A Love Affair With Southern Cooking_ Recipes and Recollections - Jean Anderson [204]
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FRESH COCONUT CAKE
MAKES ONE 9-INCH, 3-LAYER CAKE
To use an old southern expression, “it grieves me” to see young southern cooks abandoning family heirloom recipes in favor of cake mixes. Especially since many of America’s classic cakes originated down south: Lady Baltimore, Lane Cake, Japanese Fruitcake. I hesitate to add coconut cake to the list, but I will say that it’s always been a southern specialty and that no one made it better than Annie Pool of Halifax County, Virginia. Her kin all call her coconut cake “the nearest thing to ambrosia.” When I interviewed Annie Pool some years ago, she shared a few secrets: Only fresh coconut put through a meat grinder would do (if she’d had a food processor, she could have saved worlds of time), but even more important, Annie Pool sprinkled the water (from inside the coconut) over each cake layer before she iced it. That explains her cake’s exceptional moistness. Note: If you’ve never grappled with a fresh coconut, here’s how to go about it: Before you break the coconut open, loosen the meat by rap-ping the shell all over with a hammer. Next, pierce two of the coconut “eyes” drain off and reserve the coconut water. Now using the hammer, crack the coconut into manageable pieces and pry the meat from the shell. Remove the dark skin with a vegetable peeler, then rinse the coconut in cool water and pat dry on paper toweling. Finally, cut the coconut into 1-inch chunks and pulse in two-cup batches in the food processor until finely ground.
Cake
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, separated
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
Reserved coconut water (see headnote)
Icing
4 cups sugar
11/3 cups water
3 tablespoons butter
11 cups finely ground fresh coconut (you’ll need 2 to 3 coconuts) (see Note at left)
1. For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350° F. Coat three 9-inch layer cake pans with nonstick oil-and-flour baking spray and set aside.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt onto a piece of wax paper and set aside.
3. Cream the butter in a large electric mixer bowl at high speed for 2 to 3 minutes or until light and silvery, then, with the motor running, add the sugar gradually. Continue beating for 2 to 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and beat till fluffy.
4. Combine the milk, vanilla, and lemon extract. With the mixer at low speed, add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the milk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry and beating after each addition only enough to combine. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks and fold into the batter—gently—until no streaks of white or yellow remain.
5. Divide the batter among the three pans and bake in the lower third of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until the layers pull from the sides of the pans and are springy to the touch.
6. Cool the cake layers in their upright pans on wire racks for 10 minutes, then loosen around the edge and turn out on the racks. Cool to room temperature.
7. For the icing: Combine the sugar and water in a medium-size heavy saucepan and insert a candy thermometer. Set over moderate heat, stir until the sugar dissolves, then cook uncovered without stirring until the syrup reaches 232° F. Remove from the heat, drop in the butter, and cool for 20 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, place 8 cups of the ground coconut in a large bowl. As soon as the syrup has cooled for 20 minutes, beat for 1 minute with a hand electric mixer at high speed. Pour the syrup over the coconut in the bowl and toss well to mix.
9. To assemble the cake: Center one layer on a large round plate. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup of the reserved coconut water, then spread with the icing—not too thick—and scatter some of the remaining ground coconut