Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Recipe

This recipe is handwritten in a journal that my mom has. The book is dated 1936. She ripped out all the diary pages, but the recipes remain. She kept this in the 40's and 50's, and those are my favorite kind of recipes. I use real butter, real sugar, and love to keep tradition alive. No box baking for me! And stuff like artificial sweeteners and genetically engineered food just seem wrong. This is a white cake with a boiled icing and coconut garnish. The lemon filling is amazing.


Coconut-Lemon Layer Cake

Set oven to 375 degrees. Grease two 8" round cake pans.

White Cake
Measure and sift together:
2 cups sifted cake flour (or regular flour less 2 Tbsp per cup)
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
In a separate, medium-sized bowl, cream until light and fluffy:
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar (add the sugar gradually)
Add:
2 eggs (add one at a time, beating well after each addition)
To above, add flour mixture alternately with 3/4 cup milk (begin and end with flour, beating well after each addition)
Stir in:
1 tsp vanilla
Pour into prepared pans and bake 25 minutes or until sides pull away slightly from edges of pans. Remove from oven, cool 5 minutes before removing from pans. When cooled, spread filling between layers. Cover tops and sides with frosting, and sprinkle with coconut.

Filling
In top of double boiler, combine:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cornstarch
In small bowl, blend:
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten (set aside whites for frosting)
3/4 tsp cold water
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
Stir egg mixture into sugar mixture. Cook over boiling water 15 minutes, stirring constantly.
Stir in:
1 Tbsp butter or margarine
1 tsp grated lemon rind
Allow mixture to cool, then spread between cooled cake layers

Fluffy Frosting
In top of 2 quart double boiler, combine:
1-1/2 cups sugar
4 Tbsp water
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 egg whites
Cook over boiling water, beating constantly with rotary beater (if using electric, be careful with cord so as not to create fire hazard), 7 to 10 minutes, or until mixture forms stiff peaks. Remove immediately from stove. Stir in:
1 tsp vanilla
Frost top and sides of cake, and sprinkle with coconut as desired. Either angel flake or shredded is fine.


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1 Comments:

Blogger mira said...

all that sugar! looks divine, and since I have so many lemons I think this will be my next dessert, but with light whipped cream instead of that frosting you posted, just to make me feel better about eating the majority of it by myself ;-)

~mira from waasupDOTblogspotDOTcom)

12:11 AM  

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