Love you long time.
Laksa, tom kha soup and the piña colada are just a few of my favourite coconutty things, and now the coconut is having its moment in fashion I get to scoff it in all manner of stuff from snack bars to juices, which pleases me no end. Basically, if it’s got coconut in it, I want it. Including a spoonful a day of the solid oil straight from the jar as I’ve been doing recently, though I’m blaming that one on being preggers.
It’s this nutty love that led me to buy a slice of coconut and raspberry cake in a coffee shop recently, even though cakes aren’t really my bag. But I was left feeling cheated as the only coconut in the entire thing was the scant sprinkling of it across the top. Surely it couldn’t be that tricky to make a cake using more of this wonderful and exotic ingredient? I set about looking for such a creation.
This one has a triple hit of the good stuff both outside and in; coconut oil, coconut milk and desiccated coconut, creating a rich, textured and coconutty cake that’s spiked with sweet tart raspberries and a layer of raspberry jam. Raspberry and coconut are a match made in cakey heaven and given I was able to pull it off without a hitch, I’d say this is a good one for bakers anywhere from novice level upwards.
For one loaf cake
- 175g desiccated coconut (not sweetened shredded coconut)
- 330ml full fat coconut milk
- 225g caster sugar
- 1.5 eggs, beaten
- 230g self raising flour
- 130g whole frozen raspberries
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste / vanilla extract / the seeds from 2 pods
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 3 tbsp seedless raspberry jam
- 1 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp desiccated coconut for finishing
- A handful of fresh raspberries for finishing
- Icing sugar for dusting
Method
- In a mixing bowl combine the desiccated coconut and coconut milk, then leave for an hour covered.
- Preheat your oven to 170°C (fan oven).
- Line a loaf tin measuring around 10cm x 20cm, grease with coconut oil, then lay a 2 to 3inch wide sheet of baking paper across the middle and up and out of the sides — this is to lift the cake out with later.
- To the coconut mixture, add the sugar, egg and vanilla and stir in with a metal spoon. Then sift over the flour and stir in, and finally fold in the frozen raspberries, the mixture will be thick, almost porridge-like.
- Spoon the mixture in to the loaf tin and place in to the centre of the preheated oven for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a knife inserted in to the centre comes out clean. Leave the cake in it’s tin for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edge to loosen it and carefully lift it out using the baking paper, and let it cool completely on a wire rack.
- Once it’s completely cold, heat the raspberry jam and water in a small pan and cook for around 10 minutes, then brush the jam over the top of the loaf and scatter with more desiccated coconut. Apply some more of the hot jam glaze to the centre of the loaf and add the fresh raspberries to it. Dust the raspberries with a little icing sugar and serve.