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St Helena Coconut Fingers
St Helena Coconut Fingers is a traditional Saint Helenian recipe for a classic sponge cake coated in coloured icing (frosting) and desiccated coconut. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Saint Helenian version of: St Helena Coconut Fingers.
prep time
20 minutes
cook time
30 minutes
Total Time:
50 minutes
Makes:
18
Rating: 
Tags : Baking RecipesCake RecipesSt-helena Recipes
Coconut fingers are a traditional celebration cake. It would be unthinkable to for any St Helenian celebration and there not be any coconut fingers. Usually iced in pink, they are a sponge cake covered in coconut.
Every family has their own family recipe or their own twist on making them. Its a messy business to make, with the general method being to dip the whole sponge into the coloured icing before rolling them in the coconut. Below is a basic recipe to make about 18 coconut fingers.
Ingredients:
175g self-raising flour
175g caster sugar
175g margarine or butter
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp baking powder.
175g icing sugar
pink or green food colouring
hot water
1 small pack desiccated coconut (preferably fine)
Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C. Grease and line the base of a 20cm square baking tin.
Cream together the margarine or butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly to combine after each addition (if the mixture looks like it may be splitting add a tablespoon of the flour). Sift together the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl then blend the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until you have a smooth batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin, transfer to the centre of your pre-heated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre emerges cleanly.
Remove the cake from the oven and set aside to cool in the tin for 10 mins. Remove from the tin and set aside on a wire rack to cool completely.
To decorate: Cut the cake half and then cut each half into strips so you get 18 fingers in total.
Pour the coconut onto a plate. Place the icing sugar and a small amount of food colouring in a bowl and add hot water by the tablespoon and stir until the icing is of a thick glossy consistency. Add more water if it is too thick to dip and cover the cake fingers.
Dip all sides of a cake finger into the icing, then roll in the coconut. Set aside for the icing to dry. Repeat with the remaining cake fingers.
