Macedonian Coconut Cake

This rich, delicious Greek cake contains ouzo. Ouzo, which is flavored with anise, is for some an acquired taste, so if you don't like it you may not like the cake. Can be baked in a sheet cake pan or a bundt pan. WARNING: After getting 2 bad reviews at once, I checked the recipe for errors. Unfortunately, this has been transcribed twice from the original recipe card (which I no longer have): first, to my private recipe collection in MS Word and then from that to Recipezaar. Going from Word to Zaar, I had miscopied the 1/2 oz ouzo in the syrup as 1/2 cup by mistake, which has been corrected. But I also seem to have miscopied the number of eggs from the card to the computer & will have experiment to find the correct number. You probably should not try this until that correction is made.

• Ready In: 1 hr 30 mins
• Serves: 12-16

Ingredients

• 1  cup butter
• 1  cup sugar
• 8  eggs, separated
• 2  cups flour
• 1  tablespoon baking powder
• 1  teaspoon baking soda
• 1  cup milk
• 2  tablespoons  ouzo
• 1  teaspoon vanilla
• 1  cup flaked coconut

• SYRUP

• 3 1⁄2 cups water
• 1⁄2 ounce  ouzo
• 3  cups sugar
• 1  teaspoon lemon juice

Directions

1. Grease and flour a 15 x 10 x 2-inch sheet cake pan or 10-inch bundt pan.
2. In large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on high speed.
3. Beat in egg yolks.
4. Combine dry ingredients (flour through baking soda).
5. Combine wet ingredients (milk through vanilla).
6. On low speed alternately add dry and wet ingredients to batter.
7. Stir in coconut.
8. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry and gently fold into batter just until mixed.
9. Pour into pan.
10. Bake at 350° 1-1¼ hours until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
11. Start cake cooling and make syrup:
12. Combine water through 3 cups sugar in a saucepan, bring to a boil—stirring until sugar dissolves—and let boil 5 minutes.
13. Remove syrup from heat and stir in lemon juice.
14. Pour syrup over cake and let cool completely.