When you’re in no condition to cook and a food-centric holiday comes around, it’s great to have friends who do. (Big ups to Dan, designer of this blog, who picked us up when we locked ourselves out of our apartment without even our car keys.) We went to Matias and Jenny’s baby-friendly pad for a group Easter dinner, where a flavorful smoked crown roast of pork from the German butcher shop Dittmer’s was the main course. What really impressed me, though, was the coconut cake with a silky, fluffy marshmallow frosting. I had made such a cake once - Alton Brown may call the topping “7-Minute Frosting,” but whipping the egg whites in a bowl balanced over a pot of simmering water made for seven of the most arduous minutes of my life. Fortunately, Jenny told me that she had discovered an easier way to achieve the marshmallow effect: Just pour boiling hot sugar syrup right into the egg whites.

Her recipe tweaks one from Allysa Torey of New York’s Magnolia Bakery, one of my favorite places. It’s now mostly known (and sometimes vilified) for launching the recent cupcake craze, but I fell in love with the simple deliciousness of their homestyle American baking when I was a grad student. Plus, their cupcakes at that time cost half as much as those at the new gourmet cupcakeries.

And speaking of marshmallow fluff, I don’t really enjoy eating Peeps, but I love seeing what people do with them in the Washington Post’s annual diorama contest, Peeps Show.

Coconut Layer Cake
Adapted from a recipe from Allysa Torey of Magnolia Bakery
Makes 1 cake

For the cake:
2 sticks (1 cup) softened unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs at room temperature - separate 2 of the eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 3/4 cups cake flour
1 TB baking powder
dash of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 TB all-purpose flour
One 7-ounce package sweetened, shredded coconut
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the frosting:
3 large egg whites
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
>1/2 cup cold water
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
One 7-ounce package sweetened, shredded coconut

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three 9-by-2-inch cake pans, line pans with waxed paper, and grease the paper. Dust pans with flour, shaking out excess. Set aside.

2. Make the cake: In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, cream the butter, add the sugar, a little at a time, and beat the mixture until light and fluffy. Add the 2 eggs yolks and 2 whole eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine milk and coconut milk in a measuring cup.  Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl and add to the butter mixture in four parts, alternating with the milk mixture  and the vanilla extract, beating well after each addition. Beat the 2 egg whites until you have soft peaks.  Fold into cake batter.  Divide the batter among the cake pans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the centers of cakes comes out clean. Let cakes cool in pans for 10 minutes. Invert onto racks and let cool completely.

3. Make the filling: In a saucepan combine the milk and coconut milk, sugar, and flour, and whisk mixture until smooth. Cook over moderately high heat, whisking constantly, for 5 minutes, or until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat and add the coconut.  Stir in the vanilla extract. Cover and cool to room temperature.

4. Assemble the cake: When the cake has cooled, spread half the filling between the first two layers of cake, then the other half between the second and third layers. The cake should be assembled so it can be iced as soon as the frosting is completed.

5. Make the frosting: In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, combine the egg whites and vanilla extract. In a saucepan over moderately high heat, combine the water with the sugar and cream of tartar. As mixture begins to bubble at edges, stir once to make sure the sugar is dissolved completely, then let come to a rolling boil (about 2-3 minutes). Remove immediately from heat.

6. With the electric mixer on medium-high, beat the whites and the vanilla extract until foamy, about 1 minute. Without turning off mixer, pour the sugar syrup into the beaten egg whites in a thin, steady stream. Continue beating constantly, on medium-high speed, for about 5 minutes, or until stiff peaks form but frosting is still creamy. Frost top and sides of cake immediately and sprinkle top with coconut.