LAZY DAISY CAKE

SOURCE: MARION CUNNINGHAM. LOST RECIPES: MEALS TO SHARE WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY.

In 1914, Margaret Hill of Waterloo, Iowa submitted a recipe to the Chicago Sunday Tribune that caught intrigue by the whimsical rhyme of its name, Lazy Daisy Cake. Frosted by broiling shredded coconut, brown sugar, and cream into a caramel glaze, the economical, no-mess, and no-fuss cake incited American homemakers to take a carefree attitude to its baking and even inspired the name for the famous stitch design in embroidery. Over the next three decades, its ubiquity among American households would skyrocket after the cooking oil company, Wesson, circulated the recipe through the promotional campaigns of its now-defunct shortening brand, Snowdrift. By the 1990s, childhood memories of the Lazy Daisy Cake would even trigger reader requests for a recipe.

Ingredients

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon/5 mL pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

1 cup/200 grams granulated sugar

1 cup/140 grams all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon/4 grams baking powder

1/4 teaspoon/2 grams salt

1/2 cup/120 mL milk

4 tablespoons/57 grams unsalted butter

3 tablespoons/38 grams dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons/30 mL heavy cream

1/2 cup/50 grams grated coconut

Specific Equipment

Large mixing bowl

Wire whisk OR hand mixer equipped with a whisk attachment

Strainer

Small saucepan

8-inch/20-cm square cake pan, greased with butter and dusted with flour

Spatula

Serves 8

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C.

2. Beat the eggs, vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste, and sugar in a large mixing bowl with a wire whisk or a hand mixer equipped with a whisk attachment until the eggs have thickened into a ribbon and doubled in volume.

3. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt through a strainer and fold them into the beaten eggs until the mixture is smooth and well-blended. Set the cake batter aside.

4. Heat the milk and 1 tablespoon/14 grams butter in a small saucepan over low heat until the butter has melted. Stir the milk into the cake batter until the mixture is liquid and well-blended.

5. Pour the batter into the square cake pan and bake for 25 to 28 minutes or until the toothpick inserted into the center of cake comes out clean. Remove the cake pan from the oven and let the cake cook slightly.

6. Stir 3 tablespoons/44 grams butter, brown sugar, heavy cream, and coconut together in a small saucepan over low heat until the butter has melted and the mixture is well-blended. Spread the mixture over the cake with a spatula.

7. Return the cake pan into the oven and broil for 1 to 2 minutes until the top has browned lightly.

8. Remove the cake pan from the oven to cool the cake completely. Slice the cake into 2-inch/5-cm squares before serving.