Guyanese Salara / Red Cake

Guyanese Salara / Red Cake Recipe

This red coconut bread, what Guyanese people call salara / red cake, is mainly a bread recipe that has been filled with red-colored coconut, rolled up, then baked off until brown.

Ingredients

1. Ingredients

2. 1 tbsp dry yeast

3. ¼ cup warm water

4. ¼ cup sugar

5. 1 cup milk

6. ¼ cup shortening

7. 1 tsp salt

8. 3 cups flour

9. 1 egg, beaten

10. 1 tbsp butter

11. 1 egg white

12. Filling

13. 1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened) but if grating your own coconut or using an unsweetened coconut increase sugar from 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup

14. 1/4 cup sugar

15. 1 tsp cinnamon

16. 1 tsp vanilla essence

17. 2 tbsp water

18. 5 drops of red food coloring (or until it gets to the deep red that you want)

Instructions

1. Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of sugar. Mix and let stand.

2. Warm the milk then set aside. Combine the salt and sugar with the flour, cut shortening into the flour mixture then add the yeast, and egg. Pour the milk in and knead to make a moderately stiff dough. Shape into a ball.

3. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with aluminum foil; let rise to double in size for about 1 hour. Combine all the filling ingredients and set aside.

4. Punch down the dough and divide in half. Roll each half into an 12 inch x 8 inch rectangle, and brush with melted butter.

5. Sprinkle half of the filling mixture on each rectangle of dough. Roll up lengthwise and seal the edges.

6. Cover and let rise until double in size.

7. Brush the rolls with beaten egg white. Bake at 350°F for 20 – 30 minutes. Until the tops are brown

8. Cut into slices and serve. Yields 2 rolls.