Poppy Seed Coconut Extravaganza

 

   Some recipes have way too many good ingredients that would take a looong line to name them all in the title, so I'd rather stick to how this delicious dessert looks like to me: an extravaganza :D 

   I found the recipe randomly on Facebook here recommended as an Easter dessert to get rid of the egg whites you might have leftover from making other cookies or cakes (Romanians like to bake a lot for Easter AND Christmas). In my case, I had to improvise with a recipe using the egg yolks as I was set on trying out this particular recipe in the first place. 

   I've never baked a cake with poppy seed before even though I know I love the taste of it! Coconut is from the getgo one of my fave and the chocolate mousse on top is very familiar to me :D I decided to only make half the recipe for starters but I already know I'm going to make it again! :D Let me show you how to make it:

Ingredients for half the recipe (12 pieces):

For the base:

- 4 egg whites

- 88g sugar

- 25g flour

- 25g poppy seeds

- 50g coconut

- peel and juice from 1/2 lemon

- 2,5g baking powder

- a pinch of salt

For the syrup: (don't make more, or else your cake will be TOO moist)

- 60ml of water

- 1 Tbsp sugar

- a splash of lemon essence

For the cream:

- 100g dark chocolate

- 25g white and milk chocolate

- 100 ml whipping cream

- 125g mascarpone

- a pinch of salt

Steps:

Making the base:

1. Bring the egg whites to room temperature and sprinkle a little salt over them, then mix them with the mixer until they make a foam.

2. Gradually add the sugar and lemon juice and continue to mix until you get a firm meringue.

3. Incorporate the flour together with the baking powder, then add, lightly mixing with a spatula, the coconut, grated lemon peel and poppy seeds.

4. Line the base of the tray with baking paper, and grease the inner walls with oil and sprinkle sugar on them. The sugar sprinkled on the walls of the trays has a beneficial effect in taking the cake out of the tray after baking. This way it will not stick to the tray walls at all.

5. Spread the egg white composition with poppy seeds and coconut in a small tray (since we're only doing a half recipe) and put it in the preheated oven at 180 degrees, for about 20 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.

Preparing the syrup:

Boil the water together with the sugar and at the end add the lemon essence, then let the syrup cool.

Preparing the chocolate cream: 

1. Heat the whipping cream to near boiling point and add the broken chocolate pieces in it.

2. Stir vigorously until the chocolate melts, then let the cream cool down completely (you can also put it in the fridge for about 10 min to speed up the process).

3. Incorporate the mascarpone in the cream and add a pinch of salt to intensify the taste. Mix with the mixer until you obtain a wonderful cream.

Assembling the cake:

When the base has cooled down, put the syrup over it, then portion it (you can use a circular cookie stencil or just cut it in squares) and then decorate each portion with chocolate cream. 

You can sprinkle whatever you want on top to make it look more attractive. I chose coconut flakes, but you can also grate some white chocolate :D

Bon appetit!