Recipe courtesy of Hal Jones

Never before committed to paper, this recipe has long been one of Jones’ most popular goodies.

2 sticks margarine or 1 cup Crisco
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
3 cups plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream together margarine and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix together flour, baking powder and baking soda, beginning and ending with flour. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternating with milk. Stir in vanilla extract and blend well. Spray three 9-inch cake pans with Baker’s Joy or Pam with Flour cooking spray and pour cake batter evenly into pans and bake for 25 minutes or until done.

Coconut Icing
3-1/4 cups sugar
1 cup coconut juice or coconut milk
12 to 14 ounces of fresh coconut, chopped finely in a food processor
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Mix sugar and coconut juice together in a pan and bring to a boil. Remove from stove, add chopped coconut, return to stove and bring back to a boil. Remove from stove, add vanilla and mix well.
Ice the cake after the layers cool a bit, using toothpicks to hold the three layers in place. Just use the icing on the tops of the layers but don’t ice the sides of the layers and let cool.