Red Velvet Wisdom

My mom loves all things coconut. Anytime she ever made anything requiring coconut she tried to use fresh. Joy and I recently laughed about the time she brought one home and the dog went berserk when he stared at the at it after it rolled out of a sack. He thought it was staring at him and wouldn’t shut up until it was in a bowl as ambrosia.

I decided to make a coconut cake for Mom’s birthday this week.

I know someone who makes the best coconut cake I”ve ever had and she is going to give my her recipe. But…it will be next week before I get it. I figured, no problem, I will make something different. I decided to pull out the old family cookbook and find something. I found a recipe for a coconut poundcake and knew I had cake. If only things were ever that easy.

I should have suspected when I saw that the recipe had no name on it that I might should just skip this but no, I kept going. I went to the store, armed with a list. When it came to canned coconut, I was stumped. None to be found. Some ever so kind ladies advised me to use half a bag of shredded coconut and it would be the same. (doesn’t everyone take advice from strangers in the grocery store?)

Family Coconut Pound Cake

• 2 c. flour
• 2 c. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder (as I am typing I realize I used SODA instead. Oops)
• 1 c. cooking oil
• 1/2 c. milk
• 5 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 tsp. coconut flavoring (the recipe called for 1 cup, but that is impossible. The bottles are 1 oz!)
• 1 can Angel Flake Coconut (or half a bag)

Mix well and bake in a bundt pan at 350º until brown or a toothpick comes out clean. (it was about 40 minutes for me)

There is a glaze recipe and I think it was written by someone who mixed things without measuring. I tried it and ended up pouring it out. I am looking for a new one as soon as I finish this. Basically, it was sugar, oleo, (I had to google that to make sure it was margarine) water, and coconut flavoring. I used powdered sugar and thought it too thin so I added sugar. You can see where this is going and getting there fast.

I’m not sure how the family cookbook really came to be, or who put that crazy pound cake in there.  I’m not sure how Mom ever grated coconut, or how long we let the dog bark at the one he was afraid of. I do know that my mom is now 69, and we are grateful that she is here to celebrate.

Happy Birthday Mom.

Saturday, March 13th, 2010, 12:11 am   |   Out of the frying pan  |  RSS feed |  Respond  |  Trackback