Cook: 36 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 26 minutes
Makes 1 cake
Ingredients:
• 2½ cups sifted cake flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 113 g butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1½ cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 large orange, zest finely grated
• A few spoonfuls melted, strained apricot preserves
• Fluffy white icing, recipe follows
• 3 – 4 cups grated, toasted coconut, see note
*Note: Fresh coconut, freshly grated, is a rear treat. If possible, use it. Fresh coconut is moist. If you use canned coconut, use the moist type and the most finely shredded.
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 190°C.
- Adjust the rack to the center of the oven. Butter 2 round layer-cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper. Butter the paper and dust all over lightly with flour. Set aside.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a large bowl of electric mixer, beat the butter to soften a bit. Add the vanilla and sugar and beat for a few minutes. Add the eggs and milk and beat until smooth. On the lowest speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula as necessary, and beating only until smooth after each addition. Remove from the mixer and stir in the orange rind.
- Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Tilt and shake the pans gently to level the batter. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, or until the cakes come away from the sides of the pans and tops spring back when lightly touched.
- Remove from the oven. Let stand for about 5 minutes. Cover with racks or cookie sheets and invert. Remove pans and papers. Cover with racks and invert again to cool right side up.
- When the layers have cooled completely, place 4 strips of waxed paper or parchment around a cake plate, and place 1 layer on the plate, upside down. Spread with a thin layer of smooth preserves, reserving some for the second layer.
Make the Fluffy White Icing:
- Spread ⅓ of the icing on the bottom layer. Sprinkle with ⅓ of the coconut. Put on the second layer, right side up, so that the 2 cake bottoms meet in the middle. Spread the top with the remaining apricot preserves. Use another ⅓ of the icing to ice around the sides of the cake. Use the remaining ⅓ of the icing to ice the top of the cake. Quickly spread with a long, narrow metal spatula to smooth the top and sides.
- With the palm of your hand, press another ⅓ of the coconut onto the sides and sprinkle the remaining coconut evenly over the top. Remove the paper strips, pulling each 1 out by a narrow end.
Fluffy White Icing (Ingredients):
• 4 egg whites
• ¼ cup light corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
• Pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract
Method:
- Mix all of the ingredients except for the vanilla and almond extracts in the top of a large double boiler; it must have at least an 8 – 10 cup capacity. Place over hot water on moderate heat. Beat with an electric mixer at high speed for 5 – 6 minutes, until the mixture stands in peaks when the beaters are lifted.
- Immediately, in order to stop the cooking, transfer to a/the large bowl of an electric mixer. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and beat at high speed for about 5 minutes more, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl almost continuously with a rubber spatula, until the mixture is smooth and very thick. Use immediately.