Louise Cake With Plum And Coconut

Louise cake with plum and coconut is your next easy-to-make dessert. You will love its coconut-based biscuit covered with juicy plums and topped with a lovely almond meringue. Do not miss the plum season to treat yourself!

This beautiful Louise cake loaded with plums makes the summer elegant and tasty. It is undoubtedly the perfect time of the year to include plum baking goodies to your baking calendar.

The cake itself is a plum coconut cake that consists of a coconut-based biscuit with a layer of juicy plums. Coconut and plum in the recipe create a terrific flavor combination.

Using other stone fruit to make Louise cake turns the dessert out irresistibly tasty, too. Every single piece of the cake says a sweet “hello” with a quick “goodbye,” bite after bite.

Jump to:

• What is Louise cake?
• History of Louise cake
• Ingredients
• Why Louise cake recipe works
• How to make this plum coconut cake step by step
• Expert tips
• More delicious cake recipes you will love
• Recipe
• Comments

What is Louise cake?

Louise cake is one of the most popular New Zealand desserts. The original cake is baked in a square pan and has a cake base topped with raspberry or plum jam and a thin layer of coconut meringue. The cake is often called Louise Cake Slice since it is cut into squares after baking.

History of Louise cake

The origin of Louise cake is unclear; although, it is considered that the cake was named after Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Louise. Some rumor sais the cake was created for her wedding in 1871.

Then the recipe for Louise cake was probably brought to New Zealand by British settlers. Today, Louise cake is rated sixth in the "Top 10 Favorite Kiwi Recipes." Who is a kiwi? Kiwi is the nickname for New Zealanders.

This incredibly delicious Louise cake is a tiny twist on the cake created by the Israeli-British chef Yotam Ottolenghi and his partner Helen Goh. I mostly experimented with the meringue to cake ratio.

Ingredients

Here is a quick overview of what ingredients you will need. Follow the full recipe below for detailed amounts and instructions. I recommend making this recipe as written for the best results. 

Butter: the recipe calls for unsalted butter. Use a top-quality butter, for example, European-style butter.

Sugar: use granulated white sugar.

Lemon zest: it is preferable to use organic, untreated lemon and zest it with a zester grater.

Egg whites, egg yolks: use large chicken eggs.

Flour: all-purpose flour is used to make the cake.

Baking powder: aluminum-free baking powder is the best in baking.

Salt: it enhances the flavors of the dessert.

Shredded coconut: once you open a bag, keep it in an airtight container in the fridge or even in the freezer.

Milk: the recipe calls for whole milk.

Vanilla extract: the most flavorful one is Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract. Replace it with alcohol-free vanilla flavor if you prefer.

Red plums: use seasonal ripe fruits that are not too soft. Replace fresh plums with apricots, peaches, nectarines, or cherries if you desire. But try to avoid fresh berries such as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries since they are too watery for this kind of cake.

Toasted flaked almonds: use store-bought almonds or toast them in the oven at 300 F/150 C for 10 to 15 minutes.

White wine vinegar, cornflour.

Why Louise cake recipe works

1. The cake recipe is straightforward and is easy to follow. There is no resting or cooling time between steps, which makes the baking quick and enjoyable.
2. The cake bottom has a yellow color and a dense texture due to egg yolks. It also has a subtle light flavor due to desiccated coconut.
3. Red plums are the star of the cake, but Using different stone fruits such as apricots, peaches, nectarines, and even cherries makes the dessert a universal summer dessert.
4. The deep yellow ochre of the cake base and the airy white meringue have a remarkable contrast with the burgundy/red color of plums. This contrast gives a dramatic look to the cake.
5. Meringue sweetness is wonderfully balanced with the tart note of plums.
6. The moist, syrupy plum layer is harmonized with the cake base and the thick airy meringue that is baked to create a lovely crust on top.
7. Adding toasted almonds to the meringue topping gives an additional volume and crunchiness to the dessert.

How to make this plum coconut cake step by step

To toast almonds, preheat oven to 340 F/170 C. Place flaked almonds on a baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes until lightly browned. Remove almonds from the oven, and let cool.

Increase the oven temperature to 365 F/185 C. Butter and line a round springform pan 9 inches/23 cm in diameter with the parchment paper.

To make the biscuit, place butter, sugar, and lemon zest in the bowl of a stand mixer (photo 1). Beat on medium-high speed until sugar/butter mixture is smooth. Add egg yolks, one at a time, and process until combined (photo 2).

In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt, using a flour sifter. Add shredded coconut and mix well. Low speed of the stand mixer and gradually add dry mixture to the principal preparation, alternating with milk and vanilla (photo 3). Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and even top with a spoon (photo 4).

Bake at 365 F/185 C for 25 minutes. Check the readiness of the biscuit with a skewer or a knife: the cake base is ready if the skewer or the knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

While the biscuit cools down, prepare plums. Divide each plum vertically in half. Discard stones and then slice every half into four parts. In general, you will get eight segments per plum and forty segments in sum (photo 5). If you use smaller plums or cherries, then quarter each fruit.

Increase oven heat to 392 F/200 C. Arrange plum pieces on top of the biscuit, close to each other, and cut side down (photo 6).  Try not to overlap the fruit; otherwise, it will make the middle layer of the cake watery.

To make the meringue, whisk egg whites and salt on medium-high speed one minute, until soft peaks. Gradually add sugar and continue to whisk at high speed until the meringue becomes stiff and glossy (photo 7). Add vanilla extract, vinegar, and cornflour and whisk again. Finally, add toasted flaked almonds (photo 8) and gently mix with a spatula.

Distribute the meringue on top of plums. Swirl the meringue around to get rough waves and peaks (photo 9). Bring the cake in the oven. Immediately lower the oven temperature to 356 F/180 C and bake for 35 minutes, until the meringue has formed a slightly brown hard crust.

Remove the cake from the oven, and let cool down, still being in the cake pan, at least 30 minutes. Release the cake and peel the parchment paper from sides of the cake (photo 10). 

Expert tips

1. Use frozen unpitted fruits or any fruit jam as a spread for the middle layer to make the cake all year round.
2. If you are a coconut lover, switch toasted flaked almonds with shredded coconut while making the meringue topping.
3. Replace 20 g all-purpose flour with the same amount of cocoa powder to make a chocolate-coconut biscuit that would perfectly pair with a cherry layer instead of the plum one.
4. Watch out for the color of the meringue crust while baking. You might want to get less or more browned crust.

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Recipe

The nutrition information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator and is intended for informational purposes only and should be used as a general guideline. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should independently verify it using your preferred tool. Please, read the disclaimers in our Privacy Policy.

The recipe was adapted from https://ottolenghi.co.uk/. It was originally published on September 06, 2018. The recipe has been revised to include improved content and photos. All posted pictures are mine.