Ingredients
The mixture
- 1large dry coconut (about 400 g flesh), grated coarsely
- 400 ggranulated sugar
- 150 mlwater
- ½ tspfreshly grated nutmeg
- 1 tspground ginger, or 20 g fresh ginger, finely grated
- 1 tspvanilla essence
- 1 pinchfine salt
Optional colour
- ½ tspred or pink food colouring, added at the end for the classic two-tone cakes
Directions
- Grate the coconut coarsely, brown skin pared off. Shreds, not powder: the texture of a sugar cake comes from visible strands of coconut suspended in set sugar.
- Put the sugar and water in a heavy, wide pan over medium heat and stir only until the sugar dissolves, then stop stirring and let it boil.
- Boil to the soft-ball stage, 112–115°C (225–250°F) on a sugar thermometer, about 8 minutes. Without a thermometer, drop a little syrup into cold water: it should form a soft ball you can flatten between your fingers.
- Tip in the coconut, nutmeg, ginger, vanilla and salt all at once and stir hard with a wooden spoon over low heat.
- Keep stirring 8–12 minutes as the mixture thickens. It is ready when it pulls away from the sides of the pan in a mass and the spoon leaves a clear track that closes slowly.
- If colouring, take the pan off the heat, scoop half the mixture out and stir the colouring through the half still in the pan.
- Working fast, drop heaped tablespoons onto a greased tray or a sheet of banana leaf, spacing them well. If making two-tone cakes, drop a spoon of white and press a spoon of pink on top.
- Leave to set at room temperature for at least 1 hour until firm and dry to the touch. Store in an airtight tin; they keep two weeks.
Technique
- Timing decides everything. Pulled off too early the cakes never set and stay sticky; cooked too long the sugar crystallises hard and the cakes turn sandy and crumble.
- Humidity matters. On a wet day take the syrup one or two degrees higher, or the cakes will weep.
- The pink half is decorative and dates back generations in Antiguan and Barbadian sweet shops; the flavour is identical.
Substitutions
- No fresh coconut: 300 g unsweetened desiccated coconut rehydrated in 150 ml hot coconut milk for 20 minutes, then drained, is an honest stand-in.
- Demerara sugar in place of white gives a darker, fudgier cake closer to Trinidadian toolum.
Variations
- Antiguan sugar cake, plain and white, spiced with nutmeg alone.
- The pink and white two-tone version sold at fairs and Carnival.
- Coconut fudge, a softer take made with condensed milk stirred in at the end.
History
Grated coconut boiled with sugar and ginger and set in pink and white rounds, sold at shops and school gates.
Frequently asked questions
What is Sugar cake?
Sugar cake is a dessert from Antigua and Barbuda: grated coconut boiled in sugar, set into mounds. Grated coconut boiled with sugar and ginger and set in pink and white rounds, sold at shops and school gates.
How long does Sugar cake take to make?
Sugar cake takes 20 min of preparation and 30 min, plus 1 hr setting of cooking. The recipe makes about 18 pieces. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Sugar cake?
Yes, within limits. No fresh coconut: 300 g unsweetened desiccated coconut rehydrated in 150 ml hot coconut milk for 20 minutes, then drained, is an honest stand-in. Demerara sugar in place of white gives a darker, fudgier cake closer to Trinidadian toolum.
What is the most important thing to get right in Sugar cake?
Timing decides everything. Pulled off too early the cakes never set and stay sticky; cooked too long the sugar crystallises hard and the cakes turn sandy and crumble.
