Tright here is simply one thing a couple of coconut cake. The fluffy texture, the white on white on white, the ‘furry’ exterior,” says Claire Ptak.
“For me, it’s the quintessential birthday cake and is a staple on the Violet [her East London bakery] celebration desserts menu. The filling relies on a traditional Hawaiian pudding recipe referred to as Haupia, which is commonly utilized in marriage ceremony desserts.”
Coconut pudding cake
Makes: one 20cm spherical cake, to serve as much as 12
Substances:
For the coconut filling:
400g coconut milk
100g caster sugar
80g water
2 tbsp cornflour dissolved in 3 tbsp chilly water
⅛ tsp high-quality sea salt
½ tsp vanilla extract
1½ tbsp white rum
For the coconut soak:
50g coconut milk
50g caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
2 tsp white rum
For the sponge:
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp high-quality sea salt
85g unsalted butter, softened
250g caster sugar
60g vegetable oil
2 eggs
160g coconut milk
1½ tsp vanilla extract
For the coconut icing:
190g softened unsalted butter
750g-1kg icing sugar
5 tbsp coconut milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 tsp white rum
Pinch of salt
Desiccated coconut, to embellish
Methodology:
1. First, make the coconut filling. Put the coconut milk, sugar and water right into a saucepan. Place over a medium warmth, stir to dissolve sugar, then flip up the warmth to excessive.
2. Add the cornflour and water combination to the pan with the salt and whisk till thick. Pour right into a bowl and stir within the vanilla and rum. Let cool then chill for at the least 4 hours.
3. Now make the soak. Put the coconut milk, sugar and vanilla right into a pan and prepare dinner till nearly to return to the boil. Depart over a medium warmth for 5 minutes, then flip off the warmth, add the salt and rum and depart to chill. (This and the filling could be ready the day earlier than to save lots of time.)
4. Preheat the oven to 150C fan/170C/340F/gasoline mark 3½. Grease and line both one deep or three shallow 20cm cake tins.
5. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt collectively in a bowl and put aside.
6. Put the butter, sugar and oil into the bowl of a stand mixer and cream till gentle and fluffy. Add the eggs one after the other till mixed.
7. Add half of the dry flour combination to the creamed butter and sugar, and blend effectively. Then add the coconut milk and vanilla and blend once more. Scrape down the perimeters of the bowl and add the remaining dry substances to the bowl. Combine effectively to include the entire substances, however don’t overmix or it will make your cake robust.
8. Divide the batter between the cake tins and bake for 45-50 minutes, relying on which measurement tins you’re utilizing. The desserts needs to be beginning to flip golden, really feel springy to the contact and a skewer inserted ought to come out clear.
9. Whereas the cake is baking, make the coconut icing. Put the butter and 500 grams of the icing sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat till easy. Stir collectively the coconut milk, vanilla and rum and progressively add this to the bowl and blend once more, scraping the underside of the bowl as wanted. Add one other 250 grams icing sugar. Cream collectively on a low pace for at the least three minutes (set a timer as three minutes is longer than you may assume). Add the salt. Progressively add extra sugar as wanted till you get the appropriate consistency – you desire a spreadable and creamy icing that’s concurrently as gentle as could be. Put a 3rd of the icing right into a piping bag with a spherical nozzle (or use a ziplock/resealable bag after which snip off a nook for a makeshift piping bag). Put aside at room temperature till prepared to make use of.
10. Depart the desserts to chill of their tins, then flip them out onto a wire rack. Wash the tins and line one with a big piece of clingfilm that hangs out over the perimeters.
11. When you baked the desserts in particular person tins, place one layer into the underside of the lined tin. When you baked the desserts in a single deep tin, break up it into three layers with a big serrated knife, and put the underside layer into the clingfilm-lined tin.
12. Soak the underside layer with a couple of tablespoons of the coconut soak. Pipe a thick ring of coconut icing across the perimeter of the underside layer to create a dam for the filling. Fill the center of the ring with half of the coconut filling.
13. Pipe a few stripes of icing throughout the filling (this serves as a glue for the layers).
14. Add the second cake layer on high of this after which repeat the earlier steps earlier than including the third and closing layer of sponge on high. Carry up the overhanging cling movie and pop in fridge to relax for a couple of hours, or in a single day.
15. When prepared to complete the cake, unwrap it, end up onto a turntable or cake plate and canopy the highest and sides with the remaining coconut icing, then evenly press desiccated coconut to cowl.
Recipe from ‘Love Is A Pink Cake’ by Claire Ptak (Sq. Peg, £27; pictures by Maren Caruso and Pia Riverola).
