My Great Grandmother's Buttermilk Lemon Coconut Cake

My great grandmother made this all the time and no one had the recipe. She never measured anything she put in it. Finally my dad watched her make it one time and before she added each ingredient, he made her stop so he could measure it and write it down. This cake is different from the usual coconut cake in that the icing is less fluffy and instead soaks the cake more. It is to die for!! This is the moistest, densest cake, and the combination of flavors is amazing!

• Ready In: 1 hr 40 mins
• Serves: 16

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 cups shortening
• 2 1⁄2 cups sugar
• 4  eggs
• 1  cup buttermilk
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda, dissolved in
• 1  tablespoon water
• 1  tablespoon  lemon extract
• 3 1⁄2 cups flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1  cup sugar
• 2 1⁄2-3  cups milk
• 3  cups  grated coconut (unsweetened)
• 1 1⁄2 cups marshmallows (her recipe says "handful")
• 1  teaspoon  almond extract (my mom and I added this)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300. Grease and flour 3 9" cake pans. Sift together flour and salt.
2. Cream shortening and sugar until fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time until combined.
4. Add buttermilk, soda, and flavoring.
5. Add flour mixture gradually until combined. This is similar to a pound cake batter.
6. Pour into cake pans at bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean.
7. For Icing:
8. Cook sugar, milk, coconut, marshmallows over a double boiler until smooth. Note: as it is hard to find unsweeted coconut, I've used sweeted and reduced the sugar to 1/2 Cup. Fold in almond extract. Icing will be fairly runny--it's supposed to seep into the cake and run off the sides. If you want it to be thicker, add more marshmallows.
9. Ice layers and top of cake while still hot. I poke holes in the layers with a toothpick so that the icing seeps down into the cake.
10. Cover and refrigerate overnight. No cheating! You MUST serve it after it's been refrigerated, and serve it cold - it's best that way.
11. Enjoy!