Coconut and date molasses cake with cardamom spiced icing
by
Dina Begum's cake recipe takes inspiration from Patishapta pitha – a popular Bangladeshi rice crêpe filled with dates and coconut. The delicious cake has a moist texture thanks to the date molasses (date syrup), used instead of sugar. The cream cheese icing is expertly flavoured with cardamom and cinnamon, before being topped with toasted coconut.
Ingredients
Coconut and molasses cake
- 170g of date molasses, ideally Bangladeshi morcha gur
- 200g of plain flour
- 50g of desiccated coconut
- 175g of unsalted butter
- 50ml of whole milk
- 3 medium eggs
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Spiced frosting
- 100g of salted butter , at room temperature
- 100g of cream cheese, full-fat
- 50g of icing sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 20g of coconut flakes , to decorate
Equipment
- 23cm springform cake tin
Method
1
Grease and line a 23cm cake tin and set aside
2
Place a pan over a medium-low heat and add the butter – preferably in a stainless steel or light-coloured pan (you need to be able to monitor the colour of the butter so you don’t burn it). After about 30 seconds or so the butter will begin to foam. Swirl the pan occasionally and cook for 3-4 minutes until it starts to smell nutty, almost caramel-like. You will begin to see small brown particles of milk solids at the bottom on the pan. Once done, take the pan off the heat transfer to a large mixing bowl and leave to cool for about 10 minutes
3
Preheat an oven to 190°C/gas mark 5
4
Once the butter has cooled, make the cake batter. Add the molasses to the butter and whisk through until well combined. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs and milk and stream this into the butter and sugar mixture whilst whisking. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well
5
Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 40–45 minutes, until a cake tester or skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake. Leave the oven on, remove the cake and set aside to cool completely (around 1 hour)
6
Place the coconut flakes on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 3–5 minutes until light golden. Set aside to cool
7
For the frosting, use an electric whisk to whisk the butter and spices for a couple of minutes until pale. Add the cream cheese, vanilla extract and icing sugar and whisk for a further 2–3 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy
8
Pile up the frosting on top of the cake evenly and top with the toasted coconut flakes
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Coconut and date molasses cake with cardamom spiced icing
