Chocolate, Toasted Coconut & Passionfruit Cake
and what happens when you go a cake picnic with 234 other cakes.
What do you decide to bake for a Cake Picnic where over 200 people are coming and everyone has to bring a cake?!
In case you missed it, last weekend was a big day in the baking world with the London stop of Cake Picnic tour. The whole day was like a Pinterest board in real life and I’m still dreaming about it. Cake Picnic was started by Elisa Sunga in San Francisco as a fun idea to eat some cakes and meet up with other local bakers. It’s quickly grown to an event that now tours different cities across the US, bringing along plenty of cake joy and sugar highs. Her last picnic in San Francisco had 1000 (!) people and therefore 1000 cakes! I can’t even imagine how much of incredible sight that would’ve been.
After following each other for a few years on Instagram, I got to meet Elisa in San Fran last year whilst on my US book tour. Sitting on a table outside Tartine Bakery with a banana cream pie and iced coffee, I joked (*insisted) that it would be cool to bring Cake Picnic across the pond to London. Fast forward to last Saturday and she made it happen! About 220 people in the morning and 234 in the afternoon descended on Greenwich Park - blankets, cake boxes, and slicers in hand.
The biggest rule of Cake Picnic is: NO CAKE NO ENTRY. Every person in attendance must bring a whole cake - no cupcakes, cheesecakes or anything smaller than 6 inches are allowed. Once all the creations are displayed, groups get 5 minutes to slice and fill up a box with as many cakes as you can. The clock started and I was overwhelmed. Those 5 minutes flew by and I definitely panicked over where to start and which cakes to dive into. Thankfully, there was time to go back in for seconds!
Of what I was able to try, highlights included the stunning meringue cake by Julia at Suss Cake Studio, the peach and raspberry choux cake tower by
So, what cake did I bring?! I knew I wanted to go for chocolate as I suspected there’d be an abundance of vanilla, lemon and fresh berries. And also because I really really love chocolate cake. But to keep things a bit summery, I layered it up with a tangy passionfruit curd and a toasted coconut pastry cream that gets whipped with butter.
Admittedly, this is much more faffy than the cakes I normally make. Most of you will know how much I love a chic single layer cake, but this event required a bit of oomph so I had to bring something special.
Cake Picnic was the summer event I didn’t know I needed and I already can’t wait for next year. Keep an eye out on Cake Picnic Tour socials to follow where they’ll be popping up next!
In the meantime, enjoy my recipe and let me know what cake you would have baked.
Benjamina x
CHOCOLATE, TOASTED COCONUT AND PASSIONFRUIT CAKE
I adore a good chocolate cake. They come in many shapes, sizes and textures but I love them all the same. As this was a layer cake, I went for something a little more sturdy but still very moist and chocolatey.
The toasted coconut buttercream is such a fun one to make and has just enough sweetness to keep everything from being too sickly. It starts life as a thick, coconut infused pastry cream before being emulsified with butter. It’s technical name would be a creme mousseline or german buttercream. It has a similar vibe to a Swiss meringue buttercream but a little richer and more custardy.
I know there are a lot of elements going on here but please don’t skip the passion fruit curd! Not only does it bring a fun pop of colour in the middle but it also adds a bright zingyness that makes this your not-so-average chocolate cake.
To avoid getting overwhelmed, make the curd and pastry cream up to two days ahead. You can also make the cake layers a day before. And then all you’ve got to do is assemble and cover in ganache.
RECIPE
Passion fruit curd:
7 ripe passion fruit
50g caster sugar
1 large egg
2 egg yolks
30g butter
Toasted coconut buttercream:
75g desiccated coconut
450ml milk
4 egg yolks
60g caster sugar
20g cornflour
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
250g unsalted butter
2 tbsp icing sugar
pinch salt
Chocolate Cake:
420g plain flour
200g caster sugar
160g light brown sugar
90g cocoa powder
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
150g unsalted butter, melted
70g neutral oil
4 large eggs
300g sour cream
250ml strong brewed coffee
Chocolate ganache:
150g milk chocolate
200g dark chocolate
300ml double cream
toasted coconut flakes, to finish
METHOD
To make the passionfruit curd:
Scoop out the passion fruit flesh and add it to a saucepan with the sugar. Mix well and heat gently until warmed through. Pass the mixture through a sieve and discard the seeds.
Add the juice back into the saucepan and whisk in the egg and yolks. Add in the butter. Cook over a low heat, stirring constantly and making sure to get into the corners of the pan.
Once the curd thickens to the consistency of thick yoghurt, remove from the heat and pass the curd through a fine sieve. Add the curd to a clean bowl, cover with cling film toughing the surface and set it aside to cool completely.
To make the chocolate cake:
Preheat the oven to 160c fan/180c. Grease and line three 8 inch loose bottomed sandwich tins.
Add the flour, cocoa powder, caster sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt to a large bowl and stir breifly to combine.
In a separate jug, mix together the eggs, sour cream, oil and melted butter. Stir in the coffee.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and then pour in the liquids.
Whisk it gently to bring it together until you have a nice smooth batter.
Pour the batter evenly into the prepared tins and bake for 26-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Let the cakes cool completely before assembling.
To make the toasted coconut buttercream:
Add the desiccated coconut to a small frying pan and heat for 3-4 minutes, turning frequently until the coconut turns a deep amber. Don’t be scared to take it to a fairly dark shade, it’ll give you more flavour!
In a clean saucepan, gently heat the milk until hot to the touch. Remove from the heat and tip in the toasted coconut. Cover the pan and let it infuse for at least one hour but 4+ hours or even overnight is great.
Strain the infused coconut milk through a sieve, making sure to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. You should have about 320-330ml of liquid but you can top this up with some extra milk if you’re short.
Add the coconut milk to a clean saucepan along with the vanilla bean paste. Heat gently until hot but not boiling.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until combined before whisking in the cornflour.
Pour a splash of hot milk onto the eggs and whisk well. Continue to pour in the milk whilst whisking. Pour everything back into the saucepan over low-medium heat, stirring constantly.
After a couple of minutes, the custard will begin to thicken up. Let it come to the boil and bubble for about 30 seconds before pouring it into a shallow bowl. Cover with some cling film touching the surface and let it cool down before chilling in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Once it’s well chilled, give it a quick whisk to remove any lumps. Add the softened butter to the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whip the butter with 2 tbsp icing sugar and salt until creamy and pale.
With the mixer still running, add in the custard in 3 batches. Whisk for a further minute on medium-high speed until you have a light and smooth buttercream.
Switch to the paddle attachment and beat on low speed for a minute to remove some of the air bubbles. If at any point the buttercream looks very soupy, pop the bowl in the fridge for 20 minutes before continuing to whisk.
Set it aside for assembly.
To make the ganache:
Place the chopped chocolate into a bowl.
Add the cream and a pinch of salt to a small saucepan and heat gently until hot but just before the boil.
Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let it sit for 30 seconds. Gently stir it until you have a thick and smooth ganache.
Let it sit at room temperature until it thickens to a soft but spreadable consistency. You can speed this up in the fridge but keep an eye on it so it doesn’t firm up too much.
To assemble:
If any of the cake layers are uneven, use a sharp serrated knife to level it off.
Place one layer of cake on a large plate or cake board. Add just under half of the buttercream on top and use an offset spatula to smooth it out evenly.
Add half of the curd on top, making sure to not spread to to the edges of the cake or it’ll spill out. I tend to leave at least an inch border.
Repeat with the next layer of cake. For the last layer of cake, place this topside down to get a flat top.
Use the remaining buttercream to add a thin crumb coat layer around the edges. Don’t worry about using any on the top.
Chill the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes (longer if it’s a warm day) until the buttercream has firmed up a bit.
Spread the ganache on the tops and sides of the cake, using a spatula or bench scraper to smooth the edges.
Finish the cake with some toasted coconut flakes.