Coconut Cake

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease two 9×13 pans.

For the cake: In a large mixing bowl, cream margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks and blend well. Sift together salt, cake flour, baking powder, and ginger. Add alternately with milk to the margarine mixture. Blend well after each addition. Add vanilla, blend well. Set aside.

Whip the egg whites until stiff, about 5 minutes. Fold egg whites and coconut into batter. Pour evenly into cake pans. Bake about 30 minutes, until done and toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely.

For the coconut frosting: Sift flour into a saucepan and slowly add milk, stirring constantly until all milk is absorbed and mixture is smooth. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until very thick. Set aside to cool. In a mixing bowl, beat sugar and shortening at high speed until light and fluffy. Blend in vanilla and lemon juice. Add flour mixture, beat until frosting stands up in stiff peaks. This should not be overbeaten. Fold in 1 cup coconut.

Frost each cake and stack together. Sprinkle or pat remaining coconut on sides and top of cake, if desired.

Note: If you don’t have cake flour, you can make your own. Put 2 level tablespoons cornstarch into a measuring cup. Fill to 1 cup mark with all purpose flour. Sift 3 times. Makes 1 cup cake flour.