Bolo prestigio (chocolate and coconut cake)

Yesterday was my birthday and, believing I deserve a treat, I made one of my favourite cakes. If you live in UK, the name of this cake translates as "Bounty" (the chocolate) cake, because it's a chocolate cake filled with coconut...mmmmmm

The cake:

2 cups of flour
3 tbspoons of cocoa powder (the one you children drink with milk)
3 eggs - separate the whites and whisk them into egg whites (very fluffy and firm)
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of milk
2 tbspoons of butter
1 tbspoon of baking powder


Mix the yolks, the sugar and the butter. Add the milk and the chocolate, adding the flour last with the baking powder. Mix it gently and them add the egg whites, envolving them in the cake mix without mixing too hard.

Bake it in an medium heat oven (around 180C) in a greased tray.

Filling

1/2 can of condensed milk
1/2 cup of grated coconut (the one we buy in supermarkets)
2 cups of milk
sugar (to taste)

Mix it all in a pan and let it boil and thicken. Some people loose their patience here, because it does take some 30 min for it to thicken properly and cheat with cornflour. Don't, it does taste better if you give it time. It is thick enough when you incline the pan and the filling comes off of it.

Topping

1/2 a can of condensed milk
200g of butter
2 tbspoons of cocoa

Mix it all in a pan, boil and let it thicken a bit.

Syrup

1 cup of guarana - a brazilian soda. If you can't get your hands in some, you can make the syrup I used for this post but use rum and let the alcohol boil (you just want the flavour)

If using the alcohol syrup: Make a small amount of sugar syrup by boiling about 1/4 cup (60 ml) water with 2 tablespoons sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Let it cool completely, then add a good pour of your favorite liquor (use rum for this one). Wet the sponge cake base with the syrup.


Decoration

200g of chocolate sprinkle
optional: chocolate shavings and cherries

To arrange it all

Cut the cake in half. Wet one half with the half the syrup. Spread the filling on top and put the other half of the cake on top of it. Spread the syrup on top of the cake and spread the topping all over. Decorate it with the sprinkles of whatever you prefer.