davidbowerkingwood

It All Started with a Single Coconut

From ages two to eight, my mother and I lived with her parents just outside of downtown Houston in a small two-bedroom house in the Norwood part of the Houston Heights. This was back in the 1930’s and everything was dramatically different.

Every so often, grandma would come home with a coconut in her shopping bag; we all knew, when that happened, a day was coming soon when we would enjoy one of her fabulous coconut cakes.

Everything was made from scratch and that included preparing the coconut. When the day arrived, early in the morning, Grandma would take the coconut and start the process.

First, she would take an ice pick, poke holes in the end, and drain all of the liquid out of the coconut into a bowl. Then she would take a hammer and crack the coconut to extract the white coconut meat inside.

At that point, I was available in case she wanted me to taste the coconut for her and surprise, surprise, I was always more than ready and greatly enjoyed the small piece of fresh coconut meat she handed to me.

She would mix up the cake batter and used the liquid from the coconut to add moisture to the cake batter. She also added some shredded coconut meat to the batter.

While the cake was baking, she would finish shredding the coconut meat to add to the icing. When the baking was completed, the cake would be allowed to cool down to room temperature.

Mixing up the icing was always a tasty affair in which I was always ready to lick the utensils used in its making when grandma had finished with them. She made a white icing with coconut shreds mixed in and used a generous amount to ice the cake on the top and sides.

When she had completed icing the cake, she would add more coconut sprinkles to the top and side of the cake. At that point, her masterpiece was ready for supper and the family spent the rest of the day looking forward to a piece of that cake for desert, after supper!

That coconut cake set the benchmark for coconut cakes all over the world! Even though many, many years have passed, the memories of her coconut cake are still vivid in my mind!

I’m the little boy and my Grandma is standing directly behind me.