A celebration of coconut and rum! This cocktail inspired cake has a soft sponge with a silky filling and a crunch of coconut. She’s perfect for tea time or as a dessert.
INGREDIENTS
SWISS ROLL 5 eggs, separated ¾ cup castor sugar 1 tbsp lemon juice 1 tbsp vanilla essence ¾ cup cake flour 1 ½ tsp baking powder ¼ tsp salt RUM SYRUP (Optional) ½ cup water ½ cup castor sugar ½ cup white rum FILLING 100g butter, room temperature 100g icing sugar, sifted 1 x 230g tub cream cheese 1 tbsp white rum ¾ cup desiccated coconut
METHOD
SWISS ROLL 1. Prepare a baking tray (about 35x25 cm) with baking paper and non-stick spray (Tip 1). 2. Preheat the oven to 200⁰C and place the oven rack in the middle. 3. Separate your egg whites into a large glass bowl and the yolks into a large mixing bowl. 4. With an electric hand mixer, whisk the egg yolks until light and fluffy, adding the castor sugar, lemon juice and vanilla while whisking until everything is well combined. 5. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt over the egg yolk mixture. Fold in until just combined. 6. With a clean electric mixer, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form and fold into the cake batter until everything is well combined. 7. Pour the batter into the prepared baking tray, as thin and evenly as possible. Once the batter is in the baking tray, you want to spread it as little as possible to prevent knocking out the air. 8. Bake the Swiss roll for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. 9. While baking, prepare your tea towel. Gently wet a clean kitchen towel with hot water and generously sprinkle the towel with castor sugar. 10. Loosen the sides of the cake and flip the baking tray over onto the prepared tea towel. Carefully remove the baking paper and immediately roll the cake from the shorter side up. Leave the cake in the tea towel and allow to cool down. RUM SYRUP 1. In a small saucepan, mix all the ingredients together over low heat. 2. Allow the sugar to dissolve before the mixture starts boiling (Tip 2). 3. Once the mixture starts to boil, stop stirring and allow boiling for 5-8 minutes until the syrup has reduced to a third of the mixture. Remove from the heat and cool down. FILLING 1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. 2. Add the icing sugar, one tablespoon at a time, until well combined and creamy. 3. Add the cream cheese and rum, mix until just combined. 4. Add the coconut and mix. 5. Once the cake has cooled down completely, carefully roll it open again. 6. If using the syrup, sprinkle it over the cake. You don’t have to use all of the syrup. 7. Spread the filling over the swiss roll and roll up, again from the short side. Decorate with some extra filling or with a simple dusting of icing sugar (Tip 3).
TIPS 1. I didn’t have a baking tray small enough so I used a big oven dish that I divided in half using foil that I folded and placed in the middle of the tray. Be creative and use your imagination. 2. You can stir the syrup mixture to help the sugar to dissolve and make sure that there are no sugar granules sticking to the sides of the saucepan. Everything should be dissolved before the mixture starts to boil. 3. Cut the sides from the Swiss roll neat before serving.