Mama Reed’s Vanilla Wafer Cake
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Sometimes I post things and it actually worries me that you might live your life without trying a particular recipe. Like my Chicken Stew, Apple Dapple Cake, or Banana Pudding. Well today I’m adding Vanilla Wafer Cake to that list. This cake is the kissing cousin of my Apple Dapple Cake. They come from a different branch of the family but chances are if you have the good sense to like one of them, you’ll like the other as well.
My mother got this recipe from her grandmother, Mama Reed. Mama Reed had an expansive array of recipes but this cake was my mother’s favorite by far. When she married my father, this was the first recipe she asked for to use in her own kitchen.
Mama Reed was known for her cakes and her large scale baking. Of course back then they didn’t think of it that way, she had ten kids so small scale baking was certainly out of the question. During the winter when family was expected to visit, Mama Reed would start baking cakes a few days ahead of time and due to space constraints in the house, she’d set them out on tables on the screened in porch covered in towels to keep for the few days until company arrived. This cake is sturdy but very moist and would no doubt have been carefully set out along with the best of them. My mother says this is a great cake to take places as it is more stable than others so it travels very well. It can also sit under a cake dome for a week and still be moist. Trust me, the only way we know this is from the times Mama made more than one!
My parents have a large house on the Tennessee river with one of the best views you’ve ever seen. They often have friends come to visit for the weekend and this is the cake she makes every time. Its great to have on hand as a dessert, quick coffee treat, or filling snack. I love desserts that are filling and not too sweet but sweet enough.
Okay so basically, I am assigning this cake as homework because I just know you’re are going to love it. Now y’all know I have a teaching degree (Home Ec) that I’ve never got to put to good use so I’m gonna get my fork ready and my red pen out and wait on your to turn in your assignments!
You’ll need: eggs, coconut, milk, vanilla wafers, sugar, and nuts (we use pecans -pronounced puh-kahns)
Place vanilla wafers in a large sealable bag and crush them with the rolling pin or any other stress relieving device.
We think this rolling pin was the one which belonged to my great grandmother, Lela. There is a funny story about that.
You see, Lela had this rolling pin (perhaps the one above) which she had used for years, as long as my mother and her sister could remember. After Lela passed away, both my mother and my aunt asked my grandmother about possibly having “Granny’s” rolling pin. My Grandmother is uniquely practical (sometimes in rather humorous ways) and not wanting to disappoint, she went to an antique store and bought another one just like it, thereby having a rolling pin to give to each daughter.
They didn’t realize this until years later when Mama mentioned something about having Granny’s rolling pin and her sister looked quite confused as she said that she was the one who actually had Granny’s rolling pin. Upon talking to my Grandmama she said “Weeeeellllll now, I hated for one of you to have it and not the other so I just bought an extry”.
Gotta love my family…
Crush your vanilla wafers like this.
Beat up your eggs well and coarsely chop your pecans, then toss all ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix until well blended, about two minutes should be more than enough.
Until it looks like this.
Now if y’all don’t dip a spoon in that and take a bite then something is wrong with you!
Pour into a greased and floured tube pan.
(I just dip a paper towel into some shortening and smear it all over the insides of my pan, then put a few tablespoons of flour in and turn my pan while patting it a bit until the flour has coated the inside. Then I hold it over the trash can upside down and pat it until the excess falls out)
Bake at 350 for one hour.
Oh my goodness gracious, don’t we all just love Mama Reed now?
Serve to happy people! (If they weren’t happy before, they will be now!)
This is AWESOME with coffee….or a Diet Dr Pepper…or a glass of tea…..or water…..or…well, you get my point.
Vanilla Wafer Cake
6 whole eggs
3.5 oz can of coconut (if you use bagged sweetened flaked coconut, just use 1 cup – don’t use frozen)
1/2 cup milk
12 ounce box vanilla wafers
(Mama says don’t use generic ~eyeroll~ I’ll do a “no comment” on that one coz y’all know what I do…)
1 C chopped nuts (we use pecans)
Beat eggs well. Crush vanilla wafers. Mix wafers and all other ingredients into eggs. Pour into greased and floured tube pan. Bake at 350 for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
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For more stories about Mama Reed, please visit some of her other recipes below
(views of the Tennessee from my mother’s house can be seen on the Rice Pudding post)
Mama Reed’s Southern Style Rice Pudding
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Dear friends,
Thank you all so much for your congratulations and comments yesterday!
