Orange and Coconut Gâteau

Here is my first recipe, and it's one of my favourite things to make! It's just a basic genoise sponge recipe, and you can literally add anything you want to it, to make the flavour unique to how you like it. I find that orange and coconut really compliment each other well, especially with the fresh cream filling I used. The great thing about a genoise sponge is that it's fat-less, meaning its a really light sponge, and you don't need to feel guilty when you help yourself to a slice or two!

Ingredients:
6oz Self Raising Flour
6oz Sugar
6 Eggs
600 ml Double Cream
2 Oranges
100g Desiccated Coconut

Method:
Beat together the Sugar and Eggs until it doubles in size, and it reaches the ribbon stage (when the mix is thick enough that you can draw a number 8 on top with it). This should take about 10 minutes with an electric mix, depending on how strong your electric whisk is. By hand, it can take an awful lot longer, but it's totally worth it (just think of it as a work out)!
Next, fold in the flour, carefully so not to knock out all the air you created when beating together the eggs and sugar. If you want to create a chocolate sponge, simply replace 1oz of flour with cocoa powder. For this recipe, now add the zest of both the oranges-leave the juices to flavour the cream later.
The tins I used for this bake were 2 20cm cake tins, however you can use 3 smaller ones for a taller cake, or a swiss roll tin for a roulade.
Simply grease the tins and then scrape the mix evenly into the two tins. Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes, and then check every 5 minutes until the cake is golden brown, and a cake skewer (or fork) comes out clean when inserted into the cake. I find my bakes often take anywhere in-between 30 minutes and 40 minutes, however it just depends on how powerful your oven is.
Once cooked, remove from the tins and leave to cool completely.
Meanwhile, whip up the double cream until it holds its own shape, keep an eye on it though, as it can quickly become over whipped and end up like butter! Flavour your cream with the juice from the two oranges (or whatever flavour you'd like), and use a quarter to sandwich your sponges together. Then use the rest to cover the top and sides of your assembled cake. Then simply, using your hands, put the coconut around the sides of your cakes, just press it onto the cream. It couldn't be simpler!
Now cut yourself a slice, make a cuppa and sit back and relax, and enjoy a slice of guilt-free heaven!




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