DOUBLE COCONUT CAKE

The Alphabakes challenge this month is to bake something beginning with the letter “D”, which has reminded me of a cake I made just before Christmas.  The January challenge is organised this time by Caroline of Caroline Makes, or Ros of More than the Occasional baker in other months.

Nick had done some cooking which left half a lime and the best part of a tin of coconut milk that needed using up.  I was wondering if I could make a cake with them and remembered a recipe which was really nice.

Double coconut cake.

It was for a cake called “moist coconut cake” and I first spotted it in a lovely blog written by “The Caked Crusader” – you can see the original post here.

I thought it might be nice to soak the coconut in coconut milk instead – which is how I came to call it “double coconut cake”.  The recipe comes from the book produced to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support, called “The little book of treats”.

Last year’s coconut cake.

Last time I made the coconut cake, having seen it in CC’s blog, it was for our Children in Need cake stall at work.  I was quite proud of the result and thought it looked rather sophisticated – but it didn’t sell very well.  About half of it was left unsold – not that it went to waste, of course, but I came to the conclusion that coconut is not a favourite with the general public.

This time I didn’t have the amount of time specified in the recipe to soak the coconut (2 hours) or bake the cake (1½ hours) so I decided to bake it in a smaller tin.  In fact I decided to use my ring mould and mini bundt tins, both of which were presents some time ago and as yet unused.  They should be cooked much quicker, I thought.

It worked a treat in the sense that the cakes were done fairly quickly, but the mini bundts were a disaster.  I only had enough mixture for four and three of those stuck to the tin and would not be persuaded to come out in one piece !!

I had greased and floured the tin really well so was rather dischuffed about that.  Maybe the non-stick coating is poor, or maybe the mixture was not suitable for the tin.  Luckily the ring cake came out clean as a whistle.  But it would make me think twice about using the bundt tin again, which is a shame.

Maybe just once more, before I take it to the charity shop!

I decorated the ring cake with a drizzle of icing made with the juice from the leftover lime and sprinkled on the top some of those cocoa flavoured slivers of coconut that you can buy in sweetshops, called sweet tobacco.  I had never heard of them before so I have the Caked Crusader to thank for the idea.  (Sadly the little sweetshop where I bought them has since closed.)

I wanted the small cakes to send as a gift that morning (hence the urgency) so I did a crafty bit of repair work and made two cakes from the four damaged ones.  With a bit of trimming and some icing to disguise the joins, they looked ok.  I just hope they didn’t each fall into two halves as soon as the recipient picked one up to eat it !! 

Can you spot the join?

The cake was lovely and moist, with a nice hint of lime in the icing, and it was still just as good to eat a couple of days later.  Definitely one for coconut lovers and I will certainly be making it again myself.

I’m not quite sure what timing to suggest as mine were done in 30 minutes whereas the recipe states 1¼ hours for a normal cake.  Obviously the answer is to use the tin you fancy and your discretion as to when it might be done – check after 30 minutes and keep your eye on it.

Ingredients

50g desiccated coconut

150ml coconut milk

110g soft margarine or spreadable butter

250g caster sugar

2 eggs

250g self raising flour

pinch of salt

Method

Soak the coconut in the milk for at least 2 hours (I soaked  mine for 30 minutes).

Preheat the oven to 170°C / 150°fan / gas mk 3.  Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin.  (I used a 20cm ring mould, greased and floured, plus four mini bundt moulds.)

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix gently until combined.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin(s) and level the top.  Bake for 1½ hours for the normal cake or 30-40 minutes for the smaller cakes.

Drizzle some icing made with icing sugar and the juice of half a lime and decorate with toasted coconut, flaked almonds or “sweet tobacco” if you like.

Cuts into 8-10 slices.