I always hope to respond to every comment but as you know, sometimes get called away with the kiddies. Okay, I get called away every five minutes but that is another post entirely. I do read every single comment you leave though and if anyone ever asks a question or has an important problem, I usually just email them directly to make sure they get the information they need as soon as possible.
Comments are everything to me when it comes to Southern Plate, absolutely everything. For each of you who take the time to read Southern Plate, thank you so very much. For each of you who take the time to comment, that thanks goes double!! I just love y’all, I really do!
Gratefully,
Christy 
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Oh, that looks so good. I think even I could make that and I am in no way a baker. I can cook just about anything but I don’t seem to have the patience to bake. After many years of making homemade birthday cakes, my husband told me it was okay to buy their cakes. I know they weren’t that good, but at least I tried–now I just buy them–except for one daughter. She love a lemon cake I make. Meant to say congratulations yesterday but the day got away from me too. I’ll have to look for that magazine soon. Love the blog and recipes. Sheila
Oh, I haven’t made this cake in years! It is as good as you say. The recipe was in an old church cookbook when I was a kid and my mom made it a time or 2. I have baked it several times but now I think I need to get me some vanilla wafers and do it again. Thanks for the reminder.
I think I’ll make this for my tennis team…..
This looks fabulous, I love, love, love, coconut mmmmmm
I don’t have a bundt pan but I have a fluted cake pan will that work ?
Absolutely! Fluted cake pan will work just fine!
You know, I didn’t have a bundt pan for years and now I have like…four of them. Oh, wait…five.
This looks absolutely delish! Just may have to go get some Nillas today (got everything else!) to bake for my dh. He’s worked so hard and I want to make him a happy camper!
Looks so good! I loved the apple dapple cake so I’m sure I would love this one too!
Mmmmm, Yummy! Gotta try this over the weekend. Thanks, Christy!
It’s funny that you put the pronunciation for pecans. My husband and his family (Georgia folks) say it the way you do, but I hear a lot of southerners say “Pee-cans” so I’m never quite sure how to say it! Too funny. (and yes, I know that a pee can is something to keep under the bed)
Oh, that looks SO good! As soon as I’ve recovered enough from the birth, and Skyler Marie lets me put her down for longer than twenty seconds, I am making this cake!! I wonder if my husband would be willing to try baking…
For some reason, I didn’t see the comma between “coconut” and “milk” and thought the ingredient was coconut milk! I thought, “That’s not a very traditional Southern ingredient! Where in the world did Mama Reed find that??” I love coconut… and coconut milk! The cake sounds delish! There’s so many of your cake recipes that I want to try, but I have to wait for a family gathering to do it!
From Texas we pronouce it PUH – KAHNS too. Never understood the PEE-CAN version. Sounds funny to me. But I am going to make this over the weekend. Sounds great, maybe with some fresh whipped cream.
P.S. Funny story about the rolling pin! What a diplomatic solution. My mother has one a lot like it!
This looks so good I am thinking I will print it in a newsletter I write for my Ol Hens organization. Thanks, Lois
Oh, this sounds so good! I am going to make this! Thanks for such good recipes that are not complicated.
My Mom has the same rolling pin! That cake looks so good. I am not a fan of coconut, but my husband loves it. I can’t wait to make this for him.
Yummy, anything with coconut just has to be good. Thanks. Judy
Looks yummy! This must be one of those old fashioned southern recipes because I have one too and it’s nearly identical to yours!! Mine has some real buttah in it (but of course LOL
Christy is right, this is a very good cake you’ll totally enjoy and I highly recommend a dab of real whipped cream on top.
