Pearl Mae Oakley’s Coconut Cake

Like me, my friend Robert Mullis remembers his grandfather lending a rare hand in the kitchen each Christmas, when his grandmother, Pearl Mae Oakley, set about making her famous coconut cake. He did the grating, and she did the rest, creating a simple, lovely cake with delicate drizzles of icing drifting lazily down its sides. The completed cake was moved to a screened-in porch for a day, so it could set up and mellow without tempting family members to sample the holiday ce