Whether you’re a master baker or a novice, the art of baking is as relaxing as reading a book - only with a much better end result.
It’s a skill I wish I could master, but learning is as much fun.
According to daysoftheyear.com, World Bake Day was created “to spread the joy of baking all around the world”.
What’s better than the smell of freshly baked cookies or cake filling the home and sharing the fruits of your labour with those closest to you? Imagine the pleasure of slicing through a your first successful chocolate cake after however many failed attempts.
It’s an activity that can be enjoyed by the whole family or a great distraction after a stressful day. You don’t have to be an experienced pastry chef to celebrate the day.
With the thousands of baking recipes out there, your biggest challenge is finding the right one and get cracking. Whether you’re making cookies, brownies or your favourite tart, on World Bake Day you can bake your cake and eat it!
Ingredients
For the sponge:
125g butter, softened
250g castor snow
3 large eggs
165ml double-cream plain yoghurt
Zest of 1 lime
220g cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups desiccated coconut
For the filling:
4 cups diced pineapple
¼ cup castor sugar
Juice of 1 lime
¼ cup rum
For the frosting:
500g full-fat plain cream cheese, at room temperature
250g butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups sifted icing sugar
To decorate:
Toasted coconut shavings
Method
Preheat oven to 180ºC. Grease and line 3x 20cm round cake tins.
Beat butter and castor sugar until light and fluffy. Whisk in eggs, yoghurt and lime zest.
Sift together flour and baking powder then fold into the wet ingredients.
Gently fold in the coconut, then spoon batter into the prepared tins.
Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Leave cakes to cool in the tins for 5 minutes before unmoulding and cooling on a wire rack.
Make the pineapple filling by placing all the ingredients into a pot, bring to a simmer and cook on gentle heat for 5 minutes. Remove and leave to cool completely.
For the frosting, in a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add icing sugar and mix until smooth.
Assemble by placing one sponge onto a serving plate, top with of the cream cheese frosting, then top with half the pineapple filling. Repeat layering, finishing off with a layer of cream cheese frosting.
Finish the cake with toasted coconut shavings to decorate.
Recipe supplied by Lancewood.