Food on Friday: Loco for coconut cake on Easter

Does anyone own a time machine that we can borrow? Our daughter turns 2 on Monday and I wouldn’t mind placing life on hold for a minute. Last year she was crawling and saying just a few words. Today she’s running, and talking and singing nonstop. I can hardly believe how much she’s grown and how much fun she is. We are loving (almost) every minute with her, and I can’t wait to celebrate our precocious little lady.

I think we’ll probably just celebrate her actual birthday with a trip to Winstead’s (isn’t that where everyone wants to go for their birthdays?). I’ll probably put most of my effort into the bigger celebration, which will coincide with Easter. The holiday makes the choice of birthday cake obvious – coconut cream. My husband’s family makes this cake every Easter and I always look forward to it. It’s a beautiful thing to look at and eat. The white canvas makes decorative candles or jelly beans pop, and I know Olivia will love licking the sugary frosting.

Recipe’s after the jump.

Senter Family Coconut Cake

Ingredients are listed for eight inch cake

4 egg whites
2 3/4 cups cake flour (sift before measure)
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 t. salt
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 t. almond extract
1 cup milk

Add baking powder and salt to flour and sift three times. Cream butter with 1 C. sugar (adding a little at a time) for 20 minutes. Add vanilla. Add milk and flour alternately (1/4 flour, then 1/4 milk, ending with flour). Beat egg whites to stiff peaks. Beat in 1/2 c. sugar a little at a time, beating hard after each addition. Fold meringue gently into butter mixture, leaving no meringue stripes. Pour into 3 eight inch pans (greased and floured). Bang each pan once on counter to remove bubbles. Bake 20 – 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool five minutes and turn out onto rack. Use one recipe of lemon pie filling between the layers. Frost with one recipe of seven-minute icing. Add coconut to outside of cake.