Recipe: Kalani's Coconut Cake

Earlier this week I posted about the decadent Coconut Caramel Cake from Jamie Cooks It Up - mmmmmm, was that ever good! Believe it or not, just a few weeks ago I had another coconut cake that was JUST AS GOOD!

My school had a little luncheon for all the parents who have volunteered in classrooms and at activities during the year. The school provided sandwiches and drinks, and teachers brought salads and desserts. In case you're wondering, my contribution was this Greek Orzo  Salad, which was a big hit. More on that in another post.

My colleague Kalani brought a DELICIOUS coconut cake - sooooooo yummy and refreshing! I knew the minute I saw it that it was going to be fabulous, and I also knew that Mr. Mamie would LOVE IT. I got the recipe from Kalani and made the cake myself a few days later. Sure enough, Mr. Mamie LOOOOOOVED IT!

Kalan's recipe was pretty minimal when she gave it to me.  I tried to add some detail, but any errors are mine and not hers. I think you'll do juuuuuuust fine though... oh, wait, your mouth is too stuffed full of cake to converse? Yeah, toldja this cake was awesome!

Kalani's Coconut Cake

Cake ingredients:

• 1 box white cake mix
  
• 1 box (3.4 oz) coconut pudding mix

Sauce ingredients:

• 1 can (12 oz) cream of coconut - available in the (alcoholic) drink mix section of the grocery store. I was able to find this easily in my local Walmartz (despite the fact that I live in a state with very archaic alcohol laws - NOT that there's alcohol in the cream of coconut). I used Coco Lopez brand.
• 1 can (14 oz)  sweetened condensed milk

Topping ingredients:

• 1 (8 oz) container Cool-Whip
• Toasted coconut (see below) 

Directions:

1. Make the cake mix as directed on the box.  Use whole eggs, not egg whites. Add in the box of coconut pudding as you mix the cake.
2. Bake cake as directed on box (use a 9" x 13" cake pan, NOT two rounds). While cake is baking, stir together sauce ingredients until well-blended.
3. When cake is done baking, remove from oven and immediately (while the cake is still hot) use  the round handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes all over the top of the cake - about an inch apart from each other.
4. Pour the sauce over the cake and let it sit for several hours/over night. You can cover the cake loosely with aluminum foil; just don't let the foil get stuck to the top of the cake.
5. The next day get the Cool-Whip out to defrost. You need it defrosted and spreadable to complete the cake.
6. While the Cool-Whip is defrosting, make the toasted coconut: Preheat the oven to 300. Spread a thin layer of coconut on a baking sheet - choose your biggest baking sheet so that you can toast lotsa coconut! Bake the coconut in the 300 degree oven for 15 - 20 minutes, making sure to stir every FIVE minutes. Failure to stir and monitor will result in icky, sticky, burned coconut. It only took 15 minutes in my oven, so be careful!
7. Spread defrosted Cool-Whip on cake and then sprinkle toasted coconut over Cool-Whip.
8. Store uneaten cake covered and in the refrigerator.
9. ENJOY!!!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)