Cocoa Coconut Cake

Hello, hot weather! For me coconut is such a summer flavour, and I'm always looking for ways to incorporate it into cooking. This is a perfect, chocolately, fudgy cake with a deep nutty twist. Its dense and the flavours just smack you in the face - my kind of cake!

My mum made this and it was such a hit I had to try it out for myself! It's a very simple recipe, but the cake you get at the end of it is killer.

It’s like a mix between a brownie and a cake, and it also makes delicious cupcakes. For the cupcakes, I baked for 15-20 minutes instead of the full cooking time and decorated as normal.

Ingredients for the cake

• 90g desiccated coconut
• 325ml reduced-fat coconut milk
• 275g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 45g cocoa powder
• Pinch of salt
• 200g soft unsalted butter
• 225g light muscovado (or light brown) sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs

For the buttercream

• 75g coconut milk (take some of the hard part from the tin above)
• 50g unsalted butter
• 300g icing sugar (you might need more)
• 30g cocoa powder
• 1-2 tsp milk, if necessary
• Chocolate sprinkles/dessicated coconut, to finish.

Method

In a large bowl, mix the desiccated coconut and coconut milk in a bowl. Set aside for 30 minutes while you prepare the rest, it should turn into a nice porridge-type mixture.

So much coconut!

Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan 160°C). Grease and line a 20 x 30cm rectangular tin – I use the one I use for brownies.

Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cocoa and a pinch of salt into a bowl and set aside.

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and becoming fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, with a spoonful of the flour mixture.

Gently fold in the remaining flour mixture, followed by the coconut milk mixture.

Mixy mixy

Put in the tin, bake in the centre of the oven for 35-40 minutes, test before removing as it is very dense.

Once it’s cool, prepare the buttercream topping. Whisk together the coconut milk and butter until smooth. Fold in the icing sugar and cocoa. You may need more icing sugar, or you may need to add milk. You want it a smooth, pipeable consistency.

Decorate your cake, sprinkle with delicious toppings and serve!