Cinnamon coconut cake

Coconut sugar (or coconut palm sugar) is made from the sap of coconut palm blossoms that is boiled then dehydrated. It contains the same number of kilojoules as cane sugar (about 63 per teaspoon) but less fructose. The caramel-coloured crystals are finer than regular brown sugar and have a delightful butterscotch flavour. It’s great for bakes not requiring any creaming with butter, plus sprinkled on porridge and as a sweetener for coffee or fruit such as tamarillos. A coconut sauce tops this dessert.

Cake

100 g	Melted butter
1 cup	Caster sugar
¾ cup	Plain flour
1 ½ cups	Shredded coconut (Main)
1 ½ cups	Coconut milk (Main)
6	Eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp	Ground cinnamon

Sauce

125 g	Coconut sugar, or dark cane sugar (Main)
¼ cup	Water
½ cup	Coconut milk (Main)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Lightly oil a 24cm springform cake pan and line with baking paper.
2. Combine all the cake ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for about 50 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes then turn onto a rack to cool.
3. To make the sauce, combine the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Serve small slices of the cake with fresh fruit and drizzle with the sauce.

More coconut recipes from Jan

• Coconut flour cookies
• Coconut yoghurt chicken
• Tropical coconut sugar loaf