Coconut Cake With Chocolate Sauce

Total Time: 1 hr 20 mins Preparation Time: 50 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 10
• 3/4 cup cake flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs, beaten lightly
• 4 large egg whites
• 1 pinch cream of tartar
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split
• 1/3 cup sugar, plus
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 1/4 cups very cold whipping cream
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup milk, plus
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 11 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (or use chips)
• 1/2 cup cream, plus
• 1 tablespoon cream
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups shredded coconut

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 350 degrees f.
• 2 butter a 9 inch springform pan.
• 3 in a small bowl, stir together the cake flour, sugar and baking powder.
• 4 in a bowl, whisk together the oil, whole eggs and ¼ cup of water and stir in the flour mixture into the oil mixture until the batter is smooth.
• 5 beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until they hold stiff peaks.
• 6 stir ¼ of the whites into the batter to lighten and then fold in the remaining whites.
• 7 pour batter into prepared pan and bake in the middle of the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
• 8 remove cake and let cool.
• 9 for pastry cream: scald the milk with the vanilla bean.
• 10 scrape the seeds into the milk and discard bean (or rinse it, let it dry and ‘plant’ it into a sealed jar of sugar. in time you’ll have sugar with a vanilla fragrance.) in a bowl, whisk together 1/3 cup of sugar, flour and egg yolks.
• 11 whisk the hot milk into the yolk mixture, a little at a time, and whisk for 1 minute.
• 12 pour into the pan and bring custard to the boil, whisking constantly, for 1-2 minutes, o until it is thickened.
• 13 let cool, uncovered, and chill it, placing a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the hot custard to prevent a skin from forming.
• 14 beat the cream with the remaining 2 tblsps sugar until it holds stiff peaks.
• 15 fold 1 cup of the whipped cream into the pastry cream, reserving remainder, and fold in 1 cup of coconut into the pastry cream as well.
• 16 make chocolate sauce: simmer the milk with the chocolate, stirring, until the chocolate is melted.
• 17 add the cream, butter and sugar and simmer, stirring, until smooth and slightly thickened.
• 18 keep sauce warm, covered.
• 19 cut cake horizontally into 3 layers with a serrated knife.
• 20 spread ½ of pastry cream on top of bottom layer and top with second layer.
• 21 spread remaining pastry cream on top of second layer and top with third layer, cut side down.
• 22 spread whipped cream on top and side of cake and sprinkle with coconut.
• 23 serve with sauce.