Bounty Cake

Whenever I drive anywhere and have to get petrol, I always, without doubt, also get myself a bounty. They're my favourite chocolate bar and the first one I'll reach for at Christmas time when the celebrations come out. I haven't, however, ever made a bounty cake and I have no idea why because coconut is a dream to work with within baking and really really elevates a simple sponge cake and is the perfect alternative for ground almond if you don't have any.

Tips for top notch sponge:

1. Room temperature is a must. Cold eggs do mix easily and will never hold the volume of air that you want that room temp eggs have.

2. Ingredients at the ready. The worst thing you can do is not have them ready because sponge cake has a science to it, if you take time to weigh your ingredients whilst cooking you risk losing air in your mix which is very important to a good rise.

3. Don't over mix, we are all guilty of this but over mixing means you'll lose the air and you won't get that super moist sponge you are craving.

4. Do I have to sift? If you want a good rise, then you should sift everything in because the mix will be much lighter than it would be without sifting.

Bring Bounty from chocolate bar to delicious sponge cake. Super delicious and perfect for those cosy chilly evenings with a cuppa.

Bounty Cake Ingredients

• 220 g Plain Flour

• 220 g Olive Oil Butter

• 180 g Caster Sugar

• 90 g Desiccated coconut (toasted)

• 150 ml Almond and Coconut Milk

• 2 Duck Eggs

• 2 tbsp Olive Oil

• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

• 1.5 tsp Baking Powder

• 1 tbsp Cornflour

• 2 tsp Coconut Milk Powder (From Buy Whole Foods Online)

Nutella and Cream Cheese Topping Ingredients

• 3 tbsp Nutella

• 3 tbsp Philadelphia Cream Cheese

• 3 tsp Coconut Flakes

• 1/2 tsp Sea Salt

• 1 tsp Coconut Oil

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180c and line your loaf tin with one strip of parchment so you can lift it up out of the tin easily.

2. In a frying pan without oil, toast your desiccated coconut until very lightly tanned in colour and place into a bowl immediately afterwards so it doesn't continue to cook.

3. In a bowl, cream your butter and sugar until very pale and then add in your eggs, beat until creamy and thick and then add in your coconut powder milk (optional) but I really like the flavour it gives, your olive oil and vanilla extract and mix until combined.

4. In another bowl, mix your desiccated coconut, flour, baking powder and cornflour and then pour into your batter, stirring slowly (not too much) until smooth and then add in your milk.

5. Your your mix into your loaf tin and bake for 45 minutes until golden on the top. Remove from the tin and place on a rack and allow to cool fully before decorating.

6. In a bowl mix your cream cheese and Nutella until smooth. In a pan place your coconut, coconut oil and salt and gently heat until tanned in colour and then pour into a bowl to cool. They will be delicious sweet and salty.

7. Decorate your cake by lathering the frosting on top followed by the toasted coconut and enjoy!