Sally's Dream Cake

Aw, Salgal is being so sweet about the birthday cake I made for her over the weekend, that I just have to post the recipe. Even unto posting two posts in one day, which thing I never had supposed.

I must preface with the notion that normally I am a stickler for homemade cake, as in not from a mix. However for a couple of reasons this cake is made from a mix.

1. I did a little reading on epicurious.com and even they have a recipe for coconut cake made from a cake mix.

2. I also had to make my son's birthday cake and 2 lemon meringue pies this weekend., not to mention regular cooking duties.

So, you see? I am justified.

Here is the cake I put together. It was good. Don't take my word for it; Sally was the birthday girl. You may need to break open two cans of cream of coconut for this recipe. NOT coconut milk; you want the stuff that is mostly fat. It's worth it.

Sally's Dream Coconut Cake

Cake
1 box white cake mix
3 whole eggs
1 1/4 c plus 1/3 c cream of coconut such as Coco Lopez (You are substituting it for the oil and the water in this recipe.)

Mix ingredients above using box directions. Also bake in 2 9-inch layers as directed on box. Cool completely. Meanwhile, make this stuff:

Filling
1/3 c sugar
1/4 c corn starch
1 c cream of coconut
1 c whole milk
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 tbsp butter
1/4 - 1/2 c toasted coconut (Toast this in the oven on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees, stirring every couple of minutes until it is golden brown. You will use the rest later.)

Combine dry ingredients in medium-sized heavy saucepan with a wire whisk. Gradually stir in cream of coconut and milk. Heat over medium to medium-high heat until the mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir one minute. Pour half of mixture into beaten egg yolks, stirring. Return egg mixture to pan and stir. Replace on heat. Return to boiling; boil and stir one minute. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and coconut. Cool completely.

Icing
Use this recipe. It's my favorite cake frosting in the whole world. It does not taste like powdered sugar or shortening, and those things make me kind of feel ill. Not that I dislike sugar and fat, just the opposite in fact. But those particular incarnations are the worst incarnations of their broader categories.

And this icing uses the other part of the eggs you used for the filling. So thrifty.

Assembly
On a large platter or cake stand, assemble cake with filling in the middle. You probably will not use all the filling; that's okay. Eat the rest!

If you have time, make a collar of foil or wax paper to fit tightly aroudn the cake and chill it or freeze it so you don't get pudding gushing out the sides when you are trying to put the icing on. I didn't have time for this this weekend, so I just faked it. You can fake it, too ... at least on this. Just scrape up any gushy pudding before you frost.

After you apply the frosting, carefully apply toasted coconut to coat the top and sides of the cake. Decorate with fresh flowers (I chose some pretty ivory-colored ones) and enough candles to pay proper tribute to a wonderful friend who has lived 30 fun-filled years on this earth.

Serve with pineapple sherbet. Yum.