Lemon and Coconut Cake

This week I made another cake – I’m telling you this cake business is great because I’m living the dream of making cakes on a regular basis. So please keep the orders coming in! I never made lemon and coconut sponge before this order…which some people have said is a bit risky. Yes, its risky if it doesn’t turn out but the key to a cake turning out is selecting a recipe from a reputable source. After many long hours of research, I found one from a Sainsbury’s magazine. The recipe seemed straight forward enough, however, it required coconut cream. What is coconut cream you ask? Well, I didn’t know until about three days ago. Coconut cream is essentially a thicker and creamier version of coconut milk. To source the coconut cream, I ended up going to an Asian supermarket. As this supermarket is a wholesaler the smallest quantity of cream I could get was 1l…I only need 250ml. Luckily, I rounded up a few friends and made curry with the remainder.

I made the sponges a day in advance, this was to ensure they stayed fresh. I then levelled the sponges so that they were all the same size. The customer requested that I make a naked cake. I don’t have much experience with these but was glad the opportunity arose so that I could improve my skills. For the filling I made a white chocolate ganache which was then whipped up with an electric whisk so that it would become paler, fluffier and generally yummier! I stacked and filled the layers and then did a light coating of the filling around the cake. Its important not to be too fussy about the way it looks as a naked cake is supposed to have an effortlessly elegant look. There isn’t a right or wrong way to achieve this. Just make sure the cake can be seen through the icing. I just spread light coatings of buttercream around the sides until I got the desired look. Then to top the cake off I piled up a selection of raspberries and strawberries in the middle. I also put a few lemon rinds on the cake and sprinkled some desiccated coconut all over the top layer.