There is something magical about the pairing of coconut and cake, probably similar to coconut and chocolate. It is not easy to find a tasty coconut cake anymore. There is something old-fashioned about a coconut cake. And those are the best cakes. The addition of raspberries adds another delight to the cake. It reminds one of a raspberry ripple ice-cream. Who can say no to that?
Ingredients for cake
- 185g butter
- 3/4 c caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2/3 c dessicated coconut
- 1 1/2 c self-tasing flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 c milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
Raspberry puree
- 1 c of fresh raspberries
- 1/4 c of granulated sugar
Buttercream
- 125g of butter
- 11/2 c sifted icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
Method
- Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
- Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin. If you have 2 small pans like a 18cm round pans, split batter into 2 pans. Otherwise you can split the one layer of cake and sandwich with buttercream.
- Add all cake ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat with an electric beater until batter is well mixed, smooth and pale in colour. This process should take less than 5 minutes. Never over-mix cake batter as you will get a tough cake.
- Add batter into baking pans, smooth over and bake for about 30 – 35 minutes. Smaller layers will bake in around 20 minutes.
- Once cakes are well risen, light golden brown and coming away from the sides of the pan, the cake is done. Insert a skewer into the centre of the cake to make sure the cake is fully baked. If the skewer comes out clean, then the cake is ready. Leave to cool for about 5 minutes before turning out on a cooling rack.
- To make the raspberry puree, cook raspberries and sugar in a small saucepan on medium heat until soft and breaking apart. Using a blender or a whisk, blend raspberries until smooth and sauce-like. It is also great to have small pieces of raspberries in the buttercream so blending is not necessary. Go ahead and blend if you want a smooth sauce.
- To make the buttercream, cream butter with an electric beater or stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add sifted icing sugar in 2 portions. Add vanilla and 2-3 tablespoons of raspberry puree. Mix well together until smooth and creamy. Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl a few times in order to mix all the ingredients smoothly together.
Assembling the cake
- If you are going for a one layer cake, top generously with frosting, Smooth over with a palette knife. Add fresh raspberries and drizzle some raspberry puree over the cake to add an extra raspberry zing.
- If you want layers, sandwich cakes with buttercream. Drizzle some puree over the icing, add some fresh raspberries. Top with another layer of cake, cover with icing and decorate the top in a similar manner.
