Coconut cake

Also known as "lazy daisy cake", this dessert has become somewhat renowned amongst our friends as inducing an unstoppable feeding frenzy, to the point that everyone has completely stuffed themselves but is still secretly desiring just another piece. My mother was always a pro at churning at trays of it, whilst still ensuring the cake remained light and fluffy, and the coconut was golden and crispy. I've always had a soft spot for this cake, so I thought what better dessert to christen my new baking pan with? I'd tried my hand at it once before (under the watchful eye of my mother), but I did recall that it was actually a pretty painless recipe all things told. Though I did, somewhat embarrassingly, call my mother several times during the course of this to ensure I wasn't mucking anything up.

Recipe

1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk1 tbsp butter

Coconut topping
5 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp cream
3 tbsp melted butter
1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a bowl, beat eggs. Gradually beat in sugar, beating until thick. Beat in vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. In a saucepan, bring milk and butter to a boil. Alternate stirring flour and milk mixtures into the egg mixture (starting and finishing with the flour mixture). Pour into greased and lightly floured 9" square cake pan. Bake for about 30 minutes or until top springs back when touched lightly in the center.

While the cake is baking, make coconut topping. Combine the first three topping ingredients, then stir in the coconut. When cake is baked, spread the coconut mixture evenly over the top. Pressing down with a fork to ensure a level topping. Place under broiler until just golden.

Musings

A few notes on the preparation: My recipe hadn't actually stipulated to get unsweetened coconut, and D had unknowingly gotten sweetened. My mother recommended reducing the brown sugar in the topping by a tbsp. Our brown sugar is actually really dark, so the topping was already quite dark before it went into the oven. So I paid extra care while it was under the broiler to make sure I wasn't burning the topping. I was a bit concerned when I noticed that my topping was bubbling, but D suspected that it was just the butter.

The verdict: Delicious. David noted, and I quote, "Make again soon". Not as a good as my mother's, but to be fair, she's had a bit of practice. The topping felt maybe a touch buttery (which likely contributed to its bubbling while broiling), so I might reduce the butter a bit. Otherwise, yum!