Grandma Yearwood's Coconut Cake with Coconut Lemon Glaze

Recipe adapted from Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood (c) Clarkson Potter 2010

The Food Network
SHOW: Trisha's Southern Kitchen
EPISODE: Grandma Knows Best

This recipe takes me back to childhood days and the delicious cakes my southern belle neighbor from North Carolina would make.  Along with my nana and godmother, she was a great cooking inspiration in my life and taught me so much about baking as a young girl.

You can never go wrong with a cake made with coconut!

Ingredients

Cake:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature, plus more for greasing
• Flour, for dusting pan
• 2 cups sugar
• 6 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• One 12-ounce box vanilla wafers, finely crushed
• One 6-ounce package frozen or fresh grated coconut, thawed
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Coconut Lemon Glaze:

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• Pinch of salt
• Grated zest of 2 large lemons
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 large lemons)
• One 6-ounce package frozen or fresh grated coconut, thawed

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

For the cake: Grease and flour a 9-inch tube cake pan. Cream the butter and sugar until light and smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla extract, beating well. Mix in the vanilla wafer crumbs, coconut and pecans. Pour into the pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack.

For the glaze: Mix the sugar, cornstarch, salt, lemon zest and juice, 1 1/2 cups of water and coconut in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until thickened, for about 15 minutes. Let cool slightly, then using a toothpick, poke several holes in the top of the cake and drizzle the glaze over the cake.