Recipe: Coconut and Lime Cake

Hi guys! I’m back again with another recipe post but this time, we’re leaning towards the sweeter kind. I gotta admit, cakes aren’t my strong suit. Apart from the Betty Crocker kind which requires very little effort and skill but, if I do say so myself, this one went exceptionally well and tasted delicious so I’m sharing the recipe, which is very easy, with you below!

What you’ll need:

For the cake:

225g/8oz self-raising flour | 225g/8oz of caster sugar | 225g/8oz unsalted butter | 4 large eggs | 50g desiccated coconut | grated zest of 1 lime | 2 tbsp lime juice

For the icing:

100g/3.5oz icing sugar | grated zest of 1 lime | 2 tbsp lime juice | 300g/10oz cream cheese | 15g desiccated coconut

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees /350 F / Gas 4 and grease the baking tin

Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the caster sugar, butter and eggs and mix until well combined.

Mix in the coconut, lime zest and lime juice then spoon the batter into the tin and leave for an hour to an hour and a quarter. If the top starts to look a like it’s getting burnt towards the end of the hour, place a sheet of foil over the cake so the middle continues to cook but the top doesn’t get burnt.

Remove from the tin and leave to cool completely on a wire rack. Once cool, cut into two equal halves (the picture in the book shows it cut into 3, which you can do, but if you’d prefer more icing on the top then cutting it into half is fine!)

Now to make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl, add the cream cheese, lime zest and lime juice and whisk. Our icing went quite runny at first because we put a little too much lime juice in so be careful when measuring out the juice. If your icing does become too runny, try adding a bit more icing sugar or put it in a Tupperware box and leave it in the freezer for half an hour.

Spread the icing in the middle of the cake and over the top then sprinkle the coconut over the top to decorate.

Paul Hollywood, eat your heart out. Any favourite cake recipes my dear readers? Are you a baker or would like to get into baking? What’s been the nicest thing you’ve made? (and the worst!) Let me know! I’d love to hear your comments and chat about all things cakey!