GBBO 2017 Week 1 - Signature - Pineapple and Coconut Cake

The Great British Bake Off is officially back on our screens! I had some trepidation when the credits started rolling, what with going from the old-school quaint BBC to the outlandlish/off-the-wall Channel 4. 

However, I genuinely loved the episode, perhaps even more than I liked the simpler season last year. The new judge, Prue Leith, is very cool and her compliments to the bakers don't sound half-arsed or forced, both of which I've seen on some other baking shows. I also loved Sandi and Noel, and thought they were naturals.

But what about the challenges? I actually went crazy this week and made all three (gasp) cakes. In case you haven't seen my previous GBBO-inspired bakes, what I do is try to re-create at least one of the bakes (usually the technical but sometimes the signature). I then usually do my own thing in the showstopper :) I'm going to follow this formula this year as well, and started with the signature. 

The signature challenge was all about fruit cakes, where fresh fruit had to be used (no raisins or sultanas allowed!). If you've read more than a few of my posts, you've probably realised I love coconut, and there were two coconut cakes this week to choose from. The first was criticised for the amount of baking powder used, by the baker who actually left the tent (poor Peter). The other cake, made by the wonderful Sophie (who is definitely my favourite baker, if only because she is training to be a stuntwoman, which is super duper cool!) had another of my favourite fruits - pineapple.

She filled and frosted her cake with an Italian meringue buttercream and alas this is where my technique failed me. For some reason, it ended up too thin (maybe because I didn't whisk the egg whites for long enough?). I also personally found it too sweet. To rectify the cake, I made a lime buttercream and used this to top the cake.

It's not my prettiest work, but it does taste great. It's one to eat with a fork, and I'd recommend it as a dessert rather than a cake to have with a cup of tea. The coconut flavour really comes through, and if you can't get hold of a fresh coconut (or don't want the effort of preparing it), I'm pretty sure desiccated coconut will work just as well.

Makes one 20cm cake (easily serves 10)

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 100g (1 cup) fresh coconut (I chopped up one coconut, which gave me about 125g of coconut flesh), with any brown bits removed
• 150g (2/3 cup) fresh pineapple chunks (around 1cm cubes), plus a few extra chunks to decorate
• 170g (3/4 cup) soft baking margarine (or softened butter)
• 225g (1 cup) caster sugar
• 5 medium eggs
• 240g (1 cup) self-raising flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting

For the buttercream:

• 200g (7/8 cup) softened butter
• 400g (2 cups) sifted icing sugar
• 1-2 tbsp lime juice

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180c (160c fan)/ 355f/gas mark 4. Grease the base and sides of two loose-bottomed 20cm cake tins and dust lightly with flour.

2. Dry the pineapple chunks well with kitchen paper. Place the coconut flesh in a blender and blitz to a fine gravel.

3. Pour the margarine and sugar into a large mixing bowl and use an electric whisk to cream the two together until light and fluffy. 

4. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition. From egg 3, add around a tablespoon of flour (this helps to stop the mixture from curdling). 

5. Pour the remainder of the flour into the bowl, with the pineapple and coconut. Fold in until all of the flour has been incorporated and the pineapple/coconut are well distributed.

6. Divide between the two cake tins, and bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden and springy to the touch. The cake will be coming away slightly from the sides of the tin. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely in the tins.

7. Whilst the cakes are cooling make the buttercream. Beat the butter until it is really soft and spreadable. Add half of the icing sugar and beat in using an electric whisk or a wooden spoon - I find the wooden spoon less messy.

8. Add the other half of the icing sugar and enough lime juice to bring the buttercream together to the point where if you lift a spoon from the mixture the buttercream holds it's shape, but it doesn't take too much effort to move. Start with one tablespoon of lime juice, then add teaspoon-by-teaspoon until you achieve the correct consistency.

9. Once the cakes have cooled, the cakes are ready to assemble. Take both cakes out of the tins, and use a serrated knife to level the tops (so that they are flat). 

10. Place a spoonful of the buttercream on the cake board/dish, and press the first sponge on top. This holds the cake in position.

11. Pipe or spread half of the buttercream on the top of the first layer of sponge. I spread mine using a palette knife, but you could fill a piping bag with the buttercream, cut off the end (about 2cm from the tip) and pipe blobs all over. 

12. Top with the remaining layer of sponge. Apply a thin coat of buttercream all over the top and sides of the cake. I wanted the cake to have a semi-naked look, so left it like this, but you could skip this step and leave the sides fully exposed, or add another layer of buttercream to fully cover the cake (if you do this, chill the cake for 15-20 minutes before adding the second layer of buttercream).

13. Place the cake in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to firm up the buttercream. Place an large flower star (2D) nozzle in a piping bag and fill with the remaining buttercream. Around the edge of the cake, pipe little kisses by holding the piping bag directly above where you want to pipe and piping a small spike of buttercream. 

14. Pipe roses on the top of the cake by holding the piping nozzle where you want the centre of the rose to be. Pipe a spiral starting from this point outwards. Repeat as many times as you want. 

15. Leave the buttercream to firm up in the fridge for 10 minutes or so. Top with the reserved pineapple cubes.

16. Enjoy!