This is for coconut lovers. All others can move along now. This is NOT in any way, shape or form, healthy. In fact, if you double the recipe (as I do) and happen to cut yourself after eating a piece of cake, you will ooze sugar syrup. This is also for the real, honest to god, old fashioned, original cooked icing. Nothing else compares.
Ingredients:
1 C. evap milk 1 C. sugar 1/4 lb. butter or margarine (I don't do margarine) 1 tsp. vanilla 3 egg yolks 18 oz bag angel flake coconut
Melt butter on low heat then set aside to cool enough that it doesn't cook your egg yolks. (I just set it aside and mix all the other ingredients separately, by the time I'm done the butter is plenty cool enough to mix.) Combine evaporated milk, sugar, vanilla, and three egg yolks. Mix thoroughly and then add to the pot with the melted butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly to be sure it doesn't stick to bottom or sides of pot. Bring to a low boil and cook for about 10 minutes until mixture thickens to a thick gravy-like consistency. Add coconut and remove from heat. The recipe calls for 1 cup coconut and 1 cup chopped pecans. I find that pecans (as much as I love them) detract from the flavor so I use about 3 cups of coconut instead. Beat until thick and cool enough to spread.
I just use a brand name german chocolate cake mix for the cake, although I do have the original recipe for the from scratch cake if anyone wants to go through all that trouble. When I bake this cake for special occasions or to take to a pot-luck, I go to the trouble of making it in 2 round pans and cut each round through the middle to create the traditional 4 layer cake. For just at home for family I use a 13 X 9 inch pan and just pile about an inch of that luscious frosting on top. I've also found that using a devil's food cake mix is really too much (and I never thought I'd see the day when something could be too chocolaty). The frosting requires a milder chocolate cake mix.
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