Lazy Daisy Cake

Vintage recipes fascinate me.  At times, they can be downright scary, i.e. jello with meat in it, but most of the time, they are fabulous recipes that have stood the test of time.  Lazy Daisy Cake has been around since the 30's.  In an era where hard working women were washing diapers by hand and hanging them on the line, and everything was made from scratch, the lazy daisy cake was a way to get a wonderful dessert on the table without too much effort or the fuss of a real frosting.  The topping on this cake is a broiled coconut topping which caramelizes milk, brown sugar, and butter.  I was able to put this cake together in about 10 minutes, and then watched as it broiled for about 4 minutes at the end.  Because the topping is so moist, the cake also lasted more than a week and tasted just as wonderful as the first day with a little zap in the microwave to re-warm the topping.  I'd totally recommend it.  I'm sending this one over to Joy at Joy of Desserts for her Vintage Recipe Thursday event.

Lazy Daisy Cake adapted from America's Best Lost Recipes

Ingredients:

For cake:

2 c. high gluten unbleached flour (or all purpose)

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

4 Tbls. unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

1 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 large eggs

2 c. granulated sugar

For topping:

9 Tbls. unsalted butter, melted

3/4 c. packed light brown sugar

6 Tbls. evaporated milk

1 1/2 c. sweetened, shredded coconut

Directions:

1.  For the cake:  Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 9 x 13, broiler safe baking pan (Do not use Pyrex)

2.  Heat the milk slightly in a small saucepan and melt the 4 Tbls. butter in it.  Do not boil.

3.  Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.  Set aside

4.  In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs and granulated sugar with an electric mixer on medium high until pale and thick, about 6 minutes.

5.  Fold half of the flour mixture into the egg mixture, then stir in 1/2 of the milk mixture, stir the other half of the flour mixture into the egg mixture, then stir in the other 1/2 of the milk mixture.  

6.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 35 minutes.

7.  Remove the cake from the oven when done, pre-heat the broiler with the oven rack still in the middle of the oven.

8.  For the topping:  In a medium bowl, melt the 9 Tbls. butter in the microwave.  Add the brown sugar, evaporated milk, and the coconut.  Spread the mixture on top of the cake.

9.  Place the cake back in the oven and broil until the topping is bubbling and starts to brown, about 3-4 minutes.  Cool slightly before serving.