Lazy Daisy Cake Recipe
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Years ago, at the request of my children, I got this Lazy Daisy cake recipe from my mom. She'd made it while babysitting my children, and they wanted to be able to eat it at home too!
The cake is nothing fancy (just an old-fashioned hot milk cake), but the frosting is SO GOOD.
Butter, brown sugar, and coconut turn into such caramel-y deliciousness when cooked together.
Super simple, but super tasty.
I believe it's called a Lazy Daisy cake because the frosting process is simple.
You don't have to have any decorating skills at all...just boil the ingredients, pour them on top of the cake, and broil for a few minutes.
This is good news indeed for those of us who are not that great at cake-decorating.
(ME.)
Note: You'll need a broiler-safe 9x13 pan for this cake.
To make this recipe, you top the baked cake with the frosting and then broil it for a few minutes.
So! A glass 9x13 pan is not going to work here.
This aluminum pan comes with a lid, which is great for storage.
If you want to pay a little more for stainless steel, this looks like a great option.
My pan is stainless steel, made by American Kitchen, but it appears to have been discontinued.
Ugh.
They do make a nonstick version of what I have.
I don't have step-by-step photos of this because I propped my phone up in the cabinet and did time-lapse videos of the process.
So, if you want to see step by step, watch the video below!
(email subscribers, you will have to hop on over to the blog to see this video and also to access the recipe card.)
I hope your household enjoys this easy cake as much as we do!
Lazy Daisy Cake
This cake has the most delicious brown sugar and coconut frosting, which is broiled right on top of the cake.
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons butter
Frosting
- ⅔ cup butter
- 1 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
- 1 ⅓ cups packed brown sugar
- 6 tablespoons milk or half and half
Instructions
Notes
You can mix this cake by hand, or you can use an electric mixer.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 24 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 231Total Fat 8gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 49mgSodium 144mgCarbohydrates 37gFiber 1gSugar 28gProtein 3g
My grandmother always made this cake except that she used cornflakes in the topping rather than coconut! I wonder why? Probably more frugal with cornflakes? Or for my grandfather who was a very picky eater and likely didn't care for coconut?
Coconut does seem to be a little bit polarizing...I know I've met quite a few people who really hate it!
Coconut: HATE! Lifelong coconut hater. Frosting: HATE!
However, I would be willing to try pecans (or nearly any nut) in place of the coconut. It seems that would actually be quite tasty.
I am not a huge fan of buttercream frosting myself. It feels too rich most of the time. I'd often rather eat the chocolate cupcake without the frosting at all!
I definitely prefer this broiled topping to regular frosting.
I feel about coconut the way many people feel about chocolate. And pecan plus coconut plus caramely frosting equals German chocolate cake topping, one of my absolute favorite cakes. I'm going to try this lazy daisy soon too. Yum.
My friend gave me a similar recipe, but the cake has oatmeal in the batter. We love it! Now I'm tempted to whip one up. 🙂
I make one with oatmeal in the batter and pecans on top with the coconut. So good.
when I was a child 1960s, my moter made a similar topping that was on top of spice cake MMm. thanks for refreshing the memory.
I just printed the recipe, now I'm off to go make it!!
Why can’t you use glass with the broiler?
I was wondering this too. I broil mac-n-cheese in my glass pan all the time and now I wonder if I'm doing something wrong.
The heat from the broiler will cause the glass to shatter. The properties of metal allow it to stretch in uneven heat situations (like super high heat from one side, as under a broiler), but glass doesn't stretch — it just breaks.
Yep, this is true. However, I do sometimes broil things in glass pans and have never had a break. I have done it when I wanted a pie crust just a little more brown on top, to brown a meringue, etc. I would never try to use on the stovetop like for making a gravy with drippings. That would for sure cause a fractured dish. I guess I am a bit risky. If I ruined a whole dish with glass shards I'm sure I would feel different.
I've always just read the labels on my Pyrex dishes that say they're not broiler safe.
I suppose it's possible that they can survive a quick broiling session, but not a long session like you'd need to cook chicken.
