1-2-3-4 Cake with Coconut Sour Cream Filling

April 3, 2014 by Jackie Garvin 23 Comments

One of the first cakes Granny taught me to make was a butter cake with coconut sour cream filling. Her local grocery stores, The Piggly Wiggly and the IGA, had both started carrying frozen coconut which was an ingredient needed for this filling. She and her friends were all a-twitter about this cake recipe. Well, really it was the recipe for the filling that had them clamoring for the frozen coconut because the cake is made from a mix. There’s no telling how many of these cakes the ladies of Geneva, Alabama baked as soon as they discovered frozen coconut and the recipe. Granny loved this cake as did the lucky folks who got to eat it. I took the filling and used it with an old fashioned scratch cake recipe to make 1-2-3-4 Cake with Coconut Sour Cream Filling.

My father-in-law loved this cake, too. I would make it for him and watch him light up as he would sneak it in the back of the refrigerator in hopes it stayed hidden so he could take it in his lunch. Something about this cake makes you lose your social graces.

I’ve updated the recipe to include a made from scratch cake using a recipe for an old standard Southern cake: 1-2-3-4 cake. It gets its name from 1 cup of butter, 2 cups of sugar, three cups of self-rising flour and 4 eggs. I added an extra 8 ounces of sour cream to the filling to accommodate the larger size of this cake over a cake mix cake.

It’s important to make the filling ahead of time so the ingredients have a chance to make syrup which seeps down into the cake making it the most moist cake ever. You can make the filling a day ahead and keep it in the refrigerator.

It’s just as important to make the cake three days ahead of when you want to serve it. Wrap it securely or put it in an airtight container and keep in the refrigerator. All that syrupy goodness needs time to work its way into the cake.

If you want this cake for Easter, make the filling on Maundy Thursday, the cake on Good Friday and enjoy the cake on Easter Sunday.

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1-2-3-4 Cake with Coconut Sour Cream Filling

Make this cake three days in advance for maximum flavor. Store in refrigerator. Bake the cake in three layers.

1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, room temperature

2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

3 cups self-rising flour, sifted

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream butter and sugar, using electric mixer, until light and fluffy, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time and mix well after each addition.

Alternate adding flour and buttermilk to creamed mixture, mixing only until well incorporated. Don’t over mix. Scrape down sides of bowl a few times during mixing.

Stir in vanilla.

Divide batter into three (9 inch) greased and floured cake pans and spread evenly. Pick up pans slightly and drop on counter 2 or 3 times to remove air bubbles and help level out cake batter.

Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cakes cool in pans 10 minutes. Place on cooling racks to continue cooling.

filling:

3 (6 ounce) packages frozen coconut, thawed. I use Bird’s Eye brand

2 cups sugar

16 ounces regular sour cream

Sweetened flaked coconut for garnish, optional

Mix together well. Make in advance of the cake so the sugar has time form a syrup.

When cake has cooled, place one layer on a cake plate and poke the top a few times with a fork. Spread a third of the filling over the top. Repeat with remaining layers and filling. Store in refrigerator three days.

Before serving, I like to sprinkle some sweetened flaked coconut on the top.

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