Family Traditions...It's All About Love

Welcome to Pink Saturday, hosted by Beverly, at How Sweet the Sound. Be sure to visit Beverly's blog to see a complete list of all the participants in today's Pink Saturday.

Recently I came across this whimsical, pink grater and thought it would be a fun thing to share on an upcoming Pink Saturday. But it also reminded me of a very special grater we just used during this past Christmas.


My Father-in-Law, pictured below reading to my son when when he was quite young, faithfully served during World War II. One Christmas, after returning home, he and my Mother-in-Law were making a Coconut cake, to go with Ambrosia, both being the traditional Christmas dessert for many generations in their family. The war was still going on and many products were either unavailable or being rationed, including metal.



This picture taken in 1942 of movie star, Rita Hayworth, was definitely a sign of the times. (You can read more about rationing during the war at the SITE where I found this picture.)


My Mother and Father-in-law had not been married long, and as most newlyweds, were still accumulating some of the basic things you needed for a kitchen. The family recipe for the coconut cake called for fresh coconut and there were no metal graters to be found. So my Father-in-Law, being the creative and resourceful person he was, decided to just make one himself.

He used the only metal available, a tin can. Though not the fanciest grater in the world, it did an outstanding job of grating coconut extremely fine. The coconut it grated came out feathery light...very different from what you would ever find pre-packaged in stores.

Over the years, everyone in the family became quite spoiled and only liked coconut cake if the coconut was grated on this particular grater. Who could blame them...the cake all but melted in your mouth!

In later years, the job of grating the coconut was passed down to my husband. And with each passing year, it became harder and harder to use the grater as the little teeth became more and more dull. Over all those many years, I'm not sure anyone had ever realized what a true labor of love it was for Grandpa, as he grated the coconut for the coconut cake.



Now each year, when the coconut is grated for the coconut cake and ambrosia, it is mostly done on a grater I purchased at Williams Sonoma with very, very fine teeth, as well as on a microplane grater I received as a gift from my sister, Glenda. Fortunately, I was blessed with two wonderful assistants this past Christmas. One was my son, Chip, who by the way, just got 4 A's and a B his first semester of law school! Yipee! :-)



My other assistant was Chip's precious sweetheart, Nancy. They humored Mom and let me take a pic, despite knowing they just might end up on ..."The Blog." :-)
They both did an outstanding job of grating the coconut. And in memory of Grandpa, as well as for the sake of tradition, some of the coconut was grated on a little grater made during the era of WWII. I know Grandpa must have been smiling down from heaven seeing his much loved grandson using the grater he had made almost 60 years before.

The cake turned out to be one of my better efforts. It was moist, light and fluffy, the icing didn't sugar, and the coconut was food for angels. :-)



I thought I'd share the cake and icing recipe with you, my sweet friends in Blogland. It's an old fashioned, simple, family recipe that's been passed down through the generations. I got it from my dear Mother-in-law (pictured below.)




1 2 3 4 Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
4 eggs
1 cup milk
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream butter until fluffy.
Add sugar and cream well.
Add eggs one at a time.
Beat well.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt together.
Add milk and flour mixture into the butter mixture, alternating the two and ending with flour
Beat on low speed
Add vanilla extract
Pour into 3 greased and floured cake pans. (Makes three layers)
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes...test with a toothpick to see if it's done



Seven Minute Icing

Ingredients:

2 unbeaten egg whites
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons Karo syrup
6 Tablespoons cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Coconut, finely grated

In double boiler, mix egg whites, sugar, water and Karo syrup, beating for 30 seconds until mixed. (Do this prior to placing the boiler over the boiling water.)
Cook 5 or 6 minutes in double boiler until the soft peak stage, beating with a hand mixer the whole time.
Add vanilla extract, beating 2 or 3 more minutes to the consistency for spreading.
Spread on cake, sprinkling coconut on each layer as well as patting coconut onto the sides.

Oh...little reminder. Monday is Metamorphosis Monday and Tuesday is Tablescape Tuesday. Mr. Linky will be here ready for you to sign up the evening before each event by 10:00 P.M.

I will let you know after this Tuesday if Tablescape Tuesday will be moving to Thursday (Tablescape Thursday). Please read last Thursday's post if you would like more details about why I'm thinking of changing the day of the week for Tablescape Tuesday.

Also, feel free to vote in the poll at the top of the sidebar. If you aren't familiar with Met Monday or Tablescape Tuesday, click on those logos in my sidebar for all the details. Have a great weekend!