Saturday, April 13, 2013

Vintage Floral Raspberry and Coconut Cake

This was a special cake for a special person, one of the people I love most in the world, my beautiful Grandmother! It was my Grandma's 85th birthday and I wanted to make her a cake that was as pretty inside as it was out.
My Grandma loves going out for coffee and cake, any outing we have ever gone on has been punctuated with a 'cappuccino break'. When I was little it was always exciting getting treated to an iced chocolate and something yummy. Grandma especially likes carrot cake and raspberry muffins, as the last cake I made her was carrot I decided to go with raspberry for this one.
This raspberry coconut cake is a new favourite of mine, I'm a little obsessed with coconut at the moment.  I blame the coconut bread from the coffee shop near work, It might be overpriced but the yummy toasted coconut flavour always brightens my day. 
The coconut in this cake made it yummy and moist and the raspberries dotted throughout are not only pretty but add lovely bursts of flavour. Coconut and raspberry are meant to be together and along with the white chocolate they make this a cake difficult to pass up.
For the Raspberry and Coconut Cake Printable Recipe
220 grams butter (softened)
1 3/4 cups caster sugar
1 teaspoon coconut extract
3 eggs
1 1/3 cup desiccated coconut
360 grams self raising flour
360 mls buttermilk
200 grams frozen or fresh raspberries ( if frozen, do not thaw)

To make the cake- Preheat oven to 180 degrees c. and grease two 8 inch round cake pans. Line the base and sides of the the cake pan with baking paper allowing about about an inch extra out the top of the pan.

In a medium bowl sift the flour and add the coconut, stir to combine.

Add the butter, sugar and coconut extract to a second mixer bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
 Add one egg at a time beating well after each addition. 
Fold in a quarter of the flour coconut mix at a time, alternately with the buttermilk.

Fold through the raspberries. (keeping the raspberries frozen stops them breaking up in the mix)
Divide the cake mixture between the 2 prepared pans and smooth over the tops.

Bake the cakes for about 1 hour, or until a skewer poked into the middle of the cake comes out clean. 

Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for around 10 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
For the White Chocolate Ganache
720 grams white chocolate (4 blocks)
220 mls cream

To make the Ganache- finely chop the chocolate and place in a large heat proof bowl.
Pour the cream into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate. 
Stir the ganache mixture with a hand whisk until smooth. Allow to cool and set for a few hours before spreading onto cake. (I find if I make my ganache before work, its the perfect consistency when I get home in the afternoon.)
Sandwich the two cakes with a layer of ganache. Spread the remaining ganache over the top and sides of the cake. Allow the ganache to set. Decorate as you like or just cut a slice and enjoy.

14 comments:

  1. What a pretty cake! Loved it! Happy birthday to your grandma!

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  2. Wow the cake looks absolutely stunning. Love the attention to details with the piped middles of the flowers.
    The cake sounds delicious and very moist.
    I bet your grandmother was delighted.

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  3. Your photography is just as stunning as the cake. I love the beautiful pastels you always use! Fabulous job!

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  4. wow, I really like your cake, it's so beautiful! :D
    happy birthday to your grandma!

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  5. This is such a pretty cake...I love the flowers and I bet your Grandma was over the moon with it! Raspberry and coconut is such a classic combination too, so I bet it tasted great too! :-)

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  6. Wow this cake is absolutely stunning! The detail is beautiful. I hope you are very proud of it :)

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  7. What a gorgeous looking cake. I love how delicate all your flower decorations are. The flavour combination is stunning too, love that last photo where you can see all the juicy raspberries inside the cake.

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  8. I couldn't wait to see it cut once you said it was as pretty on the inside as the outside. It looks completely delicious.

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  9. Absolutely gorgeous cake inside and out. Love.

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  10. yummy! what a beautiful cake for your lovely grandma. thanks for sharing the recipe!

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  11. Wow this is so beautiful!! The flowers are amazing. It also sounds totally delicious! I'm definitely going to give it a go :)

    Thanks!

    Jess x

    www.iamjessw.blogspot.co.uk

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  12. realy amazing...i m definately gonna try dis one..wish me luck dat i cn make it...!!!

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  13. Thank you so much for posting this, I showed this cake and recipe to my mum's workmate and she made an exact replica (inside and out!) for my 18th birthday and it was absolutely perfect!! I have photos but I'm not sure how to add a file as a comment unfortunately :( Thanks once again, this is such a beautiful cake and the definitely the best I've tasted in all my life

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  14. I think this is one of the most charming and loveliest birthday cakes I've ever seen prepared for a loved one. This was an absolutely beautiful expression of the love you have for your grandmother. I'm actually a little bit jealous in a way of you. (heck, let's be truthful here, I'm REALLY envious of you I guess) All of my older relatives, both sides of the family beyond my parent's generation are gone and the last has been gone for almost 15 years now. I guess at age 73 and almost 76 I'm fortunate to have both of my parents. Both still active even though they have both worsened medically a good bit in the last couple of years. So many of my classmates have lost not just one but both parents already. I miss my older loved ones. There are still many times I wish I could ask them or talk to them about something. So many things I wished I had thought to ask them years ago. Learned more about their young lives and their family they remember that was before my time. Cherish every moment you have yet with your grandma and give her a hug from this crazy lady who misses her own family members. You can tell her this lady lives about an hour outside of Washington DC towards the western part of the state of Maryland. (Actually I live about 7 miles from Camp David, yes, THAT Camp David - I had fighter jets flying over my home just this past weekend, someone was using the place!). Also thank you for putting the recipe and your construction online. Wondering if your flowers are fondant, gumpaste or candy clay. And finally and most importantly, WHERE did you find the cup and saucer that match perfectly? They were just MADE for this cake!

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