Coconut Cake With Fluffy Icing

Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins Preparation Time: 35 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 12
• 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 8 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 8 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup butter, cut into 8 pieces
• 2 grated lemons, zest of
• 1 pinch salt
• 3 cups cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 4 eggs, at room temperature separated
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk, well stirred
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 egg whites, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 (17 ounce) bag shredded sweetened coconut (2 2/3 cups)

Recipe

• 1 for filling: in heavy saucepan, combine lemon juice and 1/2 cup water.
• 2 add cornstarch and whisk to dissolve.
• 3 add sugar, egg yolks, butter, lemon zest and salt.
• 4 cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture comes to a simmer.
• 5 reduce heat to low and whisk 1 minute.
• 6 strain through a coarse sieve into a medium bowl.
• 7 let cool to room temperature, press a piece of plastic wrap directly on surface and put in refrigerator until very cold.
• 8 (filling may be prepared up to 2 days in advance).
• 9 to make cake: preheat oven to 350°f and lightly greaes and flour three 9-inch round layer pans.
• 10 line bottoms with parchment paper.
• 11 in medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt.
• 12 in another bowl, cream sugar and butter with electric mixer on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
• 13 beat in egg yolks one at a time, then vanilla.
• 14 on low speed, add flour in three 1-cup additions, alternating with two 1/2-cup additions of coconut milk.
• 15 begin and end with flour and beat until smooth, scraping bowl often with rubber spatula.
• 16 in another bowl, beat egg whites (with clean beaters) on high speed until they form stiff peaks.
• 17 whisk 1/4 of the whites into the batter, then fold in the remainder.
• 18 spread mixture evenly in pans.
• 19 place in oven on center rack.
• 20 make sure pans don't touch each other and that they are not too close to sides of oven so air can circulate evenly around them.
• 21 bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until toothpick inserted in centers come out clean.
• 22 let cakes cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes.
• 23 invert and remove from pan and peel off parchment paper.
• 24 tun right sides up and cool completely.
• 25 to make icing: in the top of a double boiler, combine sugar, egg whites,corn syrup, cream of tartar, and 1/3 cup water.
• 26 place over simmering water.
• 27 beat on high speed with handheld electric mixer until icing forms soft peaks, about 2 minutes.
• 28 remove from heat and beat in vanilla.
• 29 continue beating 5 minutes, or just until stiff peaks form.
• 30 place one layer upside down on serving plate.
• 31 spread with half of lemon filling.
• 32 place second layer on top, right side up.
• 33 spread with remaining half of filling.
• 34 add the final layer right side up.
• 35 spread icing over top and sides of cake.
• 36 press handfulls of coconut all over icing.