Recipe: Coconut & Jam sponge Tray bake

Have you ever had flashbacks of your old school dinners? Chips and beans, Cheese flan, pizza. Your mind then casts to those old desserts. You start trawling the internet for recipes because you crave those desserts once again.

The very same thing happened to me and my first search for old school puddings was for the popular Coconut & Jam sponge pudding with custard.

I found a recipe, tweaked it a little and made a bloody good pud!

Here is everything you need to make yours.

Preparation Time: 10 Minutes

Bake Time: 40 Minutes

Ingredients

8oz Butter
8oz Sugar
10oz Self Raising Flour
2tsp Baking Powder
4 Eggs
8oz Butter
8oz Sugar
10oz Self Raising Flour
2tsp Baking Powder
4 Eggs

For the Topping

Strawberry or any other red jam for the topping
Desiccated Coconut (That’s coconut shavings to me and you) – Note: these are not the easiest things to find in the supermarket. I found a packet in the nut and seed aisle so this may help you..

Method

Pre-heat your oven to 180ºC. gas mark 4 – Fan 170ºC. Grease and line with grease proof paper a cake tin approx 20cm x 30cm although some other sizes are fine too.
Beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. If you have an electric hand mixer available this is ideal for the job. (Personally for me, by hand was almost impossible so I put it in my blender as I didn’t have an electric whisk and done a great job.)
Add the eggs one at a time, continuing to beat with each addition. If the mixture starts to separate add a little flour with the egg.
Fold in the remaining flour and baking powder.
Pour the mixture into the tin and level the surface.

6. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until well risen, golden and coming away from the sides of the tin. (A good way of finding out if the mixture is fully baked is by prodding with a skewer. If there is any wet mixture on the skewer when you take it out then it needs a little more time in the oven. Only when there is no mixture on the skewer then it may be ready.)

7. Turn the cake out of the tin and allow it to cool on a wire rack.

8. Give your jam a good mix before you spread it as this will make it a lot easier (learn from my mistake here!) Once the cake is cool enough start to layer the jam on top…..no need to be shy here. Top with the desiccated coconut.

9. Cut into individual squares and serve with yummy warm custard and enjoy.