Coconut Chiffon Cake

This moist chiffon cake is an adapation of my classic chiffon. The addition of desiccated coconut and coconut milk gives it a tropical twist. The perfect base for any cake or dessert, You can find it used in my Coconut & Pineapple cake, where I paired it with a caramelised Pineapple Compote, and light Swiss Meringue.

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Coconut Chiffon

Prep Time - 20mins

Yield - 600g

(Enough for one 8" layer)

or 12-15 cupcakes

Cooking time - 30-45mins

Ingredients

• 100g (2) Eggs

• 150g Castor Sugar

• 150g Cake Flour

• 10ml Baking Powder

• 5ml Salt

• 85g Coconut Milk

• 85g Water

• 35g Vegetable oil

• 5ml Vanilla

• 40g Desiccated Coconut

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C

2. Line the baking tins with greaseproof paper.

3. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until foamy and slowly add the castor sugar. Whisk to sabayon. This is when the mixture becomes light and airy, triples in volume, and can hold a figure 8 for 5 seconds.

4. Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a separate bowl. Carefully fold this into the egg mixture.

5. Bring the milk, oil, vanilla and water to the boil in a small pot. Remove from the heat.

6. Fold the wet ingredients into the mixture in 3 stages, mixing until just combined.

7. Fold in the desiccated coconut.

8. Divide the mixture into your tins, bake until light golden brown. +- 30-45 mins on until a skewer comes out cleanly.

9. Remove from the oven, cool in the tins for 5 mins.

10. Place onto a wire rack to cool completely.

11. Once cooled, level the tops and use as desired.

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Notes

This cake gets its' moisture from the fat in both the coconut milk and the vegetable oil. The absence of butter allows more air to be incorporated into the mixture, which leads to a lighter cake. As oil is a liquid fat, this cake tends to stay quite moist at room temperature

Feel free to toast your coconut if you want to add more flavour to the cake. You will however lose the light colour of the sponge.

Personally, I love serving this cake with a light filling such as a Swiss Meringue. It compliments the airy texture of the cake without adding the heaviness and excessive sweetness that is generally associated with butter-based buttercreams.