Coconut Cake with Broiled Brown Sugar Topping

Will there be cake? 

I have asked this question each year when my birthday rolls around, for some time. But tbh, when my mom came to an age and stage where she no longer could bake my birthday cake, I caved on it. Somehow baking one’s own birthday cake seemed a bit odd. I also thought that the birthday cake I counted on was simply too much work…

The birthday cake was a big double layer white coconut cake with fluffy white frosting. Originally, Mom grated fresh coconut to fold into the batter and sprinkle atop the frosting. Which, as I remember, was quite an effort. Eventually she developed a shortcut; dried shredded coconut, soaked in water to moisten and remove most of the added sugar from the fruit. It was a luscious birthday cake, one which I anticipated every year. 

But this year I remembered another cake that Mom served whenever an easy quickly made cake seemed in order. The recipe came off the back of the Bisquick box. The very fact that Mom kept a box of Bisquick baking mix in the pantry was a miracle; the cake was the only baked good I remember her using it for. Her actual biscuits were scratch made with whole wheat flour and wheat germ. The baking mix cake was a simple yellow cake, but had a brown sugar, coconut and pecan topping, which was popped under the broiler til it browned and bubbled. If you happen to be of quite advanced middle age like me, you might remember the Bisquick Velvet Crumb Cake. 

So I decided that after all these years, at this year’s birthday- there would be coconut cake. Tradition would be tossed out the window though, since I was baking this thing for just me and my husband. No, the big cake would be morphing into an easy single layer coconut cake with that delicious coconut brown sugar topping. Too bad I didn’t come to this conclusion many years ago; it would have saved Mom a great deal of work…

Given the sweet broiled topping, I could reduce the typical amount of sugar in the cake. I helped myself to Mom’s trick, first lightly toasting the dried coconut to deepen the flavor.  Unsweetened shredded dried coconut is the norm in my kitchen today, soaked luxuriously in light coconut milk before going into the batter. Coconut oil eliminated the need for creaming and mixed up quickly with eggs, coconut flavored yogurt and a touch of rum. A combo of whole wheat pastry and almond flours provided a fluffy, delicate crumb. And the broiled topping took about five minutes. The cake was terrific, chock full of coconut flavor with a fine, delicate texture and sweet crunchy topping. The icing on the cake? The leftover slices freeze beautifully. 

Changing up treasured tradition is a hard sell for most of us. I probably shouldn’t have waited so long to try. But since I did, I’m pretty pumped that it worked out this well. Yes, there was cake. And in its own way, just as delicious as I remember.