COCONUT AND LEMON CAKE

Blogging has been rather random lately but baking has been going on throughout so a bit of a catch up is needed methinks.

This is an adaptation of a raspberry and coconut cake that I first wrote about here.

I have now made this cake three times, the first time it was a birthday gift, the second a donation to an event.  Consequently, the first two times I made it I didn't get to taste it!  However, I was reliably informed by those that did taste a slice that it was lovely so I made it again for a MacMillan coffee morning and actually had a slice myself!  It was lovely.  Like a lemon drizzle cake with added coconut.

The recipe originally came from the Waitrose website and you can see it here.  It's for a raspberry and coconut cake that I have made many times and which always goes down well.  For this version I simply omitted the fruit and added lemon zest instead.  Then I iced it with a simple icing and decorated it with lemon zest, coconut and some edible flowers (which were actually self seeded violas growing in our gravel drive!).

Ingredients

175g unsalted butter, softened

175 golden caster sugar

zest of 1 lemon

3 eggs

¼ tsp coconut flavouring

175g self raising flour

100g dessicated coconut (plus extra for decoration)

2-3 tblsp icing sugar, sifted

1 tblsp lemon juice

extra lemon zest for decoration (optional) 

edible flowers or other sprinkles for decoration (optional)

Method

Butter and line a 2lb, 900g loaf tin with baking parchment or use a paper liner.  Preheat the oven to 180C / 160 fan / gas mk 4.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and lemon zest.  Beat the eggs with the coconut flavouring and beat into the mixture a dribble at a time with a spoonful of the flour.

Fold in the remaining flour and coconut.  Spoon into the prepared tin and level the top.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, covering with foil after 30 minutes if it looks as though it's browning too much.

Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and mix with enough lemon juice to make a runny consistency, thick enough to hold its shape and just run down the cake slightly, not run off completely.  Sprinkle with lemon zest (if you are happy to use a second lemon, otherwise omit).  Sprinkle with dessicated coconut and decorate along the inevitable crack down the middle with edible flowers or other sugar decorations of your choice.

Cuts into 9-10 slices.