I am reposting this with some additional pictures. I made this cake again yesterday for another friend’s birthday. I doubled the recipe, so it took much longer to bake as the center took a long time to bake.

The other day, I was wondering what cake to bake for my friend, Uma, who was returning from a mountaineering course.  A lot of us dream of doing many things, but may not actually take the next leap of doing it. One day, on a whim, she decided to join the basic course. She started training fastidiously, working out rain or shine, and was ready for the course. I am sure it was not easy, but she is not the person to give up! Hats off to her!

“The mountains are calling and I must go.” – John Muir

As a homecoming welcome, I made her this cake. She loves ‘Mounds’ and ‘Almond Joy’. the coconut and chocolate candies. This cake had all the flavors of the candy. Orange always goes well with chocolate. This recipe was taken from Sju Sorters Kakor, Swedish Cakes, and Cookies. After I made the cake, I felt I could have added almond paste to it, next time! Also, drizzle with melted dark chocolate. YUM!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 2/3 cups desiccated coconut (I would like to try it with freshly grated coconut to see how it would turn out)
• 3 tbsp candied orange peel (chopped finely)- I had a bag of candied orange peel in the freezer from the last time I baked an orange cake(Recipe in the blog). This was slightly bitter but that adds to the flavor.
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• chocolate to melt

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF)
• Grease a 9 inch round pan
• Line the pan with parchment paper
• Grease and sprinkle with coconut

• Melt the butter and let it cool
• Chop candied peel finely – I have used the food processor or a mixer to chop
  

Beat eggs and sugar until very thick and pale yellow

Add butter and mix

Combine the remaining ingredients and fold into the egg mixture. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake on a low oven rack for around 30 minutes or till a skewer comes out clean. The crust was crisp and to die for.  The candied orange recipe follows. Try it!

Melt some chocolates and drizzle on top.