AI-generated image
Toto
Dense, moist Jamaican coconut cake spiced with nutmeg and cinnamon, baked in a tray and cut into squares
Toto is an old-time Jamaican country cake, the kind baked in a 'dutchie' over coals in rural St Mary and St Ann and sold in squares at bakeries and school tuck shops. It's dense and moist rather than light, packed with grated coconut, darkened with brown sugar and fragrant with nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla. Lovely with a cup of tea, still slightly warm. Chef's tip: use fresh grated coconut if you can, or soak desiccated coconut in the warm coconut milk for 15 minutes first. Dry coconut steals moisture from the batter and leaves the cake crumbly instead of chewy.
- Total time
- 60 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 12
Ingredients
Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Stir 5 ½ oz freshly grated coconut into ¾ cup coconut milk and leave for 15 minutes while you get on (essential with desiccated coconut). Heat the oven to 350°F (325°F fan) and butter and line a 20 cm square tin.
15 minStep 2: Whisk 9 oz plain flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg and ¼ tsp salt together.
Step 3: Beat 4 oz butter and 5 ½ oz dark brown sugar for 3 minutes until pale and fluffy. Beat in 1 egg and 2 tsp vanilla extract.
3 minStep 4: Fold in the flour mixture and the coconut and milk, in two goes each, until just combined. The batter will be thick, like a soft dough; don't overmix.
Step 5: Spread it into the tin and level the top with a wet spatula.
Step 6: Bake for 35–40 minutes, until the top is deep golden brown, the edges pull away from the tin and a skewer in the middle comes out clean.
38 minStep 7: Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then lift out and cut into 12 squares. It keeps, wrapped, for 3 days.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 250 kcal
- Protein
- 3 g
- Carbs
- 31 g
- Fat
- 13 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does toto take?
- About 60 minutes in total: 20 minutes to prepare and 40 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 12 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of coconut milk?
- Single cream, same amount (not dairy free).
- What can I use instead of plain flour?
- Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Ma'amoul
Ma'amoul are delicate shortbread-like pastries made for Eid and Easter across the Middle East. A soft, rose-scented butter dough is wrapped around a filling of dates, walnuts, almonds and pistachios cooked with cinnamon, marked with a fork, baked pale and dusted with icing sugar. Makes 35; they keep well in a tin.
Banana and cashew slice
A soft, moist low-calorie slice made without flour, eggs or refined sugar: ripe bananas are blended with sunflower oil, vanilla and cardamom, then cashews, desiccated coconut, oats and grated apple. Baked and cut into wedges, it is naturally sweet and good with tea or in a lunch box.
Moist banana bread
The blacker the bananas, the better the loaf. This one is mixed in a single bowl with melted butter and a little brown sugar, so it's soft, deeply banana-y and keeps well for days.