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 juicy summer plums makes everyone's favorite season elegant and tasty.

It is undoubtedly the perfect time of the year to include plum baking goodies on 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 the 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.

What is Louise cake?

Louise cake is one of the most popular New Zealand desserts. The original cake is baked in a square pan.

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

Then the recipe for the 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.

Why you should try this recipe

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 thin cakey 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 cake stars 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.

Ingredients

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

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

Sugar: use granulated white sugar or replace it with caster sugar.

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

Egg whites, egg yolks: use large eggs at room temperature.

Flour: the recipe calls for all-purpose flour.

Baking powder: use fresh aluminum-free baking powder that 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 an alcohol-free vanilla flavor if you prefer.

Red plums: use seasonal dark red plums, ripe but not too soft. Replace fresh plums with the best stone fruits such as apricots, peaches, nectarines, or cherries if you desire.

However, 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 degrees F/150 degrees C for 10 to 15 minutes.

White wine vinegar, cornflour.

How to make plum and coconut cake

To toast almonds, preheat the oven to 300 degrees F/150 degrees 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 oven temperature to 365 degrees F/185 degrees C. Butter and line the bottom and the sides of a round 9-inches/23 cm springform pan (with removable base) with parchment paper.

To make the biscuit, place butter, sugar, and lemon zest in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (photo 1).

Beat at medium-high speed until the sugar and butter mixture is smooth.

Add large 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. Lower 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 tin and even top with a spoon (photo 4).

Bake at 365 degrees F/185 degrees 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. Wash and divide plums vertically in halves.

Discard stones and then slice plum halves 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 390 degrees F/200 degrees 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, using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites and salt at medium-high speed for 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 curls and peaks (photo 9).

Bring the cake to the oven. Immediately lower the oven temperature to 355 degrees F/180 degrees C and bake for 35 minutes until the meringue has formed a slightly golden brown hard crust.

Remove the cake from the oven and let cool down, still in the cake pan, for at least 30 minutes.

Release the cake and peel the parchment paper from the sides of the cake (photo 10). 

Recipe variations

To create an elegant and mouthwatering twist on the traditional Louise cake recipe, let's turn to creativity.

Use frozen unpitted fruits or spread of raspberry jam (instead of fruits) to make this cake all year round.

If you are one of the coconut lovers, switch toasted flaked almonds with shredded coconut while making the meringue topping. It will bring coconut flavor to the meringue layer.

Replace 2 ½ tablespoons (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.

Storage

Store the Louise cake in an airtight container for up to 3 to 5 days in the refrigerator. The top of the meringue may soften up after the first day.

In reality, you can freeze the Louise cake for up to one month, but the meringue layer on top of the cake will lose its texture.

Expert tips

1. 180 g egg whites approximately equal to 3 ½ whole large chicken eggs (eggshell removed).
2. Use a springform cake tin with a removable bottom to facilitate the removal of the baked cake.
3. Watch out for the color of the meringue crust while baking. You might want to get less or more browned crust.

Frequently asked questions

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The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.

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.