Fresh Coconut Cake

For the cake:

Cream together
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter

Sift together
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Add flour mixture alternately to butter mixture with
1 cup milk

Fold in
4 egg whites, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

Pour into 3 greased and floured layer pans. Bake at 350° for about 20 minutes or until cakes test done. Allow cakes to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.


For the icing:

1 fresh coconut
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1/3 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 egg whites

Drain the coconut, reserving the milk. Shred the coconut meat. Set aside. Combine sugar, syrup, water, cream of tartar, and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Add unbeaten egg whites and beat until fluffy. Pour 1/3 of the reserved coconut juice over the first layer of the cake. Spread with 1/3 of the icing and sprinkle with 1/3 of the shredded coconut. Repeat for each layer. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve and refrigerate any leftovers.