Coconut, Lime And Roasted Blueberry Cake

To Make the Cake

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Grease and line three 20 cm cake tins with baking paper.
• Sift together the flour, caster sugar, bicarbonate of soda, and salt. Mix in the coconut.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, buttermilk, lemon juice, lime zest, and coconut essence.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well to form a batter.
• Divide the batter equally among the prepared cake tins and bake for approximately 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow the cakes to cool completely in the tins.

To Roast the Blueberries

• Arrange the blueberries in a greased roasting dish, sprinkle with sugar, and roast in the oven at 180°C (160°C fan-forced) for approximately 25 minutes, or until a thick syrup forms. Allow to cool completely.

To Make the Buttercream

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the egg whites, sugar, and lemon juice. Place the bowl on top of a saucepan filled with a small amount of water and heat over medium heat. Whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture reaches 70°C.
• Remove the bowl from the heat and beat on high speed until the egg white mixture is white, fluffy, and almost cold.
• Switch to the paddle attachment.
• Gradually add the butter, a few cubes at a time, and beat on high speed until fully incorporated.
• Continue adding butter until all has been used. The mixture should be light, fluffy, and creamy.

To Assemble the Cake

• Spread a layer of buttercream onto one cake layer and top with a third of the roasted blueberries. Repeat with the remaining cake layers and blueberries.
• Fold the remaining blueberries into the remaining buttercream and spread around the sides and top of the cake.
• Decorate with coconut shards around the cake and blueberries and lime zest on top.