Chocolate coconut butter cake recipe

To be honest, I've never been a fan of coconut flavor cake. However, when I saw the photos of the coconut and chocolate butter cake recipe by NasiLemakLover, I told myself that I must at least give it a go. I'm glad I did. It's such a beautiful butter cake! 

The coconut layer compliments the chocolate butter cake, making it a perfect combination. Never did I know that coconut goes so well with chocolate. As usual, I made some minor adjustments to the original recipe mainly to reduce the sweetness and make the coconut layer more subtle to suit my taste buds. 

Recipe: 

(8-inch square pan, but I used a 9-inch square pan)

230g unsalted butter (room temperature)

120g caster sugar

4 eggs 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

210g self raising cake flour (or mix 210g cake flour with 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder)
80ml milk

Coconut layer:

30g desiccated coconut

Chocolate layer: 

Mix 1 tablespoon cocoa powder with 1 1/2 tablespoons milk to form a cocoa paste.

20g dark chocolate chips

1. Beat butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until pale and fluffy.

2. Add in eggs, one at a time. Beat thoroughly after each addition. Add the vanilla extract with the last egg. Beat for another 1 minute after the last addition until everything is well combined.

3. Sift 1/4 self raising cake flour onto the batter and fold with a spatula until even. Repeat this step for another 1/4 self raising cake flour. 

4. Add half the milk and fold well. Sift in 1/4 self raising cake flour and fold until combine. Repeat the same for the remaining milk and the self raising cake flour. 

5. Divide the batter equally onto two mixing bowls. 

6. Fold desiccated coconut onto one part of the batter for the coconut layer. 

7. Fold the cocoa paste and dark chocolate chips onto the other part of the batter for the chocolate layer. 

8. Line cake tin with parchment paper. 

9. Pour chocolate batter onto the cake tin and spread evenly, follow by the coconut batter on top. 

10. Bang the cake tin on the table top a few times to release the big air bubbles.

11. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160c for about 45 mins or until the inserted skewer comes out clean.

12. Remove the cake from the cake tin and let it cool on a wire rack.