My mama corrected me on the “pee can” thing when I was a very little girl. She said a pee can was a can you kept under your bed at night so you wouldn’t have to run out in the cold to the outhouse! LOL… I never made that mistake again!!
What an interesting recipe. I’ve never heard of it but will probably need to try it now just to satisfy my culinary curiosity! Thanks for sharing.
I have had this cake. A lady I work with always makes it during the holidays. The cake is so good. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
This is one of my favorite cakes in the world.
I made it for Christmas and um Mom and I ate the whole thing in two days. It’s easy to do when you pick at all day long.
I just read the entire post and your grandmother sounds a lot like my granddaddy. That’s something he would have done.
Looks fabulous!
This looks awesome. I can’t wait to make it, but will have to be for me. Have a couple of strange ones in my house that don’t do coconut, (no taste at all).
The BF’s workmates are loving you bout now. I have done a number of desserts for them from your recipes and they have loved them all. So they all say thank you too for the wonderful recipes you have and share…..
As a sidenote. My oldest son says I have to review recipes before I make the shopping list so I can make sure I have the right ingredients to try one or two new things each week.
Please tell your son I said thank you!! And tell your hubby’s workmates that I’m loving you right about now for being kind enough to try so many things, especially for reporting back!
For me, the greatest form of flattery is someone trying a recipe of mine!!!!
My husband hates coconut (dropped on his head…) but he likes it in this. Feel free to leave it out though!
Have a great weekend and thank you so much!
Gratefully,
Christy
Ya know… when someone pronounces it Pee-cans.. I just wanna kick-em in the liver. I know I’d feel bad about it later though.(unless they say it again)
This cake sounds great since Nilla Wafers are my favorite cookies right next to Oreos. Bet dad would love it too. He just finished up the huge bowl of Banana pudding I made. I made a big old batch.. 12 egg yolks in that sucker. Made it with Splenda.. or Altern as the store brand goes. It was really good.
I always make my banana pudding with “altern” ~winks~ I love that y’all use generics, too!
Bill, knowing you as I do now, I’d be willing to guarantee you and your daddy would love this cake. It would also get more of those women a swarmin’ you at church so you might want to make it on a Monday so it will be gone by then!
I have seen “Altern” at the Walmart. Is it good? It sure is cheaper than Splenda.
Yup! Absolute same thing, I use it all the time!
In fact, whenever I say Splenda on Southern Plate, you can bet your britches I’m using Altern!
(altern is the wal mart generic for splenda)
I use it in the packets in my coffee and in the bag for my desserts and tea!
I didn’t know that they were the same thing! Bet you I will pick some up, my dad’s a diabetic, and it cold be said that I could stand to replace some sugar in things that I make, so off to Wally World I go!!
Oh, this is a delicious cake! I remember my grandma used to make them. I tell people that puh-kahns do not come out of a can of peas. Congrats on yesterdays announcement. How exciting for you.
This sounds yummy! I have never used canned coconut before. I’ll have to look for it next time I’m shopping. This cake would be a great thing to take to a church supper.
Thanks for sharing!
Christy, this sounds so yummy, but is there anything you can substitute the coconut for. Im highly allergic to coconut. I wonder if the cake would be too dense without it?
You can just leave it out if you like!
I have non coconut people in my family too!
wow, of course I have never heard of anything like this. What is the consistency like? Do you have to use coconut?
What does it taste like? is it like nilla wafers? vanilla? no extract?
serve it plain? fruit? whipped cream?
Its dense and moist, very filling. Sweet but not too sweet. You can leave out the coconut if you like!
We eat it plain, it has such amazing flavors. A perfect blend of vanilla, nilla wafers, pecans, with notes of brown sugar (even though its not included!)
Hope you like it!
This looks so good. Gonna have to try this one real soon!
Wow, this looks great. I’m gonna have to try this one this weekend before I start another diet. We never had a house on the river we just camped out at the old Lucy’s Branch campground under a big tarpolion on Army Cots! Those were the days!
Isn’t it nice when some of the simplist ingredients will make some of the best stuff you’ll ever eat? Can’t wait to try this, thanks.
