We call it Chip-chip Sugar Cake but in Jamaica, they are Coconut Drops.
There is something downright homey that gets to you when you eat homemade sugar cake, especially the type made with coconut that has been roughly chopped into bits. Bold with flavour of ginger, yet not overpowering, this sweet treat is a taste of home across the region, regardless of what name you call it.
Sugar cake always seems easy to make, after all, the ingredients are few, you essentially need only 3 – coconut, sugar, and some sort of spice flavouring. The lot is cooked until the coconut cooks through, softened; the sugar melted and reached a stage that when cooled, the coconut will bind together in either small mounds or flat disks depending on how you like it. It’s candy making at its finest. It’s simple, honest food. Getting the balance right is not always easy though, knowing just the right amount of sugar to put to not make it cloyingly sweet and the perfect amount of flavouring that it does not overwhelm. Finally, cooking the mixture that’s best judged by the eye when it is ready to be removed from the heat.
