All Cakes Considered - Melissa Gray [65]
Coconut/
Not Coconut Cake
A Compromise of Congressional Proportions
Remember the good ol’ days when the GOP and the Democrats used to compromise on legislation? I don’t. But our political editor Ron Elving tells me it used to happen. I think it was during the years when my father walked backward barefoot in the snow to school every day and money grew on trees.
When you make a coconut cake, then take it into work, you are going to find you’ve instantly polarized your office. There are Haters who absolutely can’t stand the stuff and Lovers who can’t get enough of it. They do not communicate well with each other. Each side thinks the other is crazy. Each wants Monday cake. Neither will be fully satisfied. If they could, they would hold separate press conferences, trying to convince the American public that only theirs is the right, just, and reasonable position.
I have made delicious coconut cakes with coconut in the batter and coconut in the frosting and have suffered through entire days of whining from the Haters. Honestly, people I haven’t seen in years walked down just to complain that I’d brought in a coconut cake and they hate coconut cake and why didn’t I do chocolate instead? I have issued moratoriums on coconut cake, and then had to listen to weeks of whining from the Lovers. I have brought in cakes that contained coconut, but did not feature it as the dominant flavor (like Paula Deen’s Grandgirl’s Fresh Apple Cake, page 122) but that wasn’t enough for them. They wanted a real coconut cake.
So, here’s my simple solution: I bake a doubled recipe of Whipped Cream Cake (page 162).
I make a doubled recipe of its Seven-Minute Icing.
Using a spatula, I press coconut into the frosting on exactly HALF of each layer as I construct the cake. For consistency, I press it into the LEFT half of each layer. I add a tiny bit of extra frosting to the RIGHT side to keep the cake level before I add the next layer. I press coconut on the LEFT side of the frosted crown, and then I press coconut on the LEFT side of the cake.
I write a sign. It has arrows. One arrow points to the LEFT. It says “Coconut.” One arrow points to the RIGHT. It says “NOT Coconut.” I leave the cake up front with the sign and a knife and let both sides fight it out.
If only Capitol Hill worked the same way, maybe we’d all get a slice. Or have fewer politicians.
Alma’s Italian Cream Cake
Yes, It’s Got Coconut in It! And Walnuts!
* * *
YOU’LL NEED
Two 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pans
Baking pan
A food processor
A whisk attachment and extra bowl for mixer
FOR THE CAKE
2 cups walnuts
1½ sticks (¾cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs, separated
2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
FOR THE FROSTING
One 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick (½ cup) butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
One 16-ounce box confectioners’ sugar (about 3¾ cups)
TO MAKE THE CAKE
1. Center a rack and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare the cake pans.
2. Spread out the walnuts in a shallow baking pan and toast them in the oven for 3 to 5 minutes. In a food processor, finely chop them until they resemble very coarse flour. Set aside 1 cup for the cake batter and reserve the remaining 1 cup for the frosting and for sprinkling on top of the cake.
3. Set aside ½ cup of sugar. Cream the butter in the mixer at medium speed, and gradually add the remaining 1½ cups of the sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. In a separate bowl, dry whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together.
5. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, alternating with the buttermilk, 1 cup of flour mix for every ½ cup of buttermilk, beating well after each addition. Continue until all the flour and buttermilk