Coconut Cake

I was inspired to create this recipe for coconut cake when I found some mini coconut meringues in M&S recently. Just the thing for decorating the top of a cake! I hadn’t tasted coconut cake for years and it had been yet another favourite cake of mine, so this is my version. It’s made by the all in one method, so is quick and easy to prepare – always a bonus!

Ingredients for the cake:

4 large free range eggs

250g of self raising flour

250g of caster sugar

250g of butter, softened

75g of desiccated coconut

a few drops of coconut flavouring

2 tablespoons of milk

-You will also need 2 x 20cm cake tins, greased and base lined

Method:

preheat the oven to 170°C
place all the cake ingredients into a large roomy mixing bowl and, using a wooden spoon, beat everything together until the mixture is smooth and creamy
the mixture should be a soft, dropping consistency so add another tablespoon of milk if necessary
divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and roughly smooth the top of each cake

bake the cakes for approximately 40 minutes, or until they are golden brown and spring back to the touch (a skewer inserted into the cooked cake should come out clean and not have any cake mixture sticking to it)
leave the cakes to cool on a wire rack for about an hour before removing them from the tins

Whilst the cakes are cooling, prepare the icing:

Ingredients:

200g of icing sugar

100g of softened butter

25g of desiccated coconut

a few drops of coconut flavouring

a dash of warm water

optional: a packet of coconut meringues for decoration (or home made meringues if you’re feeling creative!)

Method:

place the icing sugar, butter, coconut and flavouring into a large bowl and beat the ingredients together until the mixture is smooth and creamy
add a little warm water to the icing to make it a soft, spreadable consistency
level the surface of one of the cakes so that the other cake will sit on top of it when iced
cover the tops of each cake with the coconut icing
with the flat-surfaced cake on the bottom, sandwich the two cakes together
decorate the top of the cake with the coconut meringues