Blueberry and Coconut cake

We celebrated my husband’s birthday last Sunday and I made this monstrous cake.
It tasted wonderful – but it ruins your appetite.

Blueberry and Coconut cake
Serves 16

Cake:
21/2 cup cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup soft butter
13/4 cup sugar2 tsp vanilla
1 TBSP lime rind (finely grated)
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
11/2 coconut milk
11/2 cup desiccated coconut

Cream:
1 vanilla pod
3 TBSP powder sugar
11/2 cup crème fraiche 38% fat (or double cream)
3/4 cup double cream

Filling:
3 cups preserved blueberries

Frosting:3/4 cup sugar
1 TBSP syrup or molasses
2 TSP water
3 egg whites
2 TBSP sugar

Decoration:
Desiccated coconut, roasted

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl whip butter and sugar creamy and add vanilla and lime rind. Add the eggs and yolks one at a time. Add flour and coconut milk alternately and fold in the coconut. Fill the batter in 3 prepared pans and bake them for about 30 minutes at 375 degrees F (180 C). Turn them out on a wired rack and let them cool.

Split the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds. Mix them with the powdered sugar and add crème fraiche and cream. Beat until soft peaks form.
Layer the cakes with the vanilla cream and the preserved blueberries.

Place sugar, syrup and water in a saucepan and let it boil 5 minutes.
Beat the egg whites with sugar until soft peaks form. Add the boiling sugar syrup and continue beating until the frosting is fluffy and no longer warm (5-8 minutes). Spread it on the cake and decorate with roasted coconut.

Plum and blueberry cake

Our garden is boosting with plums and berries - so I just had to bake a cake today:









Plum and blueberry cake

2 large eggs
3/4 cup cane sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
5-6 ounces walnuts (chopped)
1/2 cup plum butter or apple butter
3 TBSP melted butter

1 pound plums
1/4 pound blueberries
3 TBSP cane sugar

Beat eggs and sugar until thick. Sift the flour together with the baking powder and add the walnuts. Fold the walnut-flour into the egg cream and add plum butter and melted butter.
Spread the batter into a pan (14x10 inches) lined with baking paper.
Wash the fruit and slice the plums into wedges. Arrange the plums on the batter along with the berries and sprinkle the sugar over the fruit. Bake the cake at 360 degrees F (180 C) for 45-60 minutes.
Let the cake cool in the pan.

Maxi Blueberry scone

Maxi Blueberry scone

There was a good price on fresh blueberries the other day, so I could not resist.
We all love them on our breakfast yoghurt with homemade muesli (granola) –
But of course they are also wonderful in pies, muffins and scones.

I made this quick monster scone:

Dough:
11/3 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 stick cold butter
1 egg
3 TBSP milk

Filling:
11/4 pound fresh blueberries
4 TBSP sugar
1 tsp lemon rind
1/2 tsp powdered cinnamon

Topping:
1 egg or a little cream or milk
2 TPSP pearl sugar

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs.

In a small measuring cup combine the beaten egg and milk. Add this mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix the dough or the scone will be tough.

Roll the dough out on a piece of baking paper – to at rectangular about 10 by 12 inches.
Spread the berries on the dough. Mix the lemon rind, sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle it over the berries. Roll the whole thing together like a jelly roll, close the ends by pressing the dough together and place the roll on a baking pan.

Brush the top with a little beaten egg, cream or milk. Sprinkle with pearl sugar and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Enjoy!