Coconut Cake

Contributed by: Mary Stankiewicz

Ingredients
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp, plus extra for buttering pans
3 ½ cps flour, plus extra for pans
1 TB and 1 ts baking powder
1 ts salt
1 cp packed sweetened, shredded coconut
2 2/3 cp sugar
4 large whole eggs
4 large egg whites
1 TB pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cp unsweetened coconut milk
Frosting
Coconut curls

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350* F.
Butter (2) 9x9x2 inch cake pans; line the bottom with parchment paper.
Butter parchment, and dust with flour, tapping out excess; set aside.
Into a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Pulse shredded coconut in a food processor until finely chopped.
Stir chopped coconut into the flour mixture until combined; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about four minutes, scrapping down the side of the bowl as needed. Add the whole eggs, egg whites, and vanilla; beat until fully incorporated.
With the mixer on low speed add the flour mixture in two parts, alternating the coconut milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until combined after each addition.
Divide batter between prepared pans, and smooth with an offset spatula.
Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until cakes are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes.
Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool thirty minutes.
Invert cakes onto the rack; peel off the parchment.
Re-invert cakes and let them cool completely topside up.
Using a cerate knife, trim the tops of the cake layers to make level.
Place one layer on a cake plate and spread tops with 1 ½ layers frosting.
Place other cake layer on top, cut side down.
Using an offset spatula spread the remaining frosting over the entire cake, swirling to cover in a decorative fashion.
Sprinkle entire cake with coconut curls, bending an curling as desired.
Cake can be kept in the refrigerator cover with a cake dome for up to 3 days.

Frosting

Ingredients
1 ½ cp sugar
2 TB light corn syrup
6 large egg whites
1 ts pure vanilla extract

Directions
In the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer set over a saucepan of simmering water, combine sugar, corn syrup, ¼ cp water, and the egg whites. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture registers 160* on an instant-read thermometer, about 2 minutes.
Attach the bowl to the mixture fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat the mixture on high speed until glossy and voluminous, about 5 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. Use immediately.
Coconut Curls

1 medium coconut

Directions
Preheat oven to 350*. Test each of the three eyes at the stem end of the coconut to see which is the softest. Then use an ice pick or a screwdriver, and a hammer, to pierce two of the eyes. Strain the milk.
Place the coconut on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake for 30 min. or until coconut shell begins to crack. Set aside until cool enough to handle.
Wrap coconut in a clean kitchen towel; holding the coconut with one hand, hit it with the hammer the same place several times to crack the outer shell and split the coconut into several large pieces.
Separate coconut flesh from the shell, and use a vegetable peeler to remove dark outer skin. Rinse the coconut in cold water, then use the vegetable peeler to take off long, thick strips from the outer (cut) edges. Use immediately, or store, layered between damp paper towels in an airtight container, in the refrigerator for up to 6 hours.