thursday baking - banana coconut cake

We've no longer baking just from A Treasury of Baking as we want to share some of our favourite recipes from different sources. To be honest, getting through the book was becoming a bit of a chore and baking should never be a chore!

So today's recipe comes from the the Ripe cookbook by Angela Redfern. A beautifully illustrated book full of contemporary cafe food.

I made this banana coconut cake for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. Once iced, it ended up as an enormous cake! As my sister Sarah was in Wellington for the weekend she was able to take some of the cake to Christchurch for the rest of the family to try. We all agreed the addition of coconut added texture to what would otherwise be an ordinary banana cake. The icing is the best cream cheese icing ever - the perfect consistency for spreading or piping. I'll never use any other recipe.

I couldn't find fresh passionfruit to sprinkle on top and didn't want to resort to passionfruit syrup so went without. It would have been a delicious addition so once they're in season I'll make this cake again.

Banana coconut cake

1 1/2 cups desiccated coconut

300mls milk (for soaking)

185g unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

3 eggs

3 ripe bananas (mashed)

160mls milk

3 cups self-raising flour

Cream cheese icing

100g unsalted butter

600g icing sugar (sifted)

250g cream cheese (softened)

Juice of one lemon

1 cup long thread coconut (toasted) and passionfruit pulp for serving.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Soak the coconut in the first measure of milk while you get the rest of the cake underway.

Cream the butter and sugar together, add the eggs one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl and beating well between each addition. Add the milky coconut mix and mashed banana. Mix together. Add the second measure of milk and flour, alternating between each. Mix well and pour into a prepared (greased/lined etc) tin. I used a classic bundt tin which worked well.

Bake for about an hour or until a skewer is inserted into the centre and comes out clean.

To make the icing, combine the butter and icing sugar in a cake mixers until fine crumbs form. Add the cream cheese and lemon juice and beat on high for five minutes until light and fluffy. Ice when the cake it cool and sprinkle with toasted coconut (and passionfruit if you can get it).