Coconut Cake ( Bibikkan)

Bibikkan is  a delicious, dark moist cake made of shredded coconut, jaggery,dry fruits and semolina. It has got a very distinct taste and savoured by most foodies  in my country.This wonderful sweet treat was apparently introduced to Sri Lanka during the Dutch/Portuguese  rule.It is very  popular during the festive season.Recently I took an effort to make  this delicious delight from scratch.Due to Diabetes  my husband and I need  to  keep our sugar levels  under control, hence it was   essential to make a few changes in the recipe.Therefore I  omitted the jaggery and used treacle and date paste and also left out the   sugary  ginger preserves winter melons and the candied peel, which the original recipe called  for and substituted with unsweetened  dry fruits and the zest of citrus to cater to our taste.Regardless it turned out fabulous.

 Ingredients

40 ml  bottle of treacle

2 cups shredded coconut

50 g semolina  slightly roasted 

50 gram whole wheat flour

1 cup dates  chopped  

½ teaspoon fennel  crushed

2-3  cardamom crushed

50 g cashew nuts

1  cup  dry friuts/prunes,raisins( (chopped)

2 eggs

1 tablespoon mixed lemon/orange zest

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Extra cashew nuts for decoration (optional)

Method

Mix the coconut with the treacle ( I also used  1/2 cup of date paste). Stir in the semolina, dates, fennel, cardamom, the dry fruits,lemon/orange zest, cashew nuts, salt, baking powder and cinnamon.

Separate the egg white and york. Beat it separately and fold into the mixture.Now pour the contents into  a greased baking tray(9 inch*12 inch).Decorate with cahew nuts (optional).Bake in a moderate oven (160°C ) for 2 hours.Cool completely and cut.

*If you are using jaggery ,melt the jaggery in 375 ml water in a pan, add the coconut and  set aside to cool and then mix in the rest of the ingredients.

This can be wrapped individually and  stored in an airtight container in the freezer for later use.

Please note-This particular coconut cake (Bibikkan) was prepared to suit a diabetic's palate,using,treacle,date paste and whole wheat flour.There is an original recipe for this specialty cake using a varied of ingredients.