Chocolate Coconut Bars
Serves: 6 to 8
These Chocolate Coconut Bars are a classic recipe from the Australian Women's Weekly. No fancy ingredients (just good quality cocoa). Perfect for school bake sales or to bring to work for morning tea. Recipe with step-by-step photos.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 125 g (½ cup plus ⅓ cup) plain flour, (all-purpose flour)
- 5 g (1 teaspoon) baking powder
- 5 g (1 tablespoon) cocoa powder
- 100 g (⅔ cup) light brown sugar, or light muscovado sugar
- 90 g (1 cup) dessicated coconut
- 125 g (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 egg
For the icing
- 160 g (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) icing sugar, (powdered sugar), sifted
- 5 g (1 tablespoon) cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon soft butter
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
- 2 tablespoons dessicated coconut, to decorate
Instructions
To Make the Cake
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F (without fan).
- Line a rectangular baking tin (19 x 29 cm / 7.5 x 11.4 inches) with baking paper.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, light brown sugar, and dessicated coconut in a mixing bowl.
- Add the melted butter and egg.
- Mix everything together until well combined. You should have a fairly thick mixture.
- Spread the mixture evenly in the baking tin, pressing the mixture down with your finger tips.
- Bake for about 20 minutes or until the mixture is firm upon touching.
To Make the Icing
- Meanwhile, make the chocolate icing.
- Mix together the icing sugar, cocoa powder, and butter.
- Add some of the milk and stir until you have a smooth and thick mixture. Add more milk as necessary to make the icing spreadable.
- You want a fairly thick icing as it will melt slightly when spread onto the hot cake.
To Assemble
- Once the cake is out of the oven, leave it to cool slightly on a wire rack (about 3-5 minutes).
- Spread the chocolate icing evenly over the hot cake.
- Wait a few minutes before sprinkling the cake with dessicated coconut, otherwise the coconut will sink into the icing.
- Leave the cake to cool in the tin.
- Slice the cake into thin bars or squares, or as you wish. Enjoy!
Kitchen Notes
- RECIPE CREDIT
This recipe is adapted from The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits by the Australian Women's Weekly - OVEN TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website state temperatures for a regular oven (i.e. a conventional oven without fan). If you have a convection oven with a fan, please consult the manufacturer's handbook on how to adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly. - CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.