Sri Lankan Coconut Cake with Jaggery

Ingredients

• 
  Fresh coconut, scraped 1
• 
  Thick coconut milk (squeezed from the scraped coconut) All of it
• 
  Jaggery, grated or chopped 250 g
• 
  Sugar 100 g
• 
  All-purpose flour 250 g
• 
  Baking powder 1 tsp
• 
  Salt 1/2 tsp
• 
  Ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp
• 
  Ground cloves 1/4 tsp
• 
  Ground cardamom 1/4 tsp
• 
  Coconut milk 1 cup
• 
  Cashews, chopped 100 g
• 
  Sultanas 50 g
• 
  Ginger preserve, chopped 50-60 g
• 
  Butter, softened (plus extra for the pan) 30 g

Method

1. 1

   Squeeze the Thick Milk:
   Squeeze the scraped coconut by hand to extract the thick first milk. Keep the milk and the squeezed coconut separately.

2. 2

   Cook Coconut with Jaggery:
   Put the squeezed coconut in a heavy pan with the jaggery, 100 g sugar and the thick coconut milk (prepared by squeezing the scraped coconut), and mix well.

3. 3

   Simmer to a Sticky Mixture:
   Cook on a low flame, stirring constantly so it does not burn, until the jaggery and sugar melt and the mixture turns thick and sticky. Take it off the heat and let it cool completely.

4. 4

   Sift in the Dry Ingredients:
   Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom straight into the cooled coconut mixture.

5. 5

   Add the Coconut Milk:
   Pour in 1 cup coconut milk and mix well by hand until no dry flour remains.

6. 6

   Fold in the Fruit and Nuts:
   Add the cashews, sultanas and ginger preserve, and mix until evenly spread through the mixture.

7. 7

   Mix in the Butter:
   Add the softened butter last and mix well. Mix by hand only, not with an electric mixer. The mixture should be sticky but drier than a normal cake batter, not pourable.

8. 8

   Preheat and Line the Pan:
   Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F). Line the baking pan with baking (oil) paper and butter the paper.

9. 9

   Bake:
   Spread the mixture into the lined pan, level the top and bake at 160°C for about 1 hour, until firm and a skewer in the center comes out clean.

10. 10

    Cool and Cut:
    Let the cake cool in the pan before lifting it out and cutting it into pieces.