Growing up, coconut was not a major part of my diet, except for the occasional coconut chutney with Dosa or idlis and of course the copious amount of coconut water I used to drink. However, in my teen years I discovered coconut cookies, Thai curry, coconut rice…the works. The many beautiful ways in which coconut can be used in food, in both sweet and savoury form.
As I started cooking for myself and moved to Bombay, Hyderabad and now Bangalore, coconut became something I saw more of and ate more of. It is super versatile and I really want to learn more ways to incorporate this into my diet.
As always, when I like something, I tend to first veer towards the dessert route of cooking with it 🙂 This summer, when it was crazily hot in Bangalore, I baked this beautiful, simple coconut cake with a light whipped cream. It’s a slice of summer 🙂
The cake is soft and light thanks to the milk and dessicated coconut in the batter. It also has a slight zing because of the lemon zest and juice. Lemon and coconut are meant to be together 🙂
The batter is slightly different than others since the butter is mixed in with dry ingredients first, to get a crumbly base, and then wet ingredients are added. This gives a spongy texture to the cake, which is beautiful!
The frosting is literally just the icing on the cake. Whipper cream and sugar. That’s it 🙂 I don’t like very sweet desserts so it’s just a tiny bit of sugar, but feel free to adjust per your preference.
Slathering the cake in whipped cream is so much fun! Therapeutic too in some way. Dollops of whipped cream are put on the cake and then smoothened out such as every inch of the cake is covered in a nice layer of creamy goodness. Joy!
Top with some toasted coconut and you’re ready!
Slice and serve 🙂
Easy Coconut Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
1.75 cup (210g) all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp lemon zest
75g soft butter
1/3 cup (66g) granulated sugar
2/3 cup (60g) dessicated coconut
1 egg
1/2 cup (100 ml) milk
1/2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
Frosting:
100g whipping cream
3-4 tbsp granulated sugar
Toasted dessicated coconut for garnish
Directions
- Grease and line a 7 inch square pan. Pre heat the oven to 160C
- Sift together the dry ingredients – flour, salt, baking powder, lemon zest
- Add soft butter to the flour mix and crumble with your hands to get a sand like texture (3-5 mins)
- Mix in the dessicated coconut and sugar till combined
- In a larger bowl, whisk together the egg, vanilla extract and milk for 1-2 mins. Add the lemon juice and combine
- Make a well in the bowl with dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients
- Mix together till just combined
- Transfer the batter to the pan and bake at 160 for 40-45 mins
- Once a toothpick comes out clean, take the pan out of the oven and let it cool for 10 mins. Then take it out of the pan and let it cool to room temperature
- Once it is cool, prepare the topping. Whisk the cream till you get soft-medium peaks (5-7 mins)
- Add sugar and mix in
- Spread the frosting on the cake and top with toasted coconut. Slice and serve!
My Tuck Box 
Very nice recipes, will try your cake recipes soon 😊👍
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Yay! Can’t wait to hear how they come out 🙂
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