Miss Nannie’s Fresh Coconut Cake

This is the cake that made my grandmother famous all over Orange and Durham Counties, in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, during my childhood. Fresh coconut is ideal here, and worth every bit of the effort it requires. But use sweetened shredded coconut, available in the baking aisles of most supermarkets, or frozen grated coconut from an Asian market, if that helps you get the cake made. My grandmother usually baked this cake in two 9-