White Chocolate Coconut Cake

It's funny where inspiration is found these days. I was reading an article about how Tom Cruise bought a lot of his friends a specific cake for Christmas. It was a white chocolate coconut bundt cake and that just sounded delightful to me. 

Full disclosure, I first tried this cake as a bundt cake and it failed miserably. In fact, I can't recall a time when I've ever successfully extricated a bundt cake from a bundt pan. I've tried the tricks. I think my pans are just really old without modern non-stick technology.

I added a little bit of cinnamon to this cake which I think just elevated the basic sponge and really goes with the chocolate-coconut topping. It's a delicious cake-y version of those coconut Ferrero Rochers and it hits the spot.

This makes one sheet cake. If you want to make a three tier cake, increase the recipe by 1/3 (so 225g butter, 180g sugar, 3 eggs etc etc).

Nutella Tiramisu

 

It's a little dribbly but it's goooooood.

I didn’t think I liked tiramisu until I was tempted to try some in a little deli in Venice where tiramisu was their specialty. That’ll do it!

It was delicious. I haven’t eaten it since because I figured it would be a let down - how could mine stack up to the professionals?

Well, apparently tiramisu is easy to get right, because I NAILED it on the first go. It’s a really simple recipe that doesn’t use a ton of ingredients (but they are a little niche, it’s not all store-cupboard stuff) and the best part is that it is encouraged to make a day in advance! It’s even better after it is allowed to rest and mingle overnight. Perfect for having company over (a concept I’ve nearly forgotten) or for prepping on a Friday night and enjoying all weekend.

You need a nice deep dish for this, mine was about 20x10cm and I got three layers. I think having two layers is more traditional, so a bigger dish will be needed for that.