Coconut Chocolate Cake

Dear Claudia and Marjolein (and whoever stumbles upon this otherwise),

I'm so glad you enjoyed my little concoction! In the spirit of transparency, this recipe is based on and adapted from a recipe by Chef Laurent Vancam (who was my high school's canteen director). It was the go-to lunch snack and I'm honoured to share it with you.

Ingredients

~ makes like 50 portions, feel free to half or quarter ~

Cake

• 500g fine desiccated coconut
• 500g (dark) chocolate, grated
• 500g (plant-based) butter, room temp or softened
• 350g white sugar
• 150g brown sugar
• 1tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tsp salt
• 12 eggs, room temp
• 60g cacoa
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Icing

(I didn't add the icing this time, but it's a delightful addition)

• 250g (dark) chocolate
• 150ml (plant-based) cream

Method

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180°C (or whatever temperature your oven bakes at: mine is 220° and ovens are weird). Grease a cake tin, all your muffin trays, and a baking sheet because the amount of cake this recipe makes is ridiculous.
2. Mix together the fine coconut and grated chocolate and set aside.
   1. Baker's note: man, I never wished for a food processor more. It genuinely took me about 40 minutes on a Monday night to grate half a kilo of chocolate, and at one point I just threw it into a smoothie blender and hoped for the best. To no avail, mind you, because the little blender got hot and started melting the chocolate, and it was a disaster. So I had to grate all the chocolate by hand but it was worth it. 😅
3. Cream the sugar and butter with an electric mixer, then add the vanilla and salt and mix well.
4. Crack all eggs in a separate bowl and lightly beat until loosened. Add the eggs to the butter mixture and mix until just combined.
5. Add the cocoa and the baking soda to the batter, and mix until combined.
6. Add the coconut and chocolate to the batter and mix well. Pour the mixture into as many receptacles as you have available and bake for 30–40 mins.
   1. Baker's note: my big tin was in the oven for 30 minutes, and when I pulled it out the cake was just a little too soft to the touch—even though the colour on top was good. I put it back in the oven for 10 mins, it came out firmer, and set well. Next time I'd probably stick it in for another 10 just because the base of the cake was still softer than I liked. OR, if I had a more reasonable amount of batter, bake a thinner cake and bake it for 30-40. The muffins were done in 30 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven and let it cool all the way down before adding the icing.
8. Make the icing by combining the chocolate and the cream in a metal bowl over simmering water, stirring often until melted and smooth (add a tiny pinch of salt and touch of vanilla if you're so inclined; this is what I usually do with a ganache to make it yummyyyy).
9. Pour the icing over your cooled cake and let it set in the fridge before cutting into little brownie-sized blocks and dusting with icing sugar for ✨aesthetic ✨.
10. Share some cake with everyone because you have too much. I prefer it cold so keep in the fridge, I guess? I suspect it also freezes well, but I wouldn't know because it disappeared very quickly (this is the benefit of sharing with everyone).