Emily Dickinson's Cocoanut Cake

Emily Dickenson's (1830 - 1886) recipe - see below for instructions.

1 cup cocoanut
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoonful soda
1 teaspoonful cream of tartar

This makes one half the rule–

No baking instructions are given, but anybody with a basic understanding of baking techniques should have no trouble with this recipe. It's a simple cake or "quick bread," meaning it uses baking powder as a leavening agent. The mixture of cream of tartar and baking soda produces baking powder; you can combine the cream of tartar and soda as written, or simply substitute 1 1/2 tsp baking powder.

Regarding the phrase "one half the rule," it would make sense that Emily would want a recipe in half-portion, which is what this means. The recipe makes 1/2 of the original recipes and should be baked in a smaller pan. A loaf-sized cake would be easier to wrap up and send than a full cake. Though Emily was reclusive and rarely left her home, she was known to send food gifts to friends and acquaintances.

Grating fresh coconut is time consuming, so if you prefer you can use dried grated coconut instead of fresh. If you want to take that shortcut, soak the dried coconut in warm water until soft and drain well before integrating it into the batter. The cake is not overly sweet. If you want to sweeten it up, use a bit more sugar, or use sweetened coconut instead of regular coconut.

The texture is not light or airy, it's more like a dense pound cake. Using cake flour instead of regular flour would lighten up the texture a bit.

Modern Version

2 cups flour
1 tsp cream of tartar + 1/2 tsp baking soda OR 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), room temperature
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup shredded coconut

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour and cream of tartar + baking soda OR baking powder.

In a medium mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together till the mixture is light and fluffy, and the sugar is well incorporated into the butter. You can do this by hand, the old fashioned way, like Emily Dickinson would have. It will take several minutes. You can do it much faster with an electric mixer.

Mix in the eggs, then the milk. Add liquid ingredients to dry and stir till just incorporated. A thick batter will form. Do not overmix.

Fold in the shredded coconut. If your shredded coconut is dry (not fresh), rehydrate it with a little warm water and drain well before mixing it into the batter. Again, don't overmix.

Spread the batter into a small loaf pan.

Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes on the middle rack of your oven till cooked through and golden brown around the edges. Test with a skewer or toothpick for doneness in a few places-- if the toothpick comes out clean (no wet batter sticking to it), it's done.

Servings: Makes 1 loaf cake (about 8 servings)

From Eliza Leslies’ 1847 book, The Ladies Reciept Book

WEST INDIA COCOA-NUT CAKE.—Cut up and peel some pieces of a very ripe cocoa-nut. Lay the pieces for awhile in cold water. Then take them out; wipe them very dry; and grate, very finely, as much as, when grated, will weigh half a pound. Powder half a pound of the best loaf-sugar. Beat eight eggs, till very light, thick, and smooth. Then stir the grated cocoa-nut and the powdered sugar, alternately, into the pan of beaten egg, a little at a time of each; adding a handful of sifted flour, a powdered nutmeg, and a glass of sweet wine. Stir the whole very hard. Butter a square tin pan. Put in the mixture, set it immediately into a quick oven, and bake it well; seeing that the heat is well kept up all the time. When cool, cut it into squares. Have ready a thick icing, made of powdered sugar and white of egg, flavoured with rose-water, or extract of roses. Ice each square of the cake, all over the top and sides.

You may bake it in a loaf, in a deep, circular pan. Ice the whole surface, and ornament it.

For a large cake, baked in a loaf, allow a pound of grated cocoa-nut; a pound of sugar; sixteen eggs; two handfuls of flour; two nutmegs, and two glasses of wine. It will require very long baking.