Coconut Cake

A few weeks back there seemed to be a shortage of shredded coconut. Not quiet sure why, but as all things, when you need something the most, you’re not going to be able to find it..right? So, when we finally found it, we stocked up on it like there was war approaching and sweet shredded coconut would help us get through it. No really, I can’t even remember how how many we bought but in total I had about 6 packs lying in my fridge waiting to be opened and put to use.

My husband and I both love Coconut. It obviously has to do with its sweetness and chewy texture..YUM! My all time favourite coconut dessert is Coconut Ice cream. The first time I had it was in Summer 2007, Cafe Concerto, High Street Kensington. Yes, that really wasn’t the place to try Coconut Ice Cream, but it looked appealing and I’m all for experimenting so I went for it. When I had nothing to compare it to – DIVINE. Now that I’ve had authentic Coconut Ice cream in Thailand (Phuket is the place to have it), it wasn’t bad. In fact, I would go and have it again.

Coming back to our love for Coconutty edibles I’d been thinking about baking a Coconut cake. With all this accessible coconut now, it had to be used to make something grand. The only thing holding me back was losing my stash and going on a wild goose chase again, but it had to be done. And my husband insisted I proceed with this experiment – he’d been waiting a while.

So here it is. I didn’t get around to taking pictures at every stage but the end product turned out quiet alright.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
5 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconutFrosting:
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease 2 9-inch pans and line with baking paper
Cream butter and sugar ( I just use a wooden spoon to soften the butter and then hand whisk, you could use a paddle attachment electric mixer) until fluffy and then add eggs and vanilla vanilla
Sift all the dry ingredients and then alternate between adding the dry ingredients and milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Stir to mix together, just enough till it is combined
Add the shredded coconut and pour into the pans and smooth the tops of the batter
Bake for 45-50 mins until cake tester comes clean and tops are browned
Once cooled apply frosting. If baked in one pan, torte the cake and use the top of the cake as the base.
Add frosting to the to the first layer and then a layer of coconut. Place the 2nd layer of cake on top, with the cake base facing the top. Apply the remaining frosting and cover generously with coconut.

Tips:

Icing the cake is the messy bit when you need to add the shredded coconut for the finishing touch, I would recommend wearing surgical gloves if you have any. It makes the whole experience much more fun
I generally use vegetable oil in my cakes to make it less fatty, but white cakes should always be made with butter, so do not substitute or the colour wont come out as nice and the cake batter is more runny
If you don’t have 2 9-inch pans one will do as well, and you can torte the cake then. It will take longer to bake though and if you don’t have the Wilton Even Bake Strip, it will form a dome due to sheer quantity of batter