Coconut Loaf Cake

I have been feeling under the weather with a head cold since Sunday, which my grandson was so kind to share with me. After a few days of nursing this cold I have reached my limit of sitting about and doing nothing, (yes I'm a lousy patient) and today decided to cheer myself up with a spot of therapeutic baking. I decided to continue my mission trying out another recipe from my new cookbook and bake this Coconut Loaf Cake. This retro style cake really reminded me of a school dinner pudding often served with custard. Unfortunately in reading the recipe it was clear to me that there was something not quite right. The first thing was the size of the tin, there was no way that the sum of the ingredients would fit into a 1lb loaf tin as specified! So I went with my baking experience and used a 2lb loaf tin instead. The second anomaly was in relation to the cooking time stated in the recipe, I had to extent the cooking time by a further 20 minutes. At first I was thinking it might be a typo regarding the size of loaf tin but upon further reading of other loaf cake recipes in the book a 1lb tin is used through-out. Some of the other recipes also appear to have more ingredients than would fit in a tin of that size. It's a shame that these types of errors exist as they could throw off a less experience baker.

Besides the above, this cake turned out to be everything I expected it to be. I can confirm it is very addictive and popular, with hubby having finished his third slice of the day after his evening meal. This recipe is well worth trying and if you follow my adaptations, included in the recipe below, it should turn out just fine!


Coconut Loaf Cake

Serves 8-10

Ingredients
For the cake:
225g butter, softened
225g caster sugar
2 large eggs
225g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
60g desiccated coconut
3 tbsp milk

For the topping:
60g raspberry jam
30g desiccated coconut, toasted

Preheat the oven to 180oC/fan oven 160oC/Gas mark 4. Butter and flour a 2lb loaf tin.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition.

Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl, then add to the egg mixture along with the coconut. Beat for a few seconds to combine. Add the milk and mix until just combined.

Spoon the batter into the tin and bake for 45-50 (mine needed 70) minutes, until golden and an inserted skewer comes out clean. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes or so before turning onto a rack to cool.

Once the cake is fully cool, spread the jam onto the top and cover in the toasted coconut.