Pineapple Poppy Seed Cake by Francis Quinn

Scoop the cream out of the can and place it in a medium to large bowl, before placing this back in the fridge to chill. You will be using this bowl to beat the topping mix together later.

Heat the coconut mixture together over a medium heat until it has melted, remove the saucepan from the heat and leave to cool slightly.

Using an electric hand beater, whisk the sugar, coconut mixture and eggs together until combined into an emulsion. Sift over the flour and fold through the mix, add in the set aside pineapple puree, poppy seeds and desiccated coconut and fold this fully through the cake batter.

Transfer into your lined tin/s and bake for approx 50 minutes if baking it in a deep tin (25 if using two sandwich tins). Either way keep an eye and check on the cakes 5/10 minutes before this time. They are baked once they look golden brown and a sharp knife or skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake. Leave to cool slightly in their tins before transferring to cooling racks.

Remove your bowl with chilled coconut cream from the fridge add in the double cream and Tate & Lyle light muscovado sugar. Beat together until fully combined and thickened.

Slice your cooled and baked cake in half and apply your set aside pineapple syrup to both sponges, cut side up, with a paintbrush. Next take the cake stand, plate or display board you will using to serve your cake on, and dab a bit of the coconut cream on to it, to act as glue, before laying over one of your cake sponges-cut side up on to it.

Using a spatula, transfer just under half of your mixture on to half of the cake spreading over its surface. Place the other cake half on top and carefully set into place.

Next transfer more of the coconut cream around the sides of the cake. Once all of the sides are covered, run the spatula right around the cake. Continue spreading and scraping until you have a light covering of frosting sitting on the surface of the cake and a fairly smooth finish. You are not looking to completely cover the sponge crumb, but instead aim for a semi-naked finish. Cover the top of the cake with the remaining topping, pushing the mixture over the edges. Then once smooth and run your spatula around the exterior edge of the cake to collect the overhanging mixture from the top.

Take your gold tipped pineapple leaves and with a pair of sharp scissors cut their base ends into a subtle point to make it easier to insert them into the cake. Press into the top of the cake in a cluster, ensuring the leaves are at different heights to create an organic yet structured finish.

Place 4 pineapple flowers on to the top of the cake, as the picture and film illustrate. To decorate the sides of the cake with the remaining 2 flowers, take 2 straight sewing pins and carefully press into the centre of the flowers and then insert into the side of the cake. Making sure you remember to remove the pins before eating the cake and flowers!

To add a bit of Caribbean sparkle to the cake, subtly sprinkle some of the copper crunch over the top of the cake, in and around the pineapple flowers before finally adding a light dusting of edible gold glitter. Finally take some of the Tate & Lyle light muscovado sugar and scatter around the base of the cake to resemble sand, before serving.