Recipe > Baking
Chocolate and Coconut Cake
This cake needs funk! Slap on some James Brown, Krafty Kuts or the Quantic Soul Orchestra and do the groove.
This is another quick and easy cake recipe; simply make the mix in a wok or saucepan then pour into a cake tin, ready to bake. To really show off seal the cake with a yummy chocolicious icing.

Makes 1 Cake

Ingredients
'First' ingredients:
140g / 5oz butter or margarine
110g / 4oz dark chocolate
2 Tblsp cocoa powder
55g / 2oz desiccated coconut
1 Tsp vanilla essence
200ml / 7fl oz water
225g / 8oz caster sugar

'Second' ingredients
200g / 7oz self raising flour
2 large eggs

For the icing:
'First' ingredients
110g / 4oz dark chocolate
30g / 1oz butter
55ml / 2fl oz water
1 Tsp vanilla essence
1 Tsp brandy

'Second' ingredients
400g /14oz icing sugar

Mise-en-Place:
Preheat the oven to gas mark 2.5 / 160°C / 310°F
Grease and line a cake tin with melted butter and baking parchment
Very roughly chop all the chocolate
Weigh all of the 'first' ingredients, mix together
Weigh all of the 'second' ingredients, mix together
Weigh all the icing ingredients, mix the 'first' ingredients together. Keep the icing sugar seperate

Method:
Make the cake:
In a wok or saucepan over a low heat:
Melt all of the 'first ingredients' together, gently stir until all the ingredients have mixed together
Remove the wok or saucepan from the heat. Allow the mix to cool for 10 minutes
Mix in the flour and egg
Pour the cake mix into the prepared cake tin
Bake on a middle oven shelf for 45 - 60 minutes
The cake is done when it no longer wobbles and when a sharp knife or skewer is inserted and then removed it should remain dry. If wet cake mix sticks to the knife further baking is required
When cooked allow to cool for 20 minutes before removing from the cake tin

While the cake is cooling make the icing:
In the microwave or in a saucepan over low heat:
Melt all of the icing's 'first ingredients'
While the mix is still warm beat in the icing sugar
When the cake is cool to the touch, ice it

To ice the cake:
Cut the cake in half horizontally
Spread a layer of icing across the bottom half of the cake, then sandwich the other layer back on top
Using a palette knife:
Spread an initial, thin layer of icing over all of the cake (this traps any loose crumbs that would otherwise mar the final presentation)
Spread a thicker layer of icing around the sides
Begin to build up a thick, final layer over the top
Using the tip of the palette knife fashion small swirls into the icing. Start from the centre then spiral outward to the edge.
Allow the cake to stand for 20 minutes to allow the icing to firm
Serve or store in an airtight container

Adjust:
The Icing: The icing needs to be reasonably fluid which will allow you to ice the cake, however it must not be so thin that it pours off the cake. To test if the icing is ready lift a large spoonful then hold the spoon vertically. The icing should be reluctant to fall free and do so only after a couple of long seconds. If it drops from the spoon to quickly or too fluidly it is too thin.
Icing too thin: Add more icing sugar
Icing too thick: Add a little water, a tablespoon at a time

Where you went wrong:
Cake too tough: Wrong measurements / oven temperature too high / overcooked
Cake collapsed: Oven temperature not high enough / cake tin knocked or jostled during baking / cake removed from oven before baking complete
Cake mix wet even when cooked: Cake not cooked for long enough, remember to test with a knife or skewer!
Cake burnt: Oven temperature too high / cake baked on top shelf
Icing won't stick to the cake: Cake too warm or not cool enough / icing too thin

Chef Tip:
1) For a flatter cake that is easier to ice: When you remove the cake from the oven press firmly down upon it with a plate to flatten the raised centre into a more level surface
2) To evenly cut the cake in half hold a serrated knife in one hand. Use your knife hand to 'saw' the knife up and down, however the knife hand remains in place, use the other hand to turn the cake. If you cut with one hand and turn the cake with the other the cake will be cut evenly
3) To lift the cake from the work surface to service plate ease two palette knives beneath the cake. With the two knives working and lifting in unison you can support the cake without worry of marring the icing

Cowboy Trick: You've screwed up and managed to burn the cake's surface!
Use a serrated knife blade to gently scrape away the burnt areas of the cake. When all the burnt areas have been removed dust away any loose crumbs and then hide the evidence beneath an extra thick layer of icing.

Science behind the dish:
As the oven heats the cake mix the self raising flour begins to release carbon dioxide, these small bubbles of gas expand with the application of heat causing the cake to rise. As the cake continues to cook the starch granules in the flour swell, reducing the liquid and firming the cake. The egg proteins set into a protective mesh that traps and binds the air bubbles.
By the time the cake has finished baking it has set into a solid foam comprised of swollen starch, air bubbles and set proteins.