January 16, 2023
Jammy Coconut Traybake
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An easy and delicious jammy coconut traybake cake with a coconut sponge cake, your favourite jam and even more coconut on top!
So we all know this classic bake right?! It’s one of the most iconic throwback style cakes that exists and I LOVE IT! Honestly, sometimes the simplest of bakes are the best and that will probably never change.
Delicious coconut sponge, raspberry jam (but obviously use your favourite!), and even more coconut on top served with a glue of custard… what more could you want?
Sponge cakes
So when it comes to sponge cakes you usually have four basic ingredients… butter, sugar, flour and eggs. Obviously, if you flavour them this changes such as cocoa powder for a chocolate cake, or in this case, coconut.
- Butter – When it comes to a sponge cake, you can use actual unsalted butter (at room temp!), a baking spread, or even a margarine that has buttermilk in for good results. People debate which butter you should use, but I say trust your gut when it comes to the actual sponge.
- Sugar – The sugar for a sponge is typically caster sugar. It’s a finely grained sugar that is white – smaller than granulated sugar, but not as fine as icing sugar. Depending on where you are in the world, the name of this sugar may vary. For this cake I used caster sugar as I wanted a light flavour.
- Flour – For a sponge you should always use self raising flour unless the recipe says otherwise. Self raising flour has a raising agent in it to help create the soft and light texture
- Eggs – Eggs can vary in size, and I often use medium eggs. It’s always best to weigh the eggs IN their shells in a bowl to get to the closest weight of the rest of ingredients. For example, this recipe uses 325g of flour, so I want my eggs to weigh as close to 325g as well. A little bit more of less doesn’t usually matter, or you can match the weight to the eggs for best results.
Traybake tins
When it comes to the tin, it’s a big one… it’s a traybake cake tin which in my mind is HUGE. However, this is part of the point. Cakes like this one, my school cake, my chocolate school cake and so on are just one layer cakes that you take a wedge of and enjoy…
I use a 9×13″ tin for my traybake cakes as it creates a good amount of slices, the ingredients themselves don’t tend to cost too much as they are simpler to decorate and they are also much quicker to make and decorate.
If you wanted to make a smaller version of the cake however, you can use 2/3 of the ingredients and use a 9×9″ square tin and bake for less time.
Coconut
So, one of the main ingredients for this bake is OBVIOUSLY coconut. The easiest coconut you can use in a bake like this is desiccated coconut as it’s fine, creates a beautiful flavour, and a nice texture for a coconut based bake.
To make it fit the theme enough, just as in my jammy coconut loaf cake, I used 125g of desiccated coconut in the sponge. In terms of most ingredients this doesn’t sound like much, but as desiccated coconut is so light in texture, it’s actually quite a lot.
You can get away with using less in the cake if you don’t want the flavour to be as strong – I would say the smallest amount for a still nice flavour would be about 75g of coconut – you don’t have to change anything else in the recipe.
The coconut is the same I use for decoration – I couldn’t be bothered to toast it, but you can if you want.
Jam
To me the classic flavour of jam for this would be raspberry jam – I find the that flavour of the raspberry jam works wonderfully paired with the flavour of coconut n the decoration and sponge itself.
There isn’t much to it other than once the cake has cooled, you want to slather on the jam and spread it as evenly as possible. You can use more or less jam, but if anything more would be better if you like it super jammy!
If you just wanted to make this a coconut cake you can leave off the jam and use the icing from the school cake to have something to stick desiccated coconut to instead of the jam.
Tips and Tricks
- For this recipe I used this traybake tin as I find it’s the perfect size! Any 9×13″ traybake tin will work wonders.
- This recipe lasts for 3-4+ days at room temp once baked, but can freeze for 3+ months
- Use any flavour jam you want – I used raspberry
- I serve mine with a glug of custard and it’s heavenly.
Jammy Coconut Traybake!
Ingredients
Cake
- 325 g unsalted butter
- 325 g caster sugar
- 325 g self raising flour
- 6 medium eggs
- 125 g desiccated coconut
Decoration
- 300-400 g jam
- 25 g desiccated coconut
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat your oven to 180ºc/160ºc fan and line a 9x13" traybake tin with parchment paper.
- Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add in the eggs, self raising flour, and desiccated coconut and beat again until combined well.
- Pour into the tin and bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes, or until baked through.
- Once baked, let the cake cool fully in the tin.
For the Decoration
- Spread the jam over the top of the cake
- Sprinkle on the desiccated coconut evenly
Notes
- I recommend using a 9x13" traybake tin for this recipe.
- This cake will last for 3-4 days once made.
