Coconut Ice Cakes

I should probably begin this post by declaring the following: I do not like coconut cake. I really don't. However, for some bizarre reason, I'm a huge fan of the colourful sugary treat known as coconut ice. I'm not normally a big lover of sweets in general but I've been craving this by the bucketful the last few weeks and so, out of curiosity, had a Google to see whether anyone had had the stroke of genius to incorporate it into a cake recipe. Shockingly enough, turns out no one had. Naturally, I had to try and resolve this so I donned my experimental chef's hat and hit the kitchen armed with desiccated coconut, red food colouring and crossed fingers. I'm pleased to say the result was fantastic - simply adding desiccated coconut to regular buttercream icing really does make it taste very reminiscent of the sweet itself - and it went down a storm with my colleagues :)

For an extra homemade touch, you could make the actual coconut ice yourself (it's very easy - mostly just desiccated coconut and condensed milk) but, if I'm brutally honest, *whispers* I prefer the bought stuff. On that bombshell, here's my recipe...

Aren't they pretty??

INGREDIENTS - makes approx. 12 large squares

For the cakes:

• 12 oz self-raising flour
• 12 oz butter/margarine
• 12 oz granulated/caster sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 oz strawberry milkshake powder
• 1 tsp strawberry extract
• Few drops of red gel food colouring

For the coconut icing/jam filling:

• 4 oz icing sugar
• 2 oz butter (unsalted if preferred)
• 2 tbsp desiccated coconut
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Few drops of red gel food colouring
• 4-5 tbsp strawberry jam
• 12 small cubes of coconut ice (or 6 large chunks cut in half)

METHOD

For the cakes:

1. Grease two identical cake tins with butter/margarine or line with baking parchment.
2. Whisk the margarine/butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until pale then whisk in the eggs.
3. Fold in the flour until a batter of soft dropping consistency has formed then place half of the mixture into a separate bowl.
4. Add the vanilla extract to one bowl and set aside.
5. Add the strawberry milkshake powder and strawberry extract to the other bowl then stir in the red food colouring a drop at a time until the mixture turns a pale pink colour.
6. Pour each bowl of cake batter into the two separate tins and bake at 180 degrees C for about 15-18 minutes until a cocktail stick inserted into the sponges comes out clean.
7. When baked, place the cakes on a wire rack and leave to cool. At this stage they can be frozen for decorating at a later stage if you wish.

For the coconut icing/jam filling:

1. Spread the strawberry jam onto the top of the pink sponge and carefully place the yellow sponge on top (you may wish to trim the tops to make them nice and flat so they sandwich together more easily).
2. Place the butter and vanilla extract into a bowl and stir/whisk while gradually adding the icing sugar until a thick, fluffy mixture has formed.
3. Stir in the desiccated coconut and red food colouring until the icing turns your desired shade of pink.
4. Spread the icing over the top of the cake in an even layer then neatly trim off the outer edges of the cake to get the full effect of the lovely coloured sponge layers (but don't throw away the offcuts, they're still yummy!) 
5. Cut into 12 even squares then top each one with a piece of coconut ice.