I made this Coconut and Lime Cake using leftover Coconut Cream. It helps boost the flavour of the desiccated coconut. The Lime flavours help give it a zingy taste.
Every few weeks I make Madeleine Shaw's recipe for Cardamon Rice Pudding, which uses Basmati Rice rather than pudding rice and includes coconut cream instead of whole milk. Give it a try. I've not made conventional rice pudding since. It was a game changer for me. I omitted to make the compote, as suggested in Madeleine's recipe and use Bonne Maman preserves instead.
Madeleine's recipe uses Coconut Cream. But I always have at least 150g-200grams left over as the packets that I buy come in at 250g. The remainder usually rests forgotten at the back of the fridge, waiting for me to find a recipe that calls for a Coconut flavour.
A light bulb moment came as I was looking through an old Be Ro book, where I saw a recipe for a Coconut and Lime Cake using desiccated coconut. So I got to work and adapted the recipe.
1lb loaf tins vs 2lb loaf tins
Once again, I'm baking these loaves in 1lb loaf tins, because, they are much quicker to bake than a 2lb/900g loaf tin. And as always, I either give one to family members or freeze one for when I don't have time to bake.
This recipe for Fresh Strawberry Pound Cake and Marmalade Cake can be made using only one 1 x loaf tin.
Coconut Cream vs Coconut Milk
Coconut Cream is very rich, with a thick creamy texture and should not to be confused with Coconut milk which has a consistency of cows milk. Easy to remember, as their respective titles. One is a (thick) cream and the other is a (liquid) milk. If you were to use coconut milk, in this recipe, by mistake, you would change the consistency of the cake batter quite significantly. It would become very runny. Use the thick Coconut Cream instead.
This Cherry and Coconut Cake recipe also uses Coconut Cream and dried coconut. There's a lovely simple water icing on the top with slices of Glace Cherries.
Not only did the Coconut Cream enhance the flavour of the desiccated coconut. It also made a really nice, not so dense, perfectly delicious crumb textured cake.
The coconut flavour is in no way over powering either. It balances the sharp Lime Syrup that is poured over each loaf after baking.
I'm confident that you will love this cake. It's zingy and cheek suckingly good, as all Citrus flavoured cakes should be, in my opinion. You could forgo the syrup and keep things simple and less sharp and tangy, with a scattering of coconut and Lime Zest.
These loaves will keep in an airtight container for a few days. I've popped one of the loaves in the freezer to see how it tastes after a week or so. But if it's anything like the Date and Coffee loaves and Cranberry and Almond Loaves that I've frozen in the past. They'll taste great once brought back to room temperature before serving.
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If you make this recipe, please leave a comment with a rating, to let me know how you got on.
Coconut and Lime Cakes
