Our food shopping habits have completely changed; both since moving to rural Wales and since the Covid-19 lockdown. We’ve been driving the few miles into the nearest town to the supermarket (after popping into the hardware store) about once every week and a half to a fortnight… much less often than usual.
I had a look in the store cupboard and fridge to see what needed to be used up before it started deteriorating. I found a few limes that were rolling around the drawer of the fridge; like us, they’ve been waiting for a sunny day to go into a gin & tonic… there hasn’t been one for a while!
Seeing as there’s been only wind & rain in the forecast, I thought that I’d better put them to another use. An afternoon tea-time loaf cake always goes down well in this house, so I whipped us up a lime and coconut iced loaf cake.
It’s very strange, I can’t stand lemons, oranges or tangerines – especially the smell of the zest when they’ve been peeled. However, for some reason, I quite like limes and grapefruit.
The secret to this cake is pre-toasting the desiccated coconut before adding it to the batter. It really brings out the flavour. It’s almost like a piña colada in cake form!
Click here or on the image below to save my recipe to Pinterest
- 100g/3½oz desiccated coconut
- 150g/5oz butter, softened
- 150g/5oz caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- juice & zest of 1 lime
- 150g/5oz plain flour
- 2tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 150g icing sugar
- juice & zest of 1 lime
- Line the base and sides of a 900g (2lb) loaf tin with baking parchment or pre-made loaf tin liner
- Preheat the oven to 170ºC/150ºC fan/325ºF/Gas mark 3
- Lightly toast the desiccated coconut in a heavy-bottomed frying or sauté pan, either on the hob or in the oven. Toss every couple of minutes to ensure it is toasted evenly and doesn't burn. Set aside to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar
- Lightly whisk the eggs in a medium-sized measuring jug. Slowly pour the beaten eggs into the creamed mixture while stirring constantly
- Stir in the juice and zest of the lime
- Mix in the toasted desiccated coconut
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt
- Fold the flour into the batter using a spatula or large spoon
- Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf tin, using the bak for the spoon/spatula to level the top
- Bake for 50 minutes to an hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes away clean
- Allow to cool completely
- Sift the icing sugar into a measuring jug to remove any lumps
- Pour in the lime juice and zest and mix thoroughly. It should be a thick paste consistency - add a couple teaspoons of water/icing sugar if the mixture is too thick/thin
- Pour the glaze evenly over the top of the cake
Lime and ginger cheesecake
For the past few weeks, we’ve been referring to this delicious, no-bake lime and ginger cheesecake as ‘Diane’s Cheesecake’.
It’s actually a BBC Good Food recipe, but on our last visit to our good friends Diane & Doon, it was served as dessert after a lovely meal… so now it’s always going to be Diane’s Cheesecake! We told them at the time that it would have to feature in our weekly Cakes & Bakes slot – so here it is… and, “Hi guys!”.
It’s a straightforward recipe which can be prepared well in advance, so perfect for dinner parties and the like. A perfect end to all types of meal from spicy curries & noodles to rich pasta dishes & roasts.
It’s clean, light and zingy – and despite containing no added sugar, the cheesecake is plenty sweet enough from the stem ginger syrup. The flavours combine beautifully – and it’s a very attractive dish too with bright, fresh colours.
It comes very highly recommended… so give it a go!
Click here to save the recipe on Pinterest!
- 225g/8oz ginger biscuits, ground
- 115g/4oz unsalted butter, melted
- 300g/10½oz full fat soft cheese
- 250ml/8¾fl oz double cream
- 2 limes, juice and zest
- 4 tbsp ginger syrup
- 8 pieces stem ginger, chopped
- a few pieces of crystallised ginger
- Mix the ground biscuits with the melted butter and press into the base of a 20cm/8" loose-base or spring-form cake tin using the back of a spoon
- Chill in the fridge for about an hour
- Lightly whip the cream and then mix in the cream cheese, ginger syrup and lime juice
- Add the chopped stem ginger and lime zest and mix in thoroughly
- Spoon onto the biscuit base and spread evenly over the surface. Knock the tin on the worktop a couple of times to remove air bubbles
- Cover and chill in the fridge for 2-3 hours until firm
- Carefully remove the cheesecake from the mould on to a serving plate
- Sprinkle a small amount of lime zest and crystallised ginger over the top
- Slice and serve
Cakes & Bakes: Coconut and lime cake
Inspiration for our weekly Cakes & Bakes posts come from all manner of places. This week’s was slightly out of the ordinary – a scrap of crumpled old paper with Justin’s handwriting on it, that fell out of a book whilst we were tidying some shelves.
He’d jotted down a recipe for a coconut and lime cake. I showed it to him but he couldn’t remember doing it or where he’d, in fact, copied it from; I guessed it might have been an episode of a Rachel Allen cookery program from years ago maybe. I’m probably wrong!
The notes he made were pretty vague. The instructions read thus: “Mix all ingredients together. Bake in cake tins. Gas Mark 3 → 30-35 mins”.
Delia’s All-in-one sponge method is pretty similar; however, with the addition of lime juice, I thought that the mixture would be prone to curdling if I just chucked it all in together. In the end, I did the classic creaming of the butter & sugar, adding the eggs (pre-beaten) a little at a time interspersed with a serving spoon of the flour, then the juice, followed by the sifted flour/baking powder and dessicated coconut.
The other thing I did differently was to use a single cake tin instead of dividing the mixture equally between two. I merely upped the cook time from 30 minutes to an hour, keeping the temperature the same. Sometimes I prefer to simply slice the one cake horizontally through the middle; I find that it sandwiches back together better after spreading the icing.
Oh, and I didn’t have any coconut milk powder (the original recipe calls for 2 tablespoons) – I substituted it with powdered skimmed milk and a little coconut extract. It worked for me!
Finally, I decided against the water icing topping and went instead for a butter icing. I think it turned out brilliantly. It’s an attractive, ‘summery’ looking cake. The combination of coconut and lime is a well established cooking classic – sweet, yet zingy. I can vouch for the fact that it works really well in this sponge cake manifestation!
Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest
- 170g/6oz butter, softened
- 170g/6oz caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- juice of 2 limes
- 170g/6oz self-raising flour
- 1tsp baking powder
- 60g/2oz dessicated coconut
- 285g/10oz icing sugar (powdered sugar)
- 50g/1¾oz butter, softened
- 2tbsp lime juice
- Zest of 2 limes
- Preheat the oven to 160ºC/325ºF/Gas mark 3
- Grease and line a 15cm/6" loose-bottomed cake tin with baking parchment
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and the sugar
- In a measuring jug, lightly beat the eggs
- Pour the eggs into the butter/sugar mixture in 3 stages and mix in, with a serving spoon of the flour (to prevent curdling)
- Mix in the lime juice
- Fold in the dry ingredients (flour/baking powder/dessicated coconut)
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin, levelling out the surface
- Bake for 50 minutes to an hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes away clean
- Allow to cool in its tin for 5 minutes before removing it and letting it cool completely on a wire rack
- Sift the icing sugar into a bowl to remove any lumps
- Add the butter and combine well
- Add the lime juice, a tablespoon at a time, until the required consistency is achieved
- Sprinkle over the lime zest and serve
Etsy List: Citrus
Citrus conjures up strong feelings; it ambushes all the senses. The scent is fresh and reviving. The taste zings on the tongue and the palate. The greens, yellows and ahem… oranges are eye-catching, vibrant and bright. Citrus is invigorating, uplifting, mood-enhancing and health-giving.
Citrus
Curated by H is for Home
