The slow cooker is on and the Sloppy Joes are going to be ready for dinner tonight. I can’t wait. A “Junk Food Day” delight which my family will enjoy. I have chopped up onion, broccoli, courgettes, yellow pepper and celery to which I have added soya mince ( I forgot to buy some beef mince), garlic, tomato puree and seasoning. I am serving it with new potatoes, sweet potato wedges and crusty rolls. I am going to share this recipe on Allrecipes.uk and Mytaste recipe sites. This recipe is going to be a healthy junk food treat and judging by the amount in the [amazon_textlink asin=’B00ZA7QXR2′ text=’slow cooker’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’wwwlovetobake-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’cb43e356-6d4e-11e7-b648-1fc9f25db178′] there will be enough for lunch tomorrow.
The oven is on as I have a Coconut Cake baking as I write. I decided to make this as a treat for the weekend – my husband and a couple of children really like coconut. After mixing the cake batter I added some chopped cherries just to use the cherries up before they went off. I have bought some [amazon_textlink asin=’B0011CVP2I’ text=’marshmallow fluff’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’wwwlovetobake-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’f6c6e780-6d49-11e7-920c-e7d1554409e5′] to decorate this cake with and then I am going to sprinkle some toasted coconut over the top. I am really looking forward to eating a slice of this cake. The house smells delicious. I am sharing my recipe for my Coconut & Cherry Fluff Cake on Yummly and on my blog.
[lt_recipe name=”Coconut & Cherry Fluff Cake” servings=”8″ prep_time=”15M” cook_time=”30M” total_time=”45M” difficulty=”Easy” print=”yes” summary=” Nutritionally, one slice of cake contains 572 calories, 34.2g total fat (44% daily total fat), 62.1g total carbohydrate (23% daily total carbohydrate), 2.7g fibre (10% daily fibre) (based on a 2000 calorie diet).” image=”https://www.love-to-bake.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/coconut12.jpeg” ingredients=”For the sponge:;8oz self raising flour;8oz caster sugar;8oz soft spread;4 eggs;1tsp vanilla essence;2oz fresh cherries (halved and pitted);2oz dessicated coconut;For the filling:;2tbsp black cherry jam;3tbsp marshmallow fluff;For the topping:;4tbsp marshmallow fluff;4tbsp dessicated coconut (toasted);” ]For the sponge:;Preheat the oven to Gas 4.;Line an 7 inch round, loose bottomed, high sided cake tin/ two 7 inch sandwich tins.;In a glass bowl, weigh out the ingredients except for the coconut and cherries, and whisk together to make a smooth batter.;Add the coconut and cherries and mix together.;Transfer to the cake tin.;Bake for 30 minutes till golden brown and springs back when touched.;Allow to cool before remove from the tin.;For the filling:;Slice the cake in half and sandwich the two halves together with the jam and fluff.;For the topping:;Spread the fluff over the top of the cake before sprinkling the toasted coconut on top.;;[/lt_recipe]
Other baking I want to do today is to make some Cookies – mainly for the children who don’t like coconut. Got to keep the troops happy. Also, I am going to make either some Flapjack of Granola Bars – I have not decided yet.
There is quite a lot of sugar in this recipe so to reduce this I would change the fluff to a glace icing instead, reduce the sugar in the cake batter to 150g instead of 200g. Also you could use a reduced sugar jam in the recipe.
Well everything is prepped and the cookies and flapjack are baking. I am ready to have some lunch now and although I know I should have something savoury I really want a slice of this Coconut Cake. This cake was really easy to bake and decorate. The cherry pieces added to the look of the cake. When I tasted the marshmallow fluff I thought it was rather sweet so I changed my mind and sliced the cake in half. I sandwiched it together with [amazon_textlink asin=’B01ELMQBDM’ text=’black cherry jam’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’wwwlovetobake-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’ebd2d9b1-6d4e-11e7-86d7-6311974a2aaf’] and the fluff before decorating the top with fluff and the toasted coconut. I baked the tin in a round, loose bottomed high sided tin but you can bake it in two sandwich tins or any other type of tin you want to use.
I have made coconut cake using lime in the recipe for the market stall. With this cake I would sandwich the cake together with [amazon_textlink asin=’B000PL5VQM’ text=’lime marmalade’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’wwwlovetobake-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’0ff04ce8-6d4f-11e7-abdc-7f8503a0a48d’] and buttercream but this flavour, when I think about it would be really nice with the fluff as the tartness of the lime would compliment the sweetness of the marshmallow fluff. I think any fruit would go well in a coconut cake. Don’t know about you?
I am going to have to go and eat now as I have made myself hungry. Everything is baked now and the house smells out of this world. This is what the cake looks like when sliced up. My husband thinks it should be called Snowball Cake – not a very summery name but I see his point. The cake was moist, very tasty and the coconut, fluff and cherry worked really well together. This is my favourite flavour cake at the moment. It was a big hit with my husband – who had two slices. I still have loads to do so I am off to finish some other jobs before the school run. Tonight is going to be a catching up on back links night.