- For a 9" square tin - I would recommend a 4 egg/200g sugar/butter/flour and 75g desiccated coconut mixture. Baked for 35 minutes!
ENJOY!
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J x
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Hi, can this recipe be adapted to a vegan cake and if so how?
Made this on Sunday 13th August.
Followed the recipe to the letter, the only thing I did which was mentioned to weigh the eggs to get to the nearest to 325grams, so used medium and and large eggs came out at 325grams.
It came out just perfect, tasted lovely too with heaps of custard just like being back at school dinners.
its nearly gone lol. So thank you for posting your lovely puds
Hi could I use stork instead of butter ?
i use stork and it comes out great every time.
Super easy and Superlicious. Husband and friends love it. Will test it out on church kids club this Fri for a verdict. Used 9 x 9 tin, you recommend weight 4 medium eggs then sugar, butter and self raising flour as follow. i put slightly less sugar, as jam already added sugar, it work out well. Many thanks.
A great bake, made 2 for a lunch club, and they were excellent light and yummy..
Hi Jane! As this cake has a fair amount of coconut in the sponge, do you think a chocolate frosting with coconut sprinkled on top would work so it’s more like a bounty version? Or maybe, the sponge made the same with some cocoa in it with Chocolate frosting and sprinkled coconut? x
Yes, this sounds delicious! Take a look at my chocolate school cake recipe for a chocolate sponge. Hope this helps! x
Hi Jane, can I use seeded jam or is it best to use seedless? Thanks x
Hiya! Either works well, enjoy! x
I did a one third quantity and baked this in a wee six inch round pan – turned out great for something so straight forward.
Love your recipes but could I substitute self raising flour for plain flour and use a raising agent??
Hiya! Yes, for every 150g plain flour used, whisk in 2 level tsp baking powder before using! Hope this helps! x
First time tray bake and was fantastic. How do I freeze half of it please. X
Hiya! If undecorated, I always wrap it twice in clingfilm then once in foil. Hope this helps! x
I just made this and it’s perfect! I wanted to wash; how do I store this? In the fridge with some cling film? Xx
Hiya! In an airtight container at room temp should be fine, hope this helps! x
My style of baking is ‘I try’ 🙂 but this turned out so well I plucked up the courage to take the rest into work (as it does make a lot) – and they loved it!
thank you for all your recipes, I love the tips and advice you give, makes things easy for ‘tryers’ like me xx
I have made this delicious tray bake and wondered if I am able to freeze it? Thanks.
yes absolutely, for up to 3 months! Hope this helps! x
Hi Jane
If I used plain flour, how many tsp/tblsp of baking powder would I need to use ?
Thank you
Hiya! For every 150g plain flour, use 2 level tsp baking powder whisked in before using. Hope this helps! x
Just about to do this but would love to put fresh raspberries into it. Would you think this would be ok?
Hiya! This should be fine – let me know how it turns out! x
Hello, I have so many of your recipes and they are all brilliant, thank you! Sorry to ask if this is a very simple question but I only have a 9 x 12 tray bake tin, will it be ok to use this please and should I give it a couple of extra minutes? Thank you very much.
Hiya, this should be fine to use as it is! Hope this helps! x
Hey Jane,
Looking forward to givibg this recipe a try. Just wondering how many large eggs would you use instead of medium? As that’s all I have at home atm.
Thanks x
Hiya! 5 large eggs should be fine – hope this helps! x
I love passionfruit and was wondering if I could put a couple of teaspoons of passionfruit syrup (the one used for flavouring coffee) into the sponge? Would that alter it significantly?
Hiya! It may be wroth doing it after baking as the flavour may disappear during baking. Hope this helps! x
How would u cook this in a ninja
Hey Jane! I love your recipes and I love flicking through both your books for inspiration on my next bake! I recently made the jammy loaf version and followed it to the tee and my oven is accurate to its temperature however, the cake came out quite firm and stodgy. Not sure where I may of went wrong or if adding a few tbsp of milk would help moisten the cake? X
Hiya! This sounds as if it was slightly over mixed, or under baked! Hope this helps! x
Looks scrummy! If I was to make this in advance, how can I warm this up?
Hiya! In the microwave would be fine – hope this helps! x
Slightly odd question. I’m allergic to coconut, is there anything I could use instead or would I be best leaving it out and having ‘jam sponge’ instead. I hate missing out 😊
Hiya! Yes, just leave it out! Hope this helps x
Hiya, I haven’t made this recipe yet, but I’m sure it’ll be great. I was just wondering if adding the jam on the top before I bake it rather than afterwards would negatively affect how the cake bakes? Xx
Hiya! I wouldn’t recommend doing this as it may boil the jam and not give the same effect! Hope this helps! x