Coconut Cream Pie

Wet Ingredients: 1 c. butter softened

1 3/4 c. Sugar

1/2 c. Cream of coconut reserve another 1/2 c. to drizzle on the cake after baking

4 Large Eggs

Dry Ingredients: 2 1/2 c. Flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Additional ingredients: 1 c. buttermilk

1 tsp. coconut extract

Separate eggs, set whites aside. Beat wet ingredients together including egg yolks until fluffy. Sift dry ingredients together and stir well. Add dry ingredients to wet using mixer on low speed alternating with buttermilk/extract mixture. In a clean bowl, beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Fold egg whites into batter. Line two 9-inch pans with baking spray and flour (or what works BEST is lining the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper- cut a circle for the bottom of the pan and a strip for the sides and still spray above and below the paper) Bake at 275 degrees for about 90 minutes (this cake comes out much nicer when cooked at a lower temperature).

After about 60 minutes, do the "toothpick test", repeating every 5-10 min or so until the toothpick comes out clean. 

After the cake is out of the oven and transferred to parchment paper or a cooling rack, poke each cake with a few holes (making sure not to poke all the way through) and drizzle another 1/2 cup of coconut cream over the top. This keeps the cake extra moist.

After the cake completely cools, gently cover it with some plastic wrap and transfer to the freezer to freeze overnight.

The next day, frost immediately after removing from the freezer. This keeps the cake from crumbling while it is being frosted. 

Put a layer of frosting in-between the two cakes and then continue to frost the remainder of the cake.

 After frosting, sprinkle the cake with toasted coconut (instructions for toasting are below). 

Allow the cake to thaw for about an hour before serving.