Coconut and chocolate ystervarkies: A family-favourite dessert

Oh cake, you always know how to improve our day, especially when it’s cold outside. In South Africa, we love these square goodies with coconut that we call ystervarkies or porcupines. They get their name of the comparison due to the desiccated coconut coating but these won’t hurt you. We have a great coconut and chocolate ystervarkies recipe for you and your family, perfect for those weekend events.

Making your coconut and chocolate ystervarkies

The cake is an easy recipe which you can do many tasty things with and reuse. The chocolate sauce is rich and sweet which will soak into the cake. You can add some of the coconut into the cake mixture if you are a big fan of the taste. Don’t soak the cake too long but also make sure that they absorb a nice amount of the chocolate. These are great for those weekend events when you’re not making malva pudding or great for bake sales at the kid’s school.

These cake treats are a staple of any grocery store, but made at home. Try our moist, rich and sweet coconut and chocolate ystervarkies with your family.

Coconut and chocolate ystervarkies recipe

5 from 2 votes

Recipe by Carla Zinkfontein Course: Dessert, SnackCuisine: GlobalDifficulty: Easy

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Resting Time

10

minutes

Total time

30

minutes

Ingredients

• ¾ cup ¾ white sugar

• 2 tbsp 2 butter, softened

• 2 2 eggs, beaten

• 1 cup 1 self-raising flour

• 1 cup 1 desiccated coconut

• Chocolate sauce:

• 2 tbsp 2 Cocoa

• 1 cup 1 icing sugar

• 3 tbsp 3 boiling water

• 1 tbsp 1 butter, melted

Method

• For the sponge
• Preheat your oven to 180°C.
• Cream together the sugar and butter with a spoon or hand mixer.
• Add in the self-raising flour and eggs and mix into a thick cake batter.
• Pour batter into a large square baking tray and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until deliciously golden on top. Test with a wooden skewer and if it comes out clean, it’s ready.
• Allow the sponge to cool on a baking tray before cutting into squares or rectangles.
• For the chocolate sauce
• Mix together the icing sugar, cocoa, melted butter and boiling water.
• Pop the desiccated coconut into a separate bowl. Place a wire cooling rack over a baking tray so it’s ready for the dipped lamingtons.
• Assembly
• One at a time, place each slice of sponge cake on a fork and dunk it in the chocolate sauce. You may need to roll it around a bit to ensure it’s completely covered. Then use the fork to lift the cake out of the chocolate and pop it into the coconut. Use the fork to cover the cake with coconut, then once coated, transfer to the wire rack to dry.
• Allow lamingtons to dry for 5-10 minutes then dig in!

Notes

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