God Save The Queen – and give her some cake!

It’s the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this weekend, and the whole of the UK is going nuts. The Brits received two extra bank holidays and ended up with 4 epic days of celebrations. From a huge boat flotilla with over 1000 boats parading in patriotic colours on the Thames, to a star-studded concert outside Buckingham Palace anda carriage-parade of a waving Queen

So, it’s now or never to be cheesily patriotic in Britain. People (including me) have decorated their homes with Union Jack bunting while pubs are serving innumerous pitcher of Pimms.

I had the great fun of filming a few streetparties (the video is here) where people were dressed up patriotically, ate British food and just had great fun in the rain – because, the weather was obviously very British too for this occasion.

We really are clebrating all things British at the moment. So, what better pretext to make a deliciously traditional British cake: a Victoria sponge cake.

As always, I’ve slightly changed the classic and come up with a bit of a twist on the traditional recipe. My cake is spiked with coconut, which adds a really interesting dimension to a typical sponge cake.

Don’t be put off by the idea of coconut, it’s very subtle and just works amazingly well with the tangy raspberry and juicy strawberries. A match definitely fit for a Queen (and a King).

So go on, feel the hidden Brit inside of you and bake this beautifully patriotic cake (this also works if you’re absolutely not British at all and feel no affinity to this country, seriously, try it!).

Also, for those who haven’t discovered my new sister blog “Anne’s Kitchen Loves…” yet, it’s time to head over! I’m giving you an exclusive sneak peak into what goes on behind the scenes of an Anne’s Kitchen photoshoot.

Coconut Victoria Sponge Cake

makes 1 cake (22 cm springform) or around 10 muffins

175g butter
110g sugar
3 eggs
175g self-raising flour
1 + 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
50g dessicated coconut
2 tbsp coconut cream

For the filling:
65g butter
5 tbsp coconut cream
200g icing sugar
raspberry jam
strawberries

Preheat the oven to 180° celsius.

Mix the butter with the sugar in a big bowl. Add the eggs, then slowly add the flour, baking powder, salt, coconut and coconut cream. Beat into a smooth batter.

If you’re making a cake: grease the cake tin. Add half the batter and bake for 20 mins. Remove from the tin, grease again and add the remaining batter and bake the second cake layer.

If you’re making muffins: grease your muffin tins and fill each hole with batter. Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes (until a wooden skewer inserted comes out clean). Once the muffins have cooled down, cut them into halves in order to fill them.

Make the coconut cream filling: Beat the butter and coconut cream. Slowly add the icing sugar and incorporate until you have a smooth butter cream.

Spread the butter cream on one half of the cake and spread the raspberry jam on the other.

Wash your strawberries, cut them in halves and scatter over the icing base. Top with the jam-covered cake layer.

You can keep the cake in a tin (without the filling) for 3 days. Once filled, the cake can be kept in the fridge for one day. When you’re ready to eat it, take it out of the fridge and serve at room temperature.