FLOSSIE LEE BOURNES’ PINEAPPLE COCONUT CAKE
White cake
½ cup softened butter (2 sticks)
3 eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
3 cups sifted flour
3 tsps. baking powder
2 tsps. vanilla
1 cup whole milk
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat three 9-inch baking pans with butter, and dust with flour. Sift flour in medium bowl with baking powder, then set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whip softened butter and sugar until fluffy. Blend in one egg at a time; mixture should look fluffy and cloudlike. Add flour mixture and milk in thirds until blended. Batter should remain light and fluffy. Spoon into prepared pans. Tap pans on counter to release air pockets and even out batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. When done, cake should be golden and lightly brown around edges. Check middle with toothpick. If it comes out clean, remove cake from oven and let sit for five minutes. Remove cakes from pans; cool on rack.
Pineapple filling
½ stick butter
20 oz. can crushed pineapple
¾ cup sugar
2 tbsps. cornstarch
2 tsps. vanilla
In a medium saucepan, add butter, drained crushed pineapple, sugar, corn starch and vanilla. Cook over medium heat until sugar and starch dissolve. Turn temperature down to low; mixture should thicken in five to 10 minutes. Remove from heat; let cool five to 10 minutes. Once cooled, spread as filling between the three cake layers.
Frosting
Betty Crocker Fluffy Whipped Frosting (Ms. Bournes liked this prepared frosting, her family said, because coconut flakes adhered to it well.)
Baker’s Angel Flake coconut flakes
Finish cake by frosting all over, and pat frosting with coconut.