Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Coconut cake with marscapone cream


Mmm, yeah - I know that the cake at the top of this post doesn't look very attractive. It was one of those kitchen moments that didn't quite work out as I had intended. However, despite the fact that this cake looks like someone sat on it, I have decided to post about it, because it tasted lovely, and I would like to try it again, having learned a few lessons.

The cake in question is an almond cake with marscapone cream out of Leslie Mackie's Macrina Bakery and Cafe Cookbook. It is rich and buttery and oh so nice, but I had a couple of disasters in my attempt to make it. First of all, even though I used a 9 x 3 inch pan as stated in the recipe, the cake baked over the top of the tin, which led to a rather messy oven.

The resulting cake was an odd shape, although still usable, so I cut off the uneven top, and decided unwisely to try and cut it into two layers to fill it. This was a bad decision - the unevenness and fragility of the cake led to both layers disintegrating in parts, so I literally slapped together the marscapone cream without regard for smoothness, and glued the cake together like a jigsaw puzzle, then put it in the fridge overnight to think about what I was going to do with it.

In the morning, I took the cake out and cut a slice - and fell in love with the taste. It was absolutely awesome. I had meant it to be a farewell cake for my colleague, Barry. However, I wasn't going to give him a patched up cake for that purpose, so I made him another, plainer cake, and brought in the glued-together almond cake as a side dish. Everyone else must have agreed with my view on the taste of the almond cake, because despite its rather battered appearance, almost every crumb was eaten. And to think, I nearly threw it out!

Here is Barry's other cake, a double-layer plain vanilla cake with orange water icing, and piping in chocolate sauce:


If you wanted to have a go at the almond cake yourself, the recipe is as follows:

3 eggs
3/4 cup plain low fat yoghurt (I used vanilla strawberry - it was fine)
2 teaspoons almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups almond meal
250g butter

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius, and grease andline a 9 x 3 inch springform pan. (I found this size too small - not sure why.)

Whisk together the eggs, 1/4 cup of the yoghurt and the almond and vanilla extracts in a bowl and set aside.

Stir the sugar, sifted flour, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in another bowl and set aside.

Cream the butter in an electric mixer for about 5 minutes. Add the flour mixture and the remaining half a cup of yoghurt, and beat at low speed until just combined. Add the egg mixture in three batches, beating in between each addition.

Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake in the oven for one hour and ten minutes until cooked through. Cool in the tin on a wire rack for an hour before unmoulding, cutting into three layers and filling. The layers are fragile, so you need to handle them with care.

As mentioned above, despite my misadventures, this cake tasted amazing. Next time, I will try baking it in three separate pans to avoid the baking over and layering issue.

17 comments:

Susan @ SGCC said...

Be still my heart! Put mascarpone on anything and I'm in! Who cares what it looks like (though it doesn't look bad), it sounds wonderful!

Dee said...

Barry's cake looks beautiful but I much prefer the coconut and mascarpone cake. We use so much coconut in Malaysian desserts, but you hardly ever come across a coconut cake. I wonder why that is?

Deb said...

Oh dear. At least you had time to bake another and the other cake looks fab.

Ivy said...

Disasters do happen every now and then but although we feed with our eyes first,I think it's the taste that counts most.

Cakelaw said...

Hi Susan, this cake truly tastes devine - it's just my execution of the aestheticsthat was off.

Hi Dee, The Southern US is famed for its coconut cakes - I have never made one, but if you are keen (and don't want to try this one), the South is famed for its coconut cakes.

Hi Deb, the other cake was a snap - very simple, and luckily I had the ingredients.

Hi Ivy, on the taste front, the coconut cake was a winner - glad I didn't throw it out.

Rosie said...

I know your coconut and mascarpone cake will taste fantastic - never mind the look the taste is whats important in my book!! Barry's a lucky guy to have you bake such a lovely cake :)

Rosie x

Anonymous said...

Your cake really does sound delicious! I love anything with mascarpone! mmm mmmm
Maryann xox

Emily said...

Why are your colleagues always leaving?! WHAT'S going on in that office?

I think all cakes are beautiful and I like this one very much. Especially with mascarpone.

Gloria Baker said...

I love mascarpone with any cake or dessert is wonderful!!! xGloria

adele said...

If we judged all our food on its visual appeal, no-one would ever eat pappa al pomodoro (tomato porridge; has all the visual appeal of regurgitated pizza) or that Egyptian soup whose name I can't remember that looks like slime raked up from the bottom of a pond. And that would be a dreadful shame, because they're both delicious.

The coconut cake sounds marvellous. :)

Cakelaw said...

Thanks Rosie - Barry was a vocal admirer of my cakes, so it is a shame that his didn't work out so well.

Agreed Maryann - and welcome back!!!

Hi Em, I think that there is something in the water - it's driving them away in droves!!

Thanks Gloria - a large helping for you.

LOL Adele - true!

Clumbsy Cookie said...

Sometimes we have to ignore looks! The cake must be excelent and lucky coworkers that got 2 cakes instead!

Silvia - Magnolia Wedding Planner said...

my dear!!! what a pleasure to come in your blog again! i've missed you so much hun!
what a great cake .uhmm..it looks delicious!
a big kiss!
Silvia

Unknown said...

I read about a home-made mascarpone today. It frankly is quite easy and perhaps cheaper! I think I should make that first before trying out your lovely cake, Gaye. Scrumptious!

Chef Jeena said...

This is so tasty I love the filling yum!

Cakelaw said...

Absolutely, Clumbsy Cookie.

Hi Sylvia, welcome back! Thanks for dropping by.

Hi Arfi, would love to see how the home-made marscapone turns out - this is something I'd like to try.

Thanks Jeena.

Dreams of cakes said...

My dad will love this cake. The recipe sounds delicous! Thanks for sharing.