Chocolate Coconut Cake
With Pistachio Custard Filling
Birthday bakes are my favourite, and as this one was for a special person, it had to be be an extra special cake.
I’ll admit that chocolate, coconut and pistachio are three of my own favourite flavours, but I think many would agree this is a winning combination. The cake recipe is based on my Coconut Sunset Cake, with a generous helping of raw cacao powder added. It’s dense and rich and totally delicious.
A special cake also requires special decoration. For this I used homemade macarons (one for decoration, the rest for eating), edible gold leaf and buttercream details. The flamingos were a result of a little experimentation and a lot of extra time on my hands.
If you would like to give the flamingos a try, I just experimented with different makeshift tools I had in my kitchen – both ends of a teaspoon and the flat end of a wooden skewer worked best for me!
My favourites for this bake…
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Chocolate Coconut Cake
Yield: one 6 layer 6 inch cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Coconut Cake
170g butter
360g caster sugar
3 eggs, separated
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbs coconut extract
200g creamed coconut + boiling water up to 350ml
255g plain flour
15g baking powder
120g cacao powder
45g desiccated coconut
Pistachio Custard Filling
2 egg yolks
60g caster sugar
1 tsp cornflour
1 tsp plain flour
40ml milk
160ml double cream
60g ground pistachios
White Chocolate Buttercream
340g butter
70g white chocolate
50ml double cream
2 Tbs vanilla extract
450g icing sugar
60ml whole milk
Mararons
I used this recipe for the macarons.
Method
For the Chocolate Coconut Cake
Preheat oven to 180°C/350° F/Gas Mark 4. Then line two 6″ (15cm) cake tins
Chop the creamed coconut into smaller pieces and place in a measuring jug. Fill the jug with boiling water up to 350ml, then set aside to dissolve.
Cream the butter and 300g of the sugar, then add the extracts and egg yolks and beat until pale and creamy.
Sift the flour and baking powder together, then stir in the desiccated coconut. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the creamed coconut.
In a clean, dry bowl whip the egg whites to soft peaks, then gradually add the remaining 60g of sugar and continue to whip for a further two minutes. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate cake mixture.
Divide the cake batter between three cake tins and bake each layer for 35 minutes, or until cake skewer
For the Pistachio Custard Filling
Place the milk and 60ml of cream in a saucepan and heat to a gentle simmer. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and flours together, then pour over the heated milk and cream while continuing to whisk. Pour the mixture into the saucepan and place over a gentle heat.
Gently whisk the mixture, heating until the custard starts to thicken, then remove from the heat and pour through a sieve into a new clean bowl. Add the pistachios, then set aside to cool.
Whip the remaining double cream to soft peaks, then fold into the cooled pistachio custard.
For the White Chocolate Buttercream
Melt the white chocolate, then set aside to cool. Start beating the butter, then gradually add in the icing sugar. Add the milk little by little when the icing gets too stiff, then beat in the vanilla extract and the white chocolate.
For white frosting I use this Sugarflair Superwhite Icing Whitener
Assembling your cake
Use a cake cutting wire
Place a cake layer on top of the custard, then continue the process for the remaining layers. Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes.
Crumb coat your cake with a thin layer of white buttercream using a palette knife
Decorate, serve and enjoy… x
Briana's Kitchen 