C is for Coconut Sheet Cake

and Claude and Callie Cat When We Get in a Spat

I have dreams about anything coconut.

Anybody with me on this one? I will share my late mother-in-law’s coconut pie with you soon, and it’s pretty amazing.

Everything Grammy cooked was amazing, actually.

I don’t know how many of you follow me on social media, but I hope all of you do.

On Facebook, I like to share recipes that come up in my feed and believe it or not, I keep up with the likes and shares and comments.

Why? Because I like to see what kind of food interests my family and friends.

You won’t be surprised that we ALL have a sweet tooth.

Well, duh.

Recently, this coconut sheet cake recipe floated through my feed and I shared it, of course, because I love coconut anything.

And I have to tell you, I was getting text messages asking me to make it, and offering to pay me.

What the what?

So, it was an easy choice when I started working on my recipes to cook my way through the alphabet that I would pick this cake for “C.”

That’s right…“C” is for coconut sheet cake and “C” is for Claude and Callie Cat, When We Get in a Spat, the third book in my series.

You know, because don’t we all have memories of fighting with our brothers and sisters?

I don’t have any specific recollection of fighting with Angel and Shelley. John is 11 years younger than me and to this day, we have never even had a cross word.

Same with Angel and Shelley.

Well, that’s a lie. Not Angel, she was the trusty “peace keeper” between us three girls and the cousins. Yes, the sort of behavior police officer if you would.

But Shelley…Shelley and I had a personality conflict…or two…in our time.

Primarily, and I can say this because I am authoring this blog post and not her, but primarily because she wouldn’t see things “my” way.

It’s true. She always thought she was right and I always knew I was, and well, it sort of led to a disagreement or 20 in our time.

Anybody have a similar sibling story?

It’s really the reason I made her (and cousin Kim) eat dog food to be in our club, because, well, she was trying to boss me around, AGAIN, and I was the president of the club, so I wasn’t having it.

As a result, to be in our club, she had to eat dog food.

I think she still harbors a few hard feelings over it, but it didn’t kill her so I’m not sure why she’s still mad about it.

But here we are, decades later (I thought that sounded a little better than the actual number of years) and she still thinks she’s the boss of me.

But thank the good Lord we worked through those head-butting years because there is one thing for sure now…she had my back.

And she has the back of my family. Yes, everyone needs a “Nana” in their corner, and thank God I have her in mine.

So, when I wrote Claude and Callie, I relied heavily on those years we spent growing up, in our Mayberry world on Ollie Caples. What I wouldn’t give some days to just go back.

But I also wrote Claude and Callie because sibling warfare is a common happening in most everybody’s homes, right?

But the reality is, no matter how much conflict there is, like with Shelley and me, the underlying attitude is this: I’m the only one who can mess with you and get away with it.

Am I right or am I right?

So, as you will see in Claude and Callie Cat, these little cats bicker and fight…a lot.

But who’s the first one to the rescue when Callie (incidentally, named after our Callie Bugs) gets picked on? That’s easy…it would be Claude (incidentally, named after my late grandfather).

That’s pretty typical, right?

Let me tell you what’s not typical, and that’s today’s recipe…it is anything BUT typical and I can’t wait to share it with you.

You ready?

Check out the key ingredients in the cake…a white cake mix, milk, eggs, vanilla, cooking oil and French vanilla instant pudding.

Here’s what I decided to do. The recipe calls for putting your batter in a 9×13 pan, but it doesn’t specify what kind of pan.

So, I wanted the consistency to be sheet cake like, so I baked it in my 16×12 jelly roll pan (aka a cookie sheet).

Of course, then I sprayed it with Baker’s Joy, because it gives me a lot of JOY when my baked goods don’t stick to the pan.

Bake your cake (I love rhyming) in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes if you use the jelly roll pan, 30-35 if you use a Pyrex dish.

As soon as you take it out of the oven, and while it’s hot, poke holes all over the cake. It’s kind of fun to just punch and punch and punch…and saves money on therapy.

Whisk a can of sweetened condensed milk and a can of cream of coconut until really smooth and glossy, like my hair.

That’s a lie, my hair is anything BUT smooth and glossy.

Pour this mixture all over your therapy punch cake.

Let it cool completely and let’s talk about the final and most delicious layer…the one with the coconut!

This recipe calls for using frozen coconut (found in the grocery freezer with the frozen fruit if you’ve never used it) and I LOVE it. I use it on my coconut cake and it tastes like we scraped it out of a real coconut out in the jungle.

You know, because we all visit a jungle regularly.

If you’ve never used frozen coconut before, let me warn you that after you thaw it out, it doesn’t look like much, especially when you dump it in the bowl.

BUT, after you use a fork and flake it up (should be a song, like the Cars Shake It Up), it looks picture perfect.

And speaking of picture perfect, after you spread your creamy Cool Whip (I used 1 ½ tubs for the sheet cake size) over your cake, sprinkle your “flaked” coconut over the top of the Cool Whip.

I’m here to tell you, it’s nothing short of perfection.

Question: What are some recipes you would like me to try from your Facebook feed?