Food Friends: My Grandma

I know almost everyone argues that their Grandma is the best cook ever but, you know, mine is. Her roast dinners are fabulous. And if you know any English people at all you know how we value our roast dinners. My Grandma's are the best. Her roast potatoes are pure potato heaven, her cabbage is the stuff to write epics about. When I was little I used to eat bowls of that leftover cabbage with mint sauce and gravy. The cabbage was so good that is all you needed.

Coconut Cake?

She is famous for another thing, my Grandma, well many other things but I'm talking about her coconut cake. And this is where I get into trouble because not only am I going to share the recipe, I'm also going to veganise it. So in a way this isn't my Grandma's coconut cake and if you want her awesome incredible cake you still have to go to her for it because I'm not telling anyone how to make it just like she does. Besides, I'm going to be killed anyway for adapting the recipe.


Adapting it was fairly easy. Grandma follows the thrifty tradition that butter is too precious to waste on baking (in a different way, I guess, that is how I see it too) so there was already margarine my biggest issue was getting rid of the gas mark.

Granny Annie's Coconut Cake
(makes one, crumbly awesome coconut cake)

112g of plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
85g sugar
140g margarine (we use vitalite)
112g of dessicated coconut + 1 tablespoon to sprinkle on top
60ml coconut milk (the rest of the can can be frozen until you need it again)

Pre-heat the oven to 175C (gas mark 4)

Line a loaf tin with baking parchment

In a sauce pan melt the margarine

While it is melting mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar and 112g of the dessicated coconut in a large bowl

When the margarine has melted poor it into the dry ingredients, add the coconut milk and stir to combine

Once the mixture is well combined poor into the loaf tin and sprinkle the remainder of the dessicated coconut on top

Bake for an hour

Like I said, this sin't exactly like my Grandmas coconut cake but it hits the spot.