Individual Coconut Cakes

These little mini cakes are packed with coconut flavour, from the flaked coconuts. If you love coconuts, then try and make a batch of these. This wonderful recipe is from my latest collection of cookbooks which I just purchased a couple of days ago, "bake!" by Nick Malgieri. It is a beautiful book with a mixture of recipes from cakes, bread, pastries, scones, tea bread, cookies, bars, muffins and lots more. There are twenty chapters in total, with a few recipes in each chapter. Wow, I did not know which one to start with! I made the right choice by selecting these mini cakes to begin with.

These mini cakes uses only egg whites and since I have a few dozens of egg whites (yes, a few dozens!) in my freezer that I really wanted to clear, this is perfect! 

Nick Malgieri states that instead of desiccated coconut, unsweetend flaked coconuts can be used instead, and I love using flaked coconuts in my bakes over the desiccated ones, as the flaked coconuts are more moist and chewier. If using the flaked coconuts, just process it in the food processor to reduce the size of the flakes to about 3mm, be careful not to turn them into powder. 

I got more than 24 mini cakes, perhaps my mini pans is just a little bit smaller than the ones that Nick Malgieri used to make these. I got a total of 24 mini cakes, about 1 full tablespoons per cake, and have some extra batter left, so I used the standard muffin-sized, which gave me 2 more. I baked the mini ones about 18 minutes and the bigger ones about 23 minutes. Funny thing is the bigger ones rose higher than the mini ones.

These are so small and without realizing it, I ate three while taking these photos!  And I had two more later with a cup of black coffee. Yes, they are delicious! Moist and very tasty, and I'm glad that I did reduced the amount of sugar, as the sweetness is just right. And even though I used salted butter, I did add on a tiny pinch of salt to the egg whites as the recipe states. The result is a sweet with a hint of saltiness mini cakes, really good with the flaked coconuts. 

I'll be making this again! It's easy and so yummy!  :)

I'm sharing this with

Cookbook Sunday hosted by Couscous & Consciousness
Full Plate Thursday hosted by Miz Helen's Country Cottage

Individual Coconut Cakes
(adapted from "bake!" by Nick Malgieri)
Makes 24 individual cakes
(Unsweetened coconut is available both flaked or more finely ground. The flakes retain more moisture than the desiccated coconut does. Either may be used in this recipe, but if you use the flaked variety, pulse it in the food processor half a dozen times, not to grind it to a powder, but to reduce the flakes in size to about 3mm)
170gm sugar (I use 110gm)
65gm plain flour
110gm unsweetened desiccated coconut
4 medium egg whites, at room temperature
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
110gm unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 tablespoons sweetened flaked coconut or unsweetened ground or flaked coconut, for topping the cakes before baking
Two 12-hole mini muffin tins, buttered and flour

1. Set a rack in the centre of the oven and preheat to 190C/gas mark 5.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the sugar, flour and unsweetened desiccated coconut; set aside.
3. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites with the salt until smooth, then whisk in the lemon zest and butter. Whisk in about half the dry ingredients, then use a rubber spatula to fold in the remainder.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared tins, filling them about two-thirds full. Sprinkle the top of each cake with a pinch of flaked coconut.
5. Bake the cakes until they are well risen and deep golden and they are firm when pressed with a fingertip, about 15 minutes. Invert them to a rack, then immediately turn them right side up and let them cool completely.

Serving : Serve these after dessert with coffee, or as part of an assortment of desserts.

Storage : Keep the cakes loosely covered with clingfilm on the day they are made. Arrange them in a tin or a plastic container with a tight-fitting lid in one layer and refrigerate them for longer storage. Bring to room temperature before serving.