Fake

I'm not a huge fan of flavourings. I try to use the real thing every time. We usually make decisions about things based on past experiences so maybe i decided i didn't like flavouring based on a past experience perhaps with cheap flavouring. Maybe there are great quality products out there that taste like the real thing but i just don't like the idea of artificial flavouring. This recipe called for coconut flavouring so I got this Foster Clarks coconut essence from a local supermarket. The main ingredient in this is ‘Nature Identical Coconut Flavouring’. After doing a little research I found that: ‘Due to the high cost or unavailability of natural flavor extracts, most commercial flavorants are "nature-identical", which means that they are the chemical equivalent of natural flavors, but chemically synthesized rather than being extracted from source materials‘. Because certain fruits and vegetables are not available to everyone everywhere, I understand why flavorings are helpful but where possible, I say use the real thing. It smelt just like Malibu rum so naturally i felt like making a cocktail but i unfortunately had neither malibu nor pineapples so that was just a daydream. A little bit went a long way and it really did taste like coconut(duh) BUT after a few days, the flavour was virtually gone. If e no be coconut, e no fit be coconut.

The process was pretty basic starting with butter and sugar then followed by flour and milk. The egg yolk and whites were added last, separately. The batter was very much like cookie dough before i added the eggs and i was beginning to feel like the cake might end up being heavy.

egg yolks in

Never underestimate the power of eggs. When egg whites are whisked really well, they become foamy and stiff. Thousands of air bubbles are trapped which make the cake light and fluffy and that's what this cake was.