Coconut Cake

Cake Ingredients

• 1 white cake mix
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup Sprite
• 1 stick of butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Icing Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup white corn syrup
• 3 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 cups shredded coconut

Cake Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Mix all of the cake ingredients together with a wire whisk until well blended. Don’t use an electric mixer for this.
2. Butter and flour two 8 inch round cake pans.  You can use two 9 inch cake pans instead, but you’ll need to reduce cooking time by a few minutes.
3. Divide cake batter between pans, then place in oven and bake for 25 minutes.
4. While the cakes cool, make the icing.

Icing Directions

1. Place the sugar, water, and corn syrup in a sauce pan on medium heat.  Using a candy thermometer cook to the soft ball stage or 240° F, stirring constantly.  The mixture should become almost clear. Turn off heat and set aside.
2. With an electric mixer in a large bowl, vbeat the egg whites with the baking powder until it reaches the soft peak stage.
3. Slowly pour in the syrup and keep mixing until the icing stands in peaks.  This takes some time to accomplish so don’t give up on it. Just keep beating it and eventually the peaks will form.
4. Place one of the cake layers on a plate. Frost the top of the first layer and sprinkle with 1/2 cup coconut. This makes quite a bit of frosting so feel free to be generous with the first layer.
5. Place the other layer on top of the first and frost the entire cake.
6. Sprinkle the rest of the coconut over the top and sides of the cake.