Homemade Coconut Cake in 10 simple steps!

I don’t by any means consider myself a world class baker, I am pretty new to cooking in general really, but I have always loved throwing ingredients together and (not always successfully!) making something completely new for the family to try out. I thought I would share with you this simple recipe for a delicious coconut cake that I made recently for my Dad’s birthday. I have used fresh coconut in the recipe as it has a sweeter taste than the dried coconut you can buy in supermarkets, plus it looks MUCH prettier when you get round to decorating it! The great thing about this cake it that you can alter the cake mixture for whatever flavour you want, I have tried it with mashed up bananas and it tastes just as yummy! 

75g of grated coconut (and another 40g for the frosting!)

175g of self raising flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

3 eggs (preferable large)

175g of butter

175g of caster sugar (plus 1 teaspoon for the frosting!)

250g mascarpone

200ml fromage frais

(REMEMBER TO PRE HEAT YOUR OVEN TO 170 C)

1. You will need to break the coconut into pieces (I used a hammer and then removed the coconut from the shell) and grate the flesh inside. I used 2 small coconuts and found that was enough for both the cake mixture and the frosting.

2. Add the flour, the baking powder, the eggs, the butter and the caster sugar to a large mixing bowl.

3. Mix all the ingrediants together, it’s best to do this with an electric whisk but I actually used a fork as our whisk is broken and I found that was just fine.

4. When the mixture is smooth mix in the grated coconut.

5.  Next you need to divide the mixture into 2 tins (I used 8 inch cake tins and lightly greased them to prevent the cake from sticking)

6. Now you can pop the 2 tins into the oven for about 30 minutes.

7. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool for about 5-10 minutes before removing them from the tins, allow them to rest until completely cold. 

8. Whilst you are waiting for the cakes to cool you can get on with the frosting! Simply add your 40g coconut, 250g mascarpone, 200ml fromage frais and tablespoon of sugar to a bowl and whisk together until smooth!

9. If your cakes are now cool then you can spoon some of the frosting onto the top of one and then sandwich them together before liberally applying frosting all over the cake. Don’t worry about it looking messy, just make sure it is evenly coated in the frosting.

10. Finally sprinkle the rest of the grated coconut all over the cake….and that’s it!!