Banana and Coconut Cake with Whipped Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing
Photography Josh Griggs.
Delicious with or without the icing – an old favourite tweaked using desiccated coconut and coconut oil.
Makes: 1 cake
INGREDIENTS
4 very ripe medium bananas, well mashed
½ cup desiccated coconut
½ cup melted coconut oil or other neutral oil
½ cup each caster and brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon sea salt
1½ cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon each ground cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg
To finish
Whipped Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing (see recipe below)
Equipment: Grease and fully line a 20cm loose-based cake tin.
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan bake.
Stir together the bananas, coconut, oil, both sugars, eggs, vanilla and salt until well combined. Set aside for 10 minutes to soften the coconut.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg and add to the banana mixture.
Stir everything together, making sure there are no pockets of flour in the batter. Pour into the tin and bake for about 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes, then remove from the tin to a cooling rack and cool completely.
Dollop the icing over the cake and swirl with the back of a spoon.
Whipped Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing
INGREDIENTS
100 grams cream cheese, at room temperature
100 grams butter, at room temperature
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
¼ cup good-quality dark cocoa (I used Valrhona)
METHOD
Beat the cream cheese until smooth with no lumps. Add the butter and beat again until light and fluffy. Add the icing sugar and cocoa and beat until well combined. Use immediately or chill for a little while if you want a firmer texture.
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In Dream Escape, we journey from Japan and Morocco to Italy, India and beyond, sharing recipes inspired by travel, heritage and comfort. We celebrate the champions of the Outstanding Food Producer Awards, explore the stories and recipes of chefs shaped by their cultural roots, and warm up with everything from West African soups and slow-braised lamb to porchetta, butter chicken and beef noodle soup. Alongside destination menus, Scandinavian sweets and cosy pub classics, Chrisanne Terblanche shares her favourite street-side dining spots in Bangkok, while Yvonne Lorkin explores red wine varietals. This issue, we invite you to slow down, turn the pages and escape through food.