Either way, I've never been brave enough to try it!
DH did this once early in our marriage. When pyrex breaks, it shatters into a zillion tiny pieces. (Though to be fair, it was probably Anchor brand, not Pyrex, because we couldn't afford Pyrex.)
That sounds like a memorable, but very bad experience.
Was he doing a quick broil, or a longer one?
My sisters and I made this cake when we were growing up, but we never made the topping. Not big coconut fans then. Instead, we decorated with the brightest colours of icing and made flowers with our cake decorator. Brings back memories!
Wow! I can't get over the amount of sugar in this recipe, and then "sweetened" coconut to boot! It would seem to me that reducing the sugar in the cake batter by at least half would be a good thing, then using unsweetened coconut in the topping and again reducing the brown sugar there... surely one cup would do?
I'll have to give that a shot. As it reads, it just seems a bit too sweet. My usual cake calls for 500 g of flour and 275 g of sugar, just to give you some idea of my shock here...
No doubt vanilla ice cream would help it along nicely, too! 🙂
Wouldn't reducing the sugar in the cake batter affect the texture? I'm always afraid to mess with stuff like that for fear of ruining the cake.
Since I make cakes so infrequently, I usually just follow the recipe and don't sweat it. But if we had cake all the time, I'd probably rethink that policy!
Well, it says 24 servings, so divide the ingredients by 24, and it’s not that bad. Lol. Some people would eat an eighth or a quarter at a time! Cookies, bars, pies all have a lot. But I am curious about how Ingrid’s recipe will turn out, so I hope she lets us know!
I made this cake today with just one cup of sugar in the cake (I always halve sugar amounts in American recipes). It turned out perfect and was still absolutely delicious.
I also decreased the frosting to one stick of butter and 2/3 cup brown sugar. Seriously tasty!
Good to know! Thanks for keeping us posted.
I've now finally made the cake and here's the report:
Used 2/3 cup of white sugar in the batter and gave it a little shot of Southern Comfort (in lieu of, say, vanilla or rum). Someone once told me to always put a bit of booze into a cake, and at the moment it's cheaper than vanilla...
In the frosting, I used 1 cup brown sugar (not packed) and 1 and 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut, since I really like coconut.
Then I took the cake to a family function yesterday, where it was well received.
Had a leftover piece this morning for my "breakfast dessert" and thought it was pretty yummy still.
So there you have it. The texture is fine, btw. I'll make it again!
Great to know!
And yeah, almost everything is cheaper than vanilla right now. Oof. I hope prices fall at some point in the future.
This sounds great! Also, this made me finally look up what this mysterious thing called "broiling" is. Turns out, it's simply what we call grilling. I can do that 🙂
Oh, that's so interesting! I had no idea it had a different name.
For us, grilling is what you do outside on a charcoal or gas fire.
Most requested cake in this house, for years now. I've made mine in glass numerous times. It's only broiled for a few quick minutes, and I move it around several times while doing so. I've also made it one day, then the topping the next day, when it will actually be served. I don't like how the topping gets soft the next day, chewy is way better! But even soft, it's still delicious.
I’ve had a really similar recipe for decades... can’t remember where I got it. It’s called Lazy Daisy Oatmeal Cake since it uses oatmeal in the frosting rather than coconut. I have a bag of coconut in the pantry though so I think I’ll make this with my daughters this week!
I don't see a video, but the cake looks yummy, will definitely have to try this!
Hmm, that's odd! It's definitely there, although it takes a minute to load.
What browser are you using? That might help me troubleshoot the problem.
Sorry for the delayed reply - I am using Chrome.
This is so weird, because it loads on Chrome for me. And I had Mr. FG try it at work and he can see it on Chrome there as well.
Are you maybe running some kind of blocker on Chrome?
Quite possible, this is a work computer and our IT people have control of all of that. The only things I can change without involving systems is volume adjustment and my wallpaper/screensaver. At least now I know to use another browser if you post more videos!
I just used Microsoft Edge and I can see the video there.