Hmmm, made me think of something. You mentioned up above that it has a hint of brown sugar. I wonder if you could add some brown sugar or replace some of the white sugar for brown sugar. I think I read somehwere, maybe on your site, that brown sugar makes baked goods a little moister. I wonder if I replaced some of the white sugar with it, how much would I use? I just LOVE brown sugar!!
I have not tried it personally but in theory you should have no problem substituting brown sugar for the white. However, since white sugar is more dense than brown sugar, be sure you pack your brown sugar when measuring it even though you wouldn’t pack your white sugar.
This will make your cake a little more moist and alter the flavor just a tad – but its brown sugar here, how can that be a bad thing? lol
Please let me know what you think if you try this!
Thanks!
My heart just sank when I seen this cake had coconut in it. Sure glad to see it can be left out and still be ok! Might just add a few more pecans. Thanks!
I just got my cake out of the oven. I made it with sugar free vanilla wafers, fat free milk and 1 cup of splenda blend. I would probably use a little less splend next time, but over all it came out really good. I will also actually grease and flour the cake pan next time. I just used regular cooking spray and it didn’t want to come out of the pan. It finally did. It didn’t rise as much as the picture, so I think it’s because I used the splenda. It is really good.
I was wondering if you could use a food processor and mix everything in adding the wafers last? It would be really fast that way.
Suzie P.
Can’t wait to taste this! I am so glad you know the “proper” pronunciation of the nut used in this cake. I always question the heritage of people who pronunce it “pee can”
You didn’t steer me wrong with the chicken stew so I’m gonna have to try the cake! I enjoy the website and comments – I’m from Alabama and I can see some of my folks in your stories. Recipes bring back good memories don’t they? Take care… Kathy
This looks delicious! I love the bundt pan design. It turned out perfect! I will copy this and make it soon!
Just got this out of the oven…YUM!! It fell apart a little when I dumped it out of the pan…I think I did it too soon. I unpanned it right from the oven (anxious to taste, lol!) Should I have let it cool some? Advice – do use a zip lock bag to crush the cookies. My cookies came in a bag…so I tried to crush them right in the bag and the bag popped open! (LOL…I kind of expected it might, so I was trying to be careful). Oh well, didn’t loose too many cookies..and my schnauzerboy cleaned them right up for me, lol! Thanks for so many great recipes!
I love the apple dapple cake, so I know I will love this one also.
I made this tonight, it was very tasty! Sweet but not too sweet. The hubby loved it! He is a cross between saying pee-can and puh-kahn, he says pee-kahn. Ah well. It really is kindof a funny word no matter which way you say it. We used hazelnuts because that’s what his taster wanted at the moment. The hazelnuts worked well, it turned out excellent!
Thanks for another great recipe, Christy!
Hi, Thanks for bringing your biscuit tutorial to my attention! Loved it! Where can I find the mix in Ohio? I think I could actually make them turn out using tat mix!
Vanilla wafers are on the top of my grocery list. Can’t wait to try this cake. So enjoyed your mud cake. I know this one will also be great. I too say pa con. Being from Louisiana, we do pronounce things a little different. But anyway you say it, it’s one of the best nuts to eat.
Most vanilla wafer cakes call for some sort of butter, oil, etc. I am just checking with you to be sure that this was not left out of your list of ingredients. Also, vanilla flavoring?? Thanks for all your recipes and for taking time to answer all our questions
Hey Peggy!
Thanks for checking. I’ve had two people email me about this, too! lol
Honest, that’s it! Mama took the photos for this tutorial and she got every single one of the ingredients in there, honest!
It doesn’t need vanilla flavoring but you could certainly add it in there if you’d like, no worries! This is an extremely flavorful cake on its own.
I try to answer all comments (okay, that’s my goal) but with the kids and house and weekend and work they do tend to get away from me (I also have FABULOUS readers who are kind enough to comment often!).
Usually, when I get a question or something like this, I either hop right on and answer or send them an email directly. I’m so thrilled to have you at Southern Plate!
