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This Takes the Cake
Written By: Jenny King | Issue: 2016/04 - April | Photograph By: Marjorie Christiansen Photography
Rebecca Shuler grew up with a grandmother who loved to cook.
“Dolly” Ramey was known for her classic Southern meals, especially her fried chicken. Rebecca remembers her Granny fixing chicken for every church function and to give away to pastors in the area. Shuler, who is the Highlands town clerk, carries on Dolly’s legacy with another one of the family’s recipes,
coconut cake.
She says, “I never liked coconut but whenever Granny made this cake I couldn’t wait to eat it. It’s funny because now I can’t seem to attend any event without bringing one.”
Rebecca’s husband Matt, IT director for the town and pastor of John’s Creek Baptist Church in Cullowhee, feels the same way about this magical cake. He won’t eat coconut in any other dish!
One change Rebecca has made to her grandmother’s original recipe is the addition of coconut cream. She says it makes the cake much more moist.
Old Fashioned Coconut Cake
1- box white or yellow cake mix
1- 14 oz. can Cream of Coconut
1- cup sour cream
1- 8 oz. container Cool Whip
1 ½- cups sugar
1- tsp. vanilla
1- 7 oz. bag coconut
1- jar maraschino cherries (optional)
Mix cake mix as directed and bake in three layers. Assemble cake while warm and poke holes with a straw in each layer. Pour cream of coconut into holes. Mix the sour cream, Cool Whip, sugar, and vanilla together until smooth. Use this to ice the cake. Sprinkle coconut over the icing and top with halved maraschino cherries, if desired.
Rebecca says the cake may be served warm, but it’s just as good after being stored overnight in the refrigerator.
This writer was witness to the evidence of the cake’s magical properties. It sat in the town offices with everyone watching anxiously, forks in hand, while the magical cake rested under glass awaiting its photo op. Dolly Ramey would have been proud.
