Coconut Cake With Lemon Curd

I had not anticipated the complexity of this recipe (adapted from www.joyofbaking.com) that calls for numerous rounds of whisking, beating and mixing of different ingredients in separate bowls. Certainly not something that one should attempt to do when time is of the essence. I started baking at around 9.30pm and did not finish till about 1 am.  I took the picture this morning after refrigerating the cake overnight to let it set. There's a distinct taste of coconut in the cake, and the lemon curd balances it very well. For those who love coconut, you will appreciate this recipe.  Apart from the laborious baking process, there really isn't that much to be said about the recipe. However the lemon curd is delicious and goes really well with simple butter cakes. This is as much I will recommend.  Here's the full recipe if you are interested to try it out.

Cake recipe:

6 large eggs (separate the yolk from the egg whites)

1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

2 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

170gm of unsalted butter (room temperature)

1 3/4 cups of castor sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

60ml of coconut cream

1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar

1. Pre-heat oven to 170 deg C. Butter and line two 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3. In a separate bowl. beat butter with an electric mixer until soft, and gradually add 1 1/2 cup of the sugar and beat the mixture till light and fluffy. Add egg yolk slowly and beat well.

4. Combine the flour mixture with the butter mixture, to form a smooth cake batter.

5. Add vanilla extract to the cake batter and mix till combined.

6. In another bowl, whilst together buttermilk and coconut cream. Add the coconut cream mixture to cake batter and mix well. Set aside.

7. In another bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and continue beating till soft peaks form. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and beat the mixture till stiff peaks form.

8. Fold the white peaks into the cake batter until combined (taking care not to over-mix)

9. Divide the batter between the two cake pans. Bake for about 1 hour (note: I used Yan Mum's little oven. Time to bake differs between ovens) or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

10. Let cakes cool on wire rack.

Lemon Curd:

3 large eggs

1/3 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon of finely shredded lemon zest

3/4 cup of castor sugar

56gm of unsalted butter (cut into cubes, leave at room temperature)

1. Whisk together eggs, lemon juice and sugar in a bowl over simmering water until the mixture thickens (approx. 10 min).

2. Remove from heat, and stir in the butter cubes until melted.

3. Add lemon zest and let cool before refrigerating the mixture.

Frosting:

2 large egg whites

1 1/2 cups of castor sugar

1/4 cup of cold water

1 tablespoon corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Whisk egg whites, sugar, water and corn syrup in a bowl over simmering water, for about 3 minutes on low speed until the icing is shiny with soft peaks.

2. Remove from heat, add vanilla extract, and continue beating on high speed until the frosting becomes thick.

Garnish:

2 cups of shredded or flaked coconut

1. Cut each cake in half horizontally. 

2. Spread lemon curd generously on the cake layer, and sprinkle with coconut flakes. Stack the next layer and continue to work on the cake layers the same way.

3. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the frosting prepared, and sprinkle with coconut flakes.

4. Refrigerate.