Gratefully,
Christy
Off to cook more brownies! I’ve been cooking brownies all weekend so I can bring you some FUN stuff next week!
I was wondering about butter. I cooked it just like “Grandma Reed” said. Never mess with someone’s Grandma.
Me and my brother tried to make my grandmothers pound cake year after year. It always fell and we had the best Blonde Brownies ever!!
Have a great day!
A couple of other recipes for this online added a stick of butter. That taste would have made this cake great! And I already love it!
I never knew any of this until I read your post. How funny. Of course, I am sure I have the real one, as Lela gave it to me along with one of her dishtowels (flour sacks) and a quilt (also made of flour sacks, which I passed on to your mom, because she loves quilts!)
Isn’t this funny. Maybe Lela also bought an “extr-ee” and gave us each one. I wouldn’t have put it past her to keep the peace.
I’m sure she didn’t have many “extr-ee” dishtowels, though. She didn’t believe in “dirtying another one when this one is clean enough.”
I think about Lela when I get the rolling pin out to make dumplings. I’m sure your mom thinks of her when she cooks with her’s. I guess that’s what is important anyway!
omg…….I thought Mama had told you, I thought Grandmama had told you.
Umm, I guess they didn’t.
~hides~
That kind of makes it even funnier though!
Just called Grandmama, she says she still has Lela’s pin…or another one she must have bought just like it!
I told her to send that one to me and we’d have everyone take photos of “their” Lela’s rolling pin for SouthernPlate!
This is hilarious
our family is so messed up
and I sure am glad!
The cake is very good! I have a question about covering the cake once it is done. Do I cover it in a cake cover immediately or am I supposed to let it cool?
Currently I have a steamed up glass cake cover!
We always let ours cool first but it’ll be fine, just take the lid off for a bit
Enjoy!
I get a little snobbish sometimes about home cooking but down deep I love it. This cake looks like a keeper.
By the way, does anyone know what parts of the South they pronounce it “peeee-cans” and what part “p’kahns?” I’ve heard Southerners say it both ways.
I made this cake today and it is absolutely wonderful. Just glad I don’t know the calorie count on this baby!!!!!
Holy cow, my husband is going to love this one. Thanks for sharing. Ever tried adding some crushed pineapple to it. The only thing my husband loves more than coconut is pineapple and coconut together.
Thanks again!!
WOW – this sounds awesome! I can’t wait to try it.
Like you, I have lots of family recipes. However, more and more often, the desserts just don’t turn out like they should. Is it today’s ingredients? Have you experienced a similar problem? I can’t decide if it’s the sugar, flour, eggs or butter that have changed through the years……
I saw this recipe, showed it to my mom, and she practically threatened me, saying that if I didn’t make this cake for her, she’d kick my butt.
So I guess you’ll see this recipe on my blog soon, with credits to you and Mama Reed, of course.
Oh my, this looks wonderful!
Definitely going to try soon….Like run to walmart and try now…
I made this cake and it was AWESOME!!!! I do HAVE to get me a rolling pin though, I thought it would be easy to bust up those vanilla wafers so I didn’t bother with the food processor but WOW, a rolling pin would have been SO much help!! Luckily my coworker and I travel around the state with our jobs and he is an antique person so I told him to keep an eye out for one. Last month I asked him to look for a milk can and he came back with one the VERY NEXT DAY!!!
You could also use a glass to crush the wafers. That’s what I do and it works out great!
Wow, you know this is a winner when your hubby wakes you up asking for ingredients so HE can run to the store and get the stuff to make this cake. He told everyone about it last time I made it and carried this buddies at work a piece.
I have made a cake very similar to this, actually it is the identical recipe with the exception that it has 2 sticks of butter in it and the eggs and butter must be creamed together first. It is a great tasting cake, but yours has no butter or oil and if I can have great taste and less calories, I will go for your recipe! I searched the internet and found Vanilla Wafer Cake several times, but always with butter. Does you recipe really not have butter or oil?
Thanks!
My Mississippi mother has been making this cake for my entire life. I am so tickled to see it here! It is one of my favorites. I could eat the entire thing.