I recently bought a fantastic, Christmassy cake pan by Nordic Ware and I couldn’t wait to use it. I thought that this yogurt, coconut cake would be great for this pan. I used yogurt instead of milk or sour cream and the result is a really moist cake with soft crumb.

Sprinkled with desiccated coconut, this cake brings smiles to any occasion.

Ingredients:

• 250 gr unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ¾ cup full fat, greek yogurt
• 1 cup desiccated coconut, plus extra for sprinkling

For the syrup:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Method:

Preheat oven to 175 C. Make the syrup. Put sugar, water and lemon juice in a small pot. Bring to boil, lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Remove from the stove and leave to cool.

Grease and flour a cake pan with a hole in the middle (or spray with non stick spray). In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and sugar. Whisk with the paddle attachment until creamy, about 4-5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla essence and mix briefly.

Add 3 tablespoons of the flour mixture and half the yogurt. Beat 30 seconds and add another 3 tablespoons flour and the remaining yogurt. Beat until mixed. Add the remaining flour and mix again until smooth (don’t overmix). Finally, add the coconut and stir through.

Put cake batter in prepared cake pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Leave cake in pan for 5 minutes then invert on a round serving platter. Brush all over with the syrup and sprinkle liberally with more desiccated coconut. Leave cake to stand for 2 hours before cutting. This will help the cake absorb the syrup and the flavour to develop.