Today’s post is super exciting for several reasons:

1. We’re celebrating the fact that I’ve been rambling about food on A Dash of Ginger for over a year(!!)
2. We’re celebrating with a Chocolate Coconut Layer Cake aka the Greatest Cake Ever
3. We’re also celebrating with a giveaway of some of my favourite foodie things!

Let’s start with the cake. Guys, I think this may be the prettiest and tastiest cake I’ve ever baked. The chocolate sponge is rich and moist and super chocolatey, and the frosting is to die for. Seriously, I’m having a full-on love affair with this coconut cream frosting. If you’ve never tried this, you haven’t lived.

As a bonus, this creamy coconut goodness is also vegan. I actually got really excited when I realised there’s no butter in the sponge and therefore I could use almond milk and make the whole thing vegan, but then I remembered the eggs. Faffing about with flax eggs and other weird substitutes is where I draw the line. Sorry vegans! As far as cakes go though, this is one that would need minimal adjustments to make it vegan. (I’m playing a game with myself – it’s called “How many times can I say vegan in one paragraph?”).

Also, how pretty is this cake!? The moment I finished I yelled to Ricky to come through and look at it. Predictably, his response was an entirely disappointing cursory glance and a nod. I had to stop myself immediately taking to instagram to seek cake approval 😉

OK, here’s the recipe – scroll down to get to the giveaway!

Chocolate Coconut Layer Cake

Yield: 10 slices

Ingredients

For the sponge
• 275g plain flour, sifted
• 75g dessicated coconut
• 100g cocoa powder
• 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 350g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 350ml milk
• 175ml vegetable oil
• 350ml boiling water
For the frosting
• 1 x 250ml carton coconut cream
• 175g icing sugar, sifted
To decorate
• Sprinkles (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180c. Grease three 9" round cake tins.
2. Mix all dry sponge ingredients in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, vanilla extract and milk. Add egg/milk mixture plus vegetable oil and boiling water to the dry ingredients and mix to combine.
4. Divide batter between cake tins. Bake for 18 - 25 minutes until a cocktail stick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
5. To make the frosting, beat the coconut cream until soft. Gradually add the sifted icing sugar, whisking until you have a smooth frosting.
6. Once the sponges have cooled, assemble: stack the three sponges with a layer of frosting between each. Use a spatula to frost the top and sides of the cake.

3.1

https://www.adashofginger.co.uk/2015/07/chocolate-coconut-layer-cake.html

I won’t get all soppy on you, but it’s thanks to you guys who actually read my posts, comment on them and share in my enthusiasm that I’m still going a year on. So, I’ve got a little selection of my favourite food-related items to give away to one lucky reader.

To enter, you just need to be following the blog. I know some of you won’t have bloglovin accounts so you can also follow via subscription to my (new and shiny!) newsletter. You can also earn extra entries by stalking me on social media if that’s your thing!

The prizes are:

1 x The Flavour Thesaurus – aka my food bible. I hardly own any cookbooks because I rarely actually follow recipes (the irony is not lost on me…) but I regularly dip into this book for inspiration.

1 x Set of Mint Green Enamel Dipped Cutlery from The Good Times Homestore. You might have seen this pastel cutlery pop up in some of my photos – by far the prettiest utensils I own!

3 x Lindt Chocolate Bars (1 x 70% dark and 2 x orange intense). Confession time – one of the orange bars was scoffed within an hour of taking photographs. Take that as a glowing endorsement of just how damn delicious it is. I promise it’ll be replaced before the giveaway ends!

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