This recipe was shared by Mary Jewel on Thanksgiving 2012 from an older recipe that belonged to her Granny and was dated 9/20/62. Who knows where it came from before that.
Big Deals: Start with flour, end with flour. Put in one egg at a time. Beat in between eggs.
- 3 Cups plain flour
- ¾ Cup unsalted butter
- 2 Cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 rounded teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 Cup milk
- ½ teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- —————————————————————————————————————————
- 7 Minute Frosting
- 11/2 sugar
- 2 unbeaten egg whites
- 5 tablespoons cold water
- 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
- 2 tablespoons marshmallow cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- I package coconut
- cream butter until soft
- mix sugar with butter slowly on medium speed (add just a little sugar at a time)
- add eggs to mix one egg at a time. mix them in nicely in between each egg
- turn down mixer to lowest speed
- combine salt and baking powder with flour
- combine extracts with milk
- mix flour and milk into sugar mix (begin with a little flour and then add milk, repeat.
- Start with flour, end with flour. I don’t know why. I don’t ask.
- Keep pulling the mix off the sides of the bowl
- Spray three cake pans with no stick spray. bang them on the counter to get out all the air bubbles
- cook at 325 for 20 minutes
- take them out and let them sit for a couple minutes, then dump them out onto wire cooling racks
- The hard part is behind you. Keep going.
- layer the cakes with seven minute icing and coconut
- Shave coconut or dump it out of the bag, depending on your commitment
- Seven Minute Frosting
- This works best in a double boiler. If you don’t have one, use a stew pot and place a metal bowl on top of it.
- Mix all ingredients. beat to blend well. Lower pot should contain rapidly boiling water
- Beat with rotary egg beater until icing is standing into peaks
- Remove upper pan from heat, add flavoring and beat on high until spreadable
- Add marshmallow cream and vanilla
Like the recipe states, you can use bagged coconut, but if you want to light things up in Jefferson County, you will need to find a grater. This job can be assigned to children or your uncle if needed. Just know that pieces of flesh will be grinded into the coconut, so find someone with clean hands.
This is something you’ll want to practice a bit until you get it perfect. Then you’ll be able to show up to parties holding a cake pan full of the finest southern baked goods this side of the Mississippi. They will literally sing celebration ballads of your victories.
Thanks for making the wranglers your stop for homemade southern recipes. We’ve invite you to explore our other cake, biscuit, and cornbread recipes. Be sure to visit our Cajun Chicken and Dumplins Recipe.
Originally published September 28, 2015.
More Stories
Tex Mex Egg Rolls
Decatur White Sauce
Coconut Curry Thai Soup (Crack Soup)