Coconut, yoghurt and honeycomb cake

Serves 8

Coconut, yoghurt and honeycomb cake

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Ingredients

  • butter, for greasing
  • 4 eggs, separated
  • 85g golden caster sugar
  • 500ml plain natural yoghurt
  • zest of 1⁄2 orange
  • 35g plain flour
  • 100g cobnuts, shelled and lightly broken

For the honeycomb

  • sunflower oil, for brushing
  • 75g golden caster sugar
  • pinch of fine sea salt
  • 1tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method

To make the honeycomb, lay a non-stick silicone mat or a piece of lightly oiled baking parchment over a baking tray. Melt the sugar with the pinch of salt in a small, heavy-based non-stick pan over a medium heat until it is just melted but still very light in colour, about 6-8 minutes. You can encourage the sugar to melt by gently agitating the pan every so often.

As soon as the sugar is ready, add the bicarbonate of soda to the pan in a single sprinkling motion and work it in quickly with a wooden spoon. If all goes to plan, the sugar will froth up. Stir for 2-3 seconds, then pour over the silicone mat or baking parchment and leave until it has firmed up, about 15-20 minutes.

To make the cake, preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2. Lightly grease a 20cm cake tin. Place the egg yolks in a food mixer with a whisk attachment. Add two- thirds of the sugar and whisk for 5 minutes, until thick and pale. Gently fold in the yoghurt, then the orange zest and flour.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with the remaining sugar until soft peaks form. Fold the sweetened whites into the yoghurt batter. Finally, incorporate two-thirds of the broken cobnuts.

Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for 45-50 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool before bashing the honeycomb into pieces and sprinkling over the cake along with the remaining cobnuts. Cut into slices to serve.

Recipes and Photographs taken from Gather by Gill Meller. Photography by Andrew Montgomery. (Quadrille, £25).
Coconut, yoghurt and honeycomb cake
Recipes and Photographs taken from Gather by Gill Meller. Photography by Andrew Montgomery. (Quadrille, £25).

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