Chocolate Coconut Cake

This cake is seriously good, its dense and chocolately, but still light and not too sweet. The recipe is a one bowl wonder and couldn't be easier to follow. The frosting tops the whole things off, complimenting it beautifully and making it into one big Bounty Bar of a cake. Delicious.

But a cake is never just a cake, is it? If all you're here for is the recipe for this one, I suggest scrolling a mile down the page to get to it as I do love to tell a good story and have a slight tendency to ramble. Although, if you have a bit of time and like to laugh at the misfortunes of others, this recipe is good enough to wait for. Before I digress even further I will begin The Story Behind The Cake. 


Last week was my sister's birthday. Sister's 24th Birthdays are pretty special don't you know? So I wanted to make something she'd really enjoy and also had to bear in mind both of our avoidance's of dairy and wheat. I know how much she loves the combination of chocolate and coconut so came up with the idea of using coconut cream in the frosting and adapting my favourite chocolate cake recipe to fit the bill. 

It was all going swimmingly.
The cake was made, the presents were wrapped. 

It looked good, smelt good, the batter had certainly tasted pretty sweet too so I hoped everyone was going to like and was so excited for Millie to come home and enjoy a slice while opening her presents after lunch.

Unfortunately, someone got there first... Before Millie had seen her cake, let alone tasted it. Before she'd even stepped through the door. Otis happened.

Just a warning to all bakers and cake eaters out there - do not leave a particularly tempting birthday cake in the kitchen with only a very naughty puppy for company. 
It will not end well. It will only end in tears (mine).

The outcome to my rambling is now pretty clear - my dog ate the cake. 

I left the house to pick Millie up, thinking the cake would be safe for 10 minutes without my supervision. After all, it had been on the side all morning as I did other things and my mum was also in the house and knew that I was leaving Otis alone in the kitchen with my beloved cake. But no, I was naive. A dog does not care how long the cake took to make or how much coconut I had to clean up off the marble work surfaces. No, a dog cares about food and my darling boy wanted this cake for himself. 

I arrived to collect Millie and got a brief, rather cryptic voice mail from my mum so as I waited in the car I called her back only to get the bad news. 

"I'm so sorry" she said, "There was nothing I could do. He got it...Otis got the cake!" 

I wish I was joking, but I'm not. This is how my mother answered the phone when I called her back. 
I wish I was joking even more when I say that the only way I could react was to sit in my car and sob until Millie found me and assured me it was all OK. It was her birthday, but I was the one doing the crying. 

The scene we came home to...

Did I do something bad?

Luckily I'm lazy and hadn't actually finished clearing up the mess I had made in the kitchen yet. Even more luckily, I had made way to much frosting and had enough spare to be able to make and frost another cake when I got home. (I've adapted the quantities for the frosting so it's now just enough for the one cake, bear this in mind if you have a dog of your own.)

So in the end we did have cake, albeit a little later than planned as by the time I had made, frosted and decorated the new cake I had to get ready for us going out. 

So rather than the after lunch cake and presents, we had cake at midnight and had an after lunch trip to the vet with a sick dog. 
A perfect birthday for my favourite sister! 

Now, for the recipe!

Ingredients:
For the chocolate cake:
250g caster sugar
220g plain flour (GF)
70g unsweetened cocoa powder
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
235ml almond milk
1tsp vanilla extract
120ml vegetable oil (coconut, canola etc, any will do)
235ml boiling water
For the coconut frosting:
75g cream cheese (lactose free)

150g icing sugar
160ml (one small can) coconut cream (keep stored in the fridge for a few hours prior to use or overnight to harden)
25g dessicated coconut (+ more to decorate, optional)

To Make:
Make the cake first:

• Preheat oven to 175°C. Grease and lime two 9inch cake tins.
• In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.
• Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. 
• Mix until fully incorporated with a handheld electric whisk or in a food processor.
• Stir in boiling water. (The cake mix will be quite runny, but don't worry! It makes the moistest sponge)
• Pour evenly into the two prepared tins and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the sponge is springy and a skewer tested in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
• Cool for 10 minutes before removing from tins and leaving to cool completely.

Now, the frosting:

• Sieve the icing sugar into the cream cheese and beat lightly with a wooden spoon.
• Stir in the coconut cream and beat for about 5 minutes at a high speed with a hand held electric whisk until the frosting thickens.
• Stir in coconut and store in the fridge until the sponge is completely cool and you are ready to frost the cake.
• Layer the two sponges with the frosting and cover the top and sides. 

• Decorate as desired, I kept mine simple and covered the whole thing in more dessicated coconut. (Had to have enough space for 24 candles didn't I?)