Coconut Cake

Coconut is, without question, one of God's gifts to man. Cake is, without question, one of man's gifts to man. Combined, you come about as close as possible to heaven on earth. I love coconut cake. I have made my fair share of coconut cakes over the past few years. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure every single one has been for a birthday, whether for mine or for someone else. Coconut cake just looks festive. This time around, I hit the jackpot. It was the best coconut cake I've ever had - including cakes made by me and cakes made by others.

The frosting is an heirloom recipe passed down from my grandmother and it is great for just about anything you want to frost. I'd highly recommend copying it down and adding it to your frosting repertoire. I'm sure you'll love it - you can always add in a drop or two of almond, orange or mint extract to switch up the flavor depending on the baked good with which it is being paired.

Coconut Cake

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream
2 T vanilla extract
3/4 sweetened shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a bundt cake pan.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition.

3. Mix the dry ingredients together. Then add to the butter mixture, mixing well. Add the sour cream and mix well; then mix in the vanilla. Last, mix in the coconut until just incorporated. Batter will be thick.

4. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 40 - 45 minutes, or until golden. Let pan cool on wire rack for 5 minues, then turn cake out of pan. Leave the cake to cool on rack completely. Frost with vanilla buttercream frosting (recipe below) and sprinkle generously all sides with more coconut until completely covered (it's a messy job, but someone's gotta do it).

Grammy's Buttercream Frosting

1 stick butter, must be room temperature
1 pound powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 T milk

You'll need an electric mixer for this one - it's far too strenuous to do by hand! Start out by beating the butter.  Add half of the sugar. Keep beating it. Add the vanilla extract and a few drops of the milk.  Add in the rest of the sugar.  Dribble in the milk, a few drops at a time, until it reaches the right consistency. The frosting only gets creamier and better the longer you beat it; my mom even recommends walking away from the mixer for five minutes. Remember: you can always add more milk to thin it out, but you can't remove milk once it's in! It's always good to have a little extra powdered sugar on hand just in case you add to much milk - that's how to fix it if it gets too thin!

Enjoy!