SWEET ART BY TEMI

make a wish

make a wish

Wednesday 11 January 2012 • 2 comments

It was my beautiful friend rorys' birthday on sunday and i made her a coconut meringue cake. This is the second time its fallen on a coconut recipe on a friends birthday and for some reason there was malibu too. Of course, i made pina colada. I had been so busy all day and couldn't bake till late at night but i had set my mind to it so i had to do it. I will never start baking without reading though the recipe well first. Never! Was the hardest recipe yet especially since i was tired. The birthday girl and another friend were with me so it wasn't so bad. We ate pizza and drank pina colada as i baked. 


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coconut meringue cake
I started by piercing the eye of a fresh coconut to get out the milk which was put in a saucepan with water to make syrup.


The empty coconut was then put in a preheated oven for fifteen minutes and it came out cracked. Thought that was pretty cool. I still had to smash it against the wall a few times to get it opened then went through the task of removing the shell with a knife, peeling the brown skin off the white fruit then grating it. The book said 'scoop out the fruit from the shell' and i don't understand their choice of words. Scooping is for ice cream and that was not scooping. Could have lost a finger.






I creamed the butter and sugar until light and fluffy which was a first in this book. After i had put together all the ingredients(except the eggs) it was really thick, almost like cookie dough. Then i whisked three egg whites till stiff peaks formed and folded it into the mix with a metal spoon. Not sure why i had to use a metal spoon in particular. Even though it wasn't as thick as it was in the beginning, it was still too thick.




On to the meringue frosting. No butter, just sugar, egg whites, vanilla extract and water. All that was whisked in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water for about ten minutes. Talk about task. Wasn't very easy but it was really beautiful when it was done. Was thick, really white and glossy. I was trying to figure out why it had to be whisked over heat. I think it either has something to do with making it stand longer or making the sugar syrupy. Any ideas why?


When the cakes were cool i poured the syrup on each one as i stacked them up, spreading the meringue frosting on each layer and sprinkling a little grated coconut.





I love how white it is and the texture of the grated coconut on top is just lovely. I stuck some candles on it and it looked even more beautiful. She blew out her candles and made a wish but i didn't get a picture of her doing it so i lit them up again and she got another wish. I'm obsessed with photography like that, had to capture every moment even if i cheated.


happy birthday rory...xx

2 comments

  1. aaawwww!!!...*tears in my eyes*

    My friend is the best and i'm not just saying d@!!..dis was a pretty difficult recipe, it took about 3hrs to make and was made in d middle of d night (the only time she finally had to herself) but, determined to make my day special she put her all into it and I must say I had a very memorable midnight bday mini-party. And for those of u who will definitely be wondering, Yes d cake tasted as good as it looks.

    Thank you Temi!..I couldn't have wished for a better friend!!..xx

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  2. This was amazing! Generally not a fan of coconut in things but this was actually really good. I'm calling it the snow white cake.

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