My week of Jamaican food is coming to an end, and what better way to finish than with a dessert? That’s exactly what popped into my head when I came across this toto recipe. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, and this simple sheet cake sounded like my kind of dessert, especially since it’s made with coconut. I love coconut! There are a few other things I like in the recipe, but I was sold once I read “coconut”. Let’s find out if it’s as good as it sounds.
Toto is a coconut spice cake that is popular throughout the Caribbean. On some islands it is simply called Coconut Cake. Toto is a dense cake that is rather plain and not much to look at but the combination of coconut and spices makes for a delicious confection that is sure to delight any coconut lover.
The Ingredients
The list of ingredients for this recipe wasn’t too long, and I had most everything on hand. I love it when that happens! All I had to buy to make this recipe was the coconut milk and coconut flakes.
The coconut milk was easy, but I wasn’t sure if the coconut flakes needed to be sweetened or unsweetened. The recipe and the accompanying blog post didn’t say, so I googled other toto recipes to see if they specified the type of coconut. Unsweetened coconut flakes seemed to be the most popular, so that’s what I went with.
The Process
Making my toto was a straightforward process, and the instructions were very easy to follow for the most part. One thing that I noticed after I started cooking was there are two different oven temperatures listed. I preheated the oven to 375 then noticed 400 was listed later. I increased my oven’s temperature to 400 as I put my cake in, and that cooked it perfectly in the 35 minutes specified.
Another thing to be aware of is the batter will become very thick as you add the flour. A strong spoon will be needed, and stirring could be counted as your upper body workout for the day!
The thick batter also doesn’t self-level once you pour it into the baking dish. I tried smoothing it with the back of a wooden spoon, but it really didn’t work too well. The top of my toto was a bit bumpy, but a sprinkle of extra coconut flakes helped disguise it.
The entire process took less than an hour, not including time for the cake to cool. Here is how it broke down:
- 11 minutes to prep
- 35 minutes to cook
- 46 minutes total
