Coconut pineapple cake

the great thing about having christmas and holidays in december is that its summer and along with all the good things that brings, there are so many delicious fruits in season. in south africa we have access to such a variety of affordable fruit! its the cherry on top of holidays.

so, a light and fluffy coconut and pineapple cake drenched in pineapple syrup made with fresh coconut and topped with whipped cream and strawberries... best summer dessert, ever!  i used real coconut and the milk that was in it. its up to you but i would go for the real deal if you can, its worth it. you could also use real pineapple but i used the canned version and the juice that is in the can as well.
get an elf to help you with the coconut because it is quite a mission. and look how happy he is to do it!

ahhh  fresh whipped cream...

Coconut Pine-apple cake:

best served fresh but delicious cold the next day

Cake ingredients:

440gr   can crushed pineapple (or any canned pineapple form but then you must put it through a food 
           processor or stick blender until it is a pulp and not chunky anymore)

160 gr butter

3/4 cup castor sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 cup self raising flour (or 1 1/2 cup normal flour and 1 1/2 tsp baking powder)

1/2 cup fresh coconut, grated *see coconut opening instructions at bottom of this post

Sauce ingredients:

- pineapple juice (leftover from draining the canned pineapple, or 1 cup pineapple juice if you used fresh pineapple)

- The drained coconut milk from the coconut

- 2 table spoons castor sugar

- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

- tsp fresh lemon juice

- 1/4 cup butter

Method:

1. preheat oven to 180'C

2. grease, flour and line with baking paper a 22 inch spring form cake tin

3.  strain tinned pineapple and keep the liquid aside, for the sauce

4. cream butter and sugar until white and fluffy. add eggs one at a time and beat well after each egg.

    (this is where the fluffy texture of your cake is born so the better you beat it, the fluffier and lighter your cake will   

     become. if you do not have an electric mixer, good luck to your arms!)

5. fold in the flour, grated coconut and shredded pineapple. do not over mix on this step. (dont forget if you are using 

    normal flour instead of self raising that you must add the baking powder now too.)

6. spoon into tin and bake at 180 for 50min or until skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean and not  

    gooey.

Sauce method: 

1. put pineapple juice, coconut milk, castor sugar and butter in small saucepan and bring to the boil.

2. stir for 3-4 min then remove from heat

3. stir in vanilla essence and lemon juice

4.  remove cake from tin and put on rack to cool, put tray under the rack. poke holes in the cake while its still hot and pour hot sauce over the cake. let it cool completely before spreading fresh whipped cream on top and sprinkling with fresh strawberries.

Serve immediately and enjoy


Note: this is a one layer cake that is about 5cm high. you can double the recipe and make it double layered with a filling in-between if you like. But, it is a very rich cake already so be careful not to make the filling too decadent.

mm yes thats good!

How to open a fresh coconut:
1. buying a coconut: when you shake the coconut you should be able to faintly hear the milk sloshing around inside. this is a fresh coconut and the coconut flesh inside will not be dry.

2. de-hair the coconut. when it is bald, look around the top of it, there should be 3 distinct dips, scrape around there until you find three 5mm brown circles. these are the weak points in the shell. take a sharp object like a screw driver and stab the coconut into one of the circles, use a rock to bash it in if it is a bit hard. make sure the screwdriver goes right through the white part of the coconut. widen the hole a bit with the screw driver. repeat, making a second puncture hole in another circle. you should have two holes that go right through the white part and into the coconut.

3. in a glass, drain the milk from the coconut (if bits have got into it then sieve it before using)
   if there is only a little bit of milk its okay

4. when the coconut is drained, stand it with puncture holes up. take a rock or hammer or smashing device and using moderate violence smash the coconut apart. (you can see how violently mine was opened)

5. carefully use a knife to pry the white fleshy part away from the shell. it should come off in chunks with a brown lining still.

6. using normal grater, grate only the white flesh of each piece of coconut.

Eat the rest of the coconut delighting that your primal instincts of sourcing food are still intact! and consoling yourself with the fact that should the situation arise, you would be able to survive on a desert island!