Friday, June 15, 2012

Brownie-Bottom Coconut Chocolate Cream Cake

I KNOW! I have totally been MIA!  With the school year ending and planning a cross-country move for my family in 2 weeks (Eek!) things couldn't be crazier!  We have eaten out more than I care to admit and when we do eat at home it has been quick sandwiches or leftovers, so NOT exciting.  But after numerous people commenting on my lack of cooking, including (and most importantly) my patient and understanding husband, I thought I might need to suck it up, do the dishes from last week and cook something already!! So, what do I turn to first? Dessert, of course!  I found this recipe on Willow Bird Baking, changed some things, used my favorite other things, and ended up with a super delicious dessert for my hubby for Father's Day, which we have been celebrating all week because there is no time to celebrate all at once (back to the whole crazier than crazy life we are living at the moment!)  So, if you are needing something special for the sweet Father or Father's in your life, this is a great one!

Brownie-Bottom Coconut Chocolate Cream Cake

Brownie:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 heaping T cocoa powder
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 cup plus 1 T flour

Coconut Cream Filling:
1 1/2 cups half and half
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 plus 4 t cornstarch
1/4 t salt
3/4 cup flaked coconut
1/4 t coconut extract
1/4 t vanilla extract

Chocolate Mousse:
1/4 cup butter, cut into pieces
2 eggs, separated and at room temperature
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 T vanilla extract
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghirardelli 60%)
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of corn starch

Whipped Cream:
3/4 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 t vanilla

toasted coconut for garnish

For the brownie layer:
Preheat oven to 350. Melt the butter.  Add the sugar and eggs and beat together.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.  Pour the batter into a greased 9 inch spring form pan.  Bake for 12-15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

For the coconut cream:
While the brownie layer is cooking, combine the half and half, coconut milk, eggs, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a sauce pan.  Cook over medium low stirring constantly until the mixture thickens, about 8-10 minutes. Once the mixture is thickened, remove from the heat and add the vanilla, coconut extract and the untoasted flaked coconut and stir to combine. Pour this over the brownie layer.  Place plastic wrap directly on the coconut cream to keep a film from forming and chill in the fridge for at least 2-4 hours, or until completely cold.


For the chocolate mousse:
Melt the butter in a medium bowl set over a sauce pan of simmering water (do NOT allow the bottom of the bowl to touch the water!).  In a separate small bowl, whisk together egg yolks, cream and vanilla and set aside.  Once the butter is melted, slowly whisk in the yolk mixture.  Continue whisking over the simmering water until the mixture thickens, like pudding, this will take about 8-10 minutes.  Once it is thick remove it from over the water and add the chocolate, stirring to melt.  Set aside.  In a separate bowl beat together the egg whites, sugar and pinch of cornstarch until stiff peaks form.  Whisk 1/4 cup of the stiff egg whites into the chocolate to loosen it up.  Now add the rest of the egg whites, folding gently until they are completely blended into the chocolate.  Pour this mousse over the cold coconut cream in the spring form pan.  Place the whole thing back in the fridge and let it set completely, about 4 hours.

Finishing the cake:
Make your fresh whipped cream by beating together the whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla until peaks form.  Add this to the top of the cold cake and then top with toasted coconut.  To serve, run a knife around the edges of the spring form pan to loosen it from the sides.  Remove the sides and cut into slices.




13 comments:

  1. WOW, looks amazing :) Love your blog, plz visit mine too :)

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  2. Oh my yum wish I had some right now.

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  3. Some of us have a question about how much you are referring to in the Coconut Cream Filling part of the recipe.

    Coconut Cream Filling:

    1/4 plus 4 t cornstarch......How much is this? 1/4 plus 4 (what) Tbs or Tsp?

    thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I followed the link to the original recipe this is adapted from and it calls for 1/4 CUP and 4 TEASPOONS of cornstarch in the coconut cream filling. I am going to attempt this for Thanksgiving and I hope it turns out as good as this looks!

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  4. That looks divine, would live to try this out.
    I am South African and we don't have anything called half and half. Is this half milk and half cream?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought the substitution for half and half would be as simple as mixing half whole milk and half cream, but I thought before I gave that advice to you, I better check online. WRONG! I looked on 5 different GOOGLE sites and they all gave the same substitution. Here goes and good luck:
      Gayle

      TO MAKE 1 CUP HALF AND HALF
      1 cup milk
      1 tablespoon melted butter, cooled
      Directions:
      Mix well and use in place of Half and Half.

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  5. What are you referring to 2 1/2 heaping T cocoa powder
    1/2 t vanilla
    1/2 cup plus 1 T flour do you mean tablespoons or teaspoons

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  6. Lowercase t refers to teaspoon and uppercase T refers to Tablespoon. I hope this clears things up!

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  7. I'm confused about the coconut cream filling. The cornstarch measurement is 4 teaspoons plus 1/4 what?

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  8. Just finished the mousse layer. I can't wait to eat this for the hubby's birthday tonight!! Thanks so much for the recipe!

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  9. If I wanted to put this in a 13x9 pan instead of the spring form, should I double the recipe??

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  10. I made this this week and it was wonderful! I used a box mix for brownie layer but I didn't use all of the batter since it would have taken up too much space in the pan. (I probably used 1/2 of it) It definitely took a long time since you have to let the some of the layers set and it was slightly labor intensive - but TOTALLY worth it!!! And it's so impressive looking! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I absolutely loved it. :-)

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  11. I love this recipe and the elegant, beautiful presentation of it. It sounds fairly straight-forward and I will definitely be satisfying my chocolate fix with it. CHOCOLATE- I need it now!

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