Coconut Chiffon Cake

Ok, so healthy eating aside.. We recently had Easter and that usually means overindulgence. We invited my in-laws over for Sunday lunch and I decided to try to keep it reasonably light but also have a little bit of a treat.

I decided a chiffon cake was probably about as light and delicious as I was going to get for a dessert, and while I love chocolate I felt like this Easter could do without an overkill of it- some of you will know my past chocolate triumphs include a decadent chocolate brownie with toasted meringue, caramel and peanuts and also a sinfully decadent and heavy baked chocolate cheesecake.. Oh and none of us can forget the chocolate tart that is basically death by chocolate (and some pastry).

So, having a hankering for coconut I just got inspired and decided to make a Coconut Chiffon Cake, complete with coconut buttercream icing and toasted coconut to finish.. If you're a coconut fan I recommend you give this one a go!

I got the cake recipe from allrecipes.com, then improvised the icing and topped it with toasted shaved coconut from a packet...

Ingredients...
2 cups all-purpose plain flour
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
7 eggs, separated
3/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla essence or extract
1 tsp coconut essence
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup of desiccated coconut

Icing..
500gr unsalted butter, room temperature
5 cups icing mixture
1-2 Tbs milk, luke warm
1 tsp coconut essence
1 heaped cup of toasted shaved coconut

Method..
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line the BASE ONLY of a 8inch cake or 10inch bunt tin, do not grease or line the sides as the batter sticking to the sides of the pan while cooking helps the cake rise and not collapse.
2. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the egg whites and the cream of tartar until stiff peaks form, set aside briefly*
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix well with a whisk to lightly aerate. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the vegetable oil, egg yolks, water, vanilla extract, and coconut extract. Beat until smooth.
4.  Add one third of the beaten egg white to the the egg yolk mixture, mix carefully until blended, then add the remaining egg white and fold, taking care to retain as much air in the mixture as possible. Fold in the desiccated coconut. Pour batter into prepared pan.
5. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 55 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake for 10 to 15 minutes longer. Top will spring back when touched lightly.
6. Remove from oven and leave cake to cool completely in the pan, before carefully turning out onto a plate or board for icing.
7. For the icing; use an electric mixer to beat the butter until it starts to lighten, then add the icing mixture, one cup at a time until all combined. Continue to beat until icing becomes fluffy and cream in colour. Add the flavouring and enough milk to loosen the mixture and make it easy for icing. Beat to combine.
8. Roughly spread the icing over the entire cake once it has completely cooled. Make sure you evenly spread it on the sides and top. It doesn't have to be smooth, it actually looks great and 'rustic' if you leave some peaks in the icing in the top. Sprinkle the toasted shaved coconut around the top and sides of the cake, clean any excess icing off the plate or board and serve!