Set the pans aside.

Now gather the ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened (Make sure you let the butter soften at room temperature. Don’t try to rush it by putting in the microwave).

2 cups sugar

3 cups sifted cake flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs at room temperature

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

To Make the cake:

1. Sift the flour with the baking soda and salt and set it aside

2. Cream butter in a large mixing bowl. If you have a stand mixer this is where you will justify buying it, but you can use a hand mixer and be just fine

3. Gradually add sugar, creaming until light and fluffy. (Beat 10 minutes with electric mixer; longer by hand).

4. Add eggs one at a time to butter and sugar mixture, beating well after each addition.

5. Add flour mixture alternately with milk and flavorings, beating after each addition until smooth.

6. Pour into 3 greased and floured 9 inch cake pans (bottoms lined with greased and floured wax paper).

7. Bake 350 degrees F for 25 - 30 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Remove from pans and finish cooling on wire racks

You will need to make a lemon filling next. I tweaked Mama’s recipe a little. This really a lemon curd. If you are intimidated by it, you can use some from a jar. It’s not quite as good but it saves time. You can make the curd up to 2 days ahead.

Lemon Filling

Ingredients

4 large eggs at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

pinch kosher salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Procedure

1. In a heatproof bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest and juice, and salt. Add the butter. Set the bowl over (not in) a saucepan of simmering water and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture has thickened to the consistency of mayonnaise, 12 to 15 minutes. ( I actually have a double boiler and use that. If you plan to make a lot of custards you might want to think about getting one.)

2. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl. Place a piece of parchment or wax paper directly on the surface of the lemon curd and refrigerate until completely cool, at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.

Now for the frosting, Mama used a 7 minute frosting which is really hard to make. I have done it and if you are curious I can tell you. But I actually prefer a light butter cream. The secret to that is to use a little milk, sift the confectioner’s sugar and whip the daylights out of the butter. Here we go. (You can double this recipe if you think your cake might need more coverage.

Fluffy Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

1 Cup unsalted butter, softened or 2 sticks

4 cups powdered sugar sifted

pinch of salt

1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste or clear vanilla extract* or extract flavor of your choice

2 tablespoons milk

Procedure

Place butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until smooth and fluffy, about a minute.

Add the sifted powdered sugar a spoonful at a time over medium-low speed. Keep doing this until all of the sugar is added, scraping down the sides as necessary.

Add the salt and stir to combine, add in the vanilla and stir to combine. Add the milk and whip the frosting for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.

NOTE: If you don’t have clear vanilla, you can use the brown stuff, your frosting just won't be pure white.

Assemble the cake

1. Place one cake layer on a plate flat side up

2. Spread about half of the lemon filling on top

3. Place layer number two on top of that and put the rest of the filling on top

4. Put the third layer on top.

5. Spread the frosting on the cake, then cover the frosted cake with the flaked coconut.

It will look divine.

Here is a picture of me with my last coconut cake. I made it for a charity event at my house. It was a hit. Give it a try, you will be glad you did. If you are local to Philly, you can even get me to come help you!