Coconut Cake Recipe

This weekend I made my step-father a coconut cake for his birthday. I always give sweet treats for special occassions because who needs another tchotchke sitting around when they can have a homemade baked good instead? This recipe is my great aunt Emma's. She makes it every year for our family Thanksgiving get together. It's not a hard cake to make, but it is rather time consuming. That being said...

The first thing you'll want to do is make the 1234 cake from the back of the Swan's Down Cake Flour box. This will be your actual cake. For the icing you'll need:

1 16oz. carton sour cream
2 c. coconut
2 c. sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 8oz. carton cool whip

Mix the first four ingredients and refrigerate overnight. The next day, take half the sour cream mixture and mix with the tub of cool whip. Use the sour cream mixture for icing between the layers of the cake. Use the cool whip mixture for icing the tops and the sides of the cake. Keep the finished cake refrigerated! Easy enough?!

Tips: Be sure to make the icing the night before and refrigerate overnight. If you drizzle coconut juice/milk on the layers your cake will be more moist. Caution: the longer the cake sits the more moist it gets!

My great aunt takes and cuts the three layers in half to make six layers. I have never done this before but the cake always turns out fantastic. Well, except for the one time I forgot the baking powder...then it was more like a pound cake with coconut icing. :)

DO NOT, repeat DO NOT use dried, flaked coconut. You want to use fresh coconut for this recipe. My great aunt uses two fresh coconuts, I being the lazy smart person I am, use the frozen grated coconut and let someone else do all of the hard work. Granted, I pay more for this, but it is worth the time saved to me. I just let it thaw first and then go about my cake making business.

This cake has been a Thanksgiving staple in my family for as long as I can remember. It gets multi-generational seals of approval! You don't suppose aunt Emma gave me the recipe so that I would have to start bringing it to the Thanksgiving dinner do you?