Crazy as a ...


I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, we certainly did. This morning we took a long bike ride down to the new "Gardens by the Bay", Singapores newest botanic gardens behind Marina Bay Sands. The weather was glorious with a cloudless sky, light breeze and relatively low humidity.

We followed that up with breakfast at "Oh Deli", a gourmet small goods store and cafe that, conveniently for me, is at the end of my street! All those readers Singapore side if you haven't been to the store do yourself a favor and go.

Run by the oh so bubbly Oh Sisters, all passionate foodies themselves, the store brings to Singapore all the gourmet we miss from Australia and coffee that rivals what you might find somewhere on Little Bourke Street in Melbourne. They are now serving brekkie and I can attest to it being top notch!

Anyhow, I currently have some of Nanna's shortbread baking away in the oven (more on that to come next week) and a few idle minutes up my sleeve. What better way to spend it than to bring you this delicious cake.

I love "bounty" chocolate bars, they were my treat of choice when I went to the movies as a kid. The topping on this cake tastes like the insides of a bounty! Sold! A quick and easy way to jazz up a plain butter cake - enjoy!

Mel's ode to the bounty ...
created by Mel, inspired by her love of all things Bounty

Cake Base
125g of butter, softened
220g of caster sugar
2 eggs
40g desiccated coconut
225g plain flour
1tsp bi-carbonate soda
1tsp baking powder
300g sour cream
80ml milk

Set an oven rack in the lower one third of your oven and preheat the oven to 175°C. Grease a 23cm square or round cake tin.

Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl with a flat paddle until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition. Next, stir in the coconut, sifted flour, sour cream and milk in two separate batches. Stir only until just combined.

Transfer the batter to your prepared cake pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a thin skewer, when inserted, comes out clean. Leave sitting in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the cake is cooling make the coconut topping ...

Coconut topping
320g icing sugar
100g desiccated coconut (don't use fresh coconut, it makes the topping too wet)
2 egg whites, beaten lightly

Sift the icing sugar into a medium sized bowl and then stir in the coconut and the egg white.

Once the cake has cooled top it with the coconut mixture, and to make it more like a bounty if you are feeling particularly naughty melt some milk chocolate and drizzle over the coconut, refrigerate to set!

Yields: 10-12 slices from a round cake pan and 12 small cubes from a square pan

Asides
Tomato plants - epic fail.

The Singapore weather has won over in the end and our poor little tomato plants have not survived ...
We laid them to rest today (down the rubbish shoot) and are currently priming the soil to start a second attempt on a different balcony in a few weeks time once the peak of the heat dies off a little.