- Serves 10 to 12 - Ready in 3 hours 15 minutes (including 2 hours of cooling time) -
Gather together...
150g butter (sliced and softened in the heating-up oven OR grated to soften it).
150g desiccated coconut.
400g tin of condensed milk (I used the branded 'Carnation' one).
50g white caster / white granulated sugar.
200g plain flour (sieved).
1.5 tsp baking powder (sieved).
2 medium free-range eggs (beaten).
120g dark cooking chocolate to drizzle over the cake - 'cooking chocolate' melts far more easily than regular chocolate and is much less likely to shock and split. Sainsbury's own-brand cooking chocolate is sold in foil and card (so is plastic-free), Green & Black's cooking chocolate is plastic-free AND palm oil-free, but is too pricey for me to use regularly.
1/2 tsp of desiccated coconut (OR curled coconut shavings) - to sprinkle over the finished cake
Get cooking...
1. Pre-heat the oven to 170 C (150 C fan) or Gas 3.
2. Put the 150g of (sliced) butter in a heat-proof small bowl and soften it for 3 minutes in the heating-up oven (or grate it instead, but I hate grating things). Set a timer so you don't forget it. Don't worry if it is rather melted when you remove it (be careful, the bowl will be very hot already!) as this is far better than trying to use butter that is too firm.
3. Meanwhile butter-grease a 23cm (9 inch) deep, spring form / loose bottomed cake tin. Line the base with greaseproof paper, or better still with a cut-to-size reusable baking liner (such as this from Lakeland), then butter the lined base.
4. Mix the 150g of desiccated coconut with the 400g tin of condensed milk, in a medium bowl. Set aside to soak.
5. In a medium / large mixing bowl, add the 50g of white sugar to the softened butter and stir well until pale and fluffy (this will take about 1 minute).
6. Into the mixing bowl sieve the 200g of plain flour and sieve in the 1.5 tsp of baking powder. Stir slightly, just for about 10 seconds.
7. Now add the saturated-in-milk coconut to the mixing bowl, plus the 2 beaten (medium sized) eggs. Give everything a good stir until there are no dry patches remaining, this will take about 1 minute of active mixing with a spoon (or slightly less time if your are using an electric mixer).
8. Spoon the cake mixture batter into the tin and smooth it gently.
9. Bake the cake for 45 minutes, until it starts to shrink away from the edge of the tin and a skewer / knife inserted vertically into the middle of the cake comes out clean - this cake DOES NOT turn golden on top, it will be pale when it comes out of the oven and this is fine. Don't overbake it, or it will be dry.
10. Cool the cake in it's tin (on a wire rack) for 10 minutes and then release the cake, cover it with a clean tea towel and let it cool for 1 hour - so that the chocolate doesn't slide off when it's added.
11. Once the cake feels cool to the touch (after about an hour), gently melt the 120g of cooking chocolate over a bain marie (a saucepan with a small quantity of boiling water in it, which gently heats a bowl above).
12. Drizzle the chocolate over the cake, right to the edges and spread with a knife - aim for a textured finish to show-off the thickness of the chocolate, which is a feature of Bounty Bars (yum). The cake will probably have sunk during cooling (mine always does), which actually allows for a nice pool of thicker chocolate in the middle of the cake!
13. For the full Bounty Bar experience, let the chocolate set fully (this will take another hour) before devouring, but don't be tempted to put it in the fridge or else the chocolate will lose its glossy shine.
14. *Optional* sprinkle a 1/2 tsp of desiccated coconut (OR use curled coconut shavings) over the cake.
15. Keep this cake in an airtight container at (cool) room temperature and eat it up within 3 days.
Adapted from Aunt Doris's Coconut Cake recipe, she was my brother-in-law's Auntie (I'm not sure what relation that makes Aunt Doris to me!). I hope she would appreciate the addition of extra coconut, the tin of condensed milk and a thick layer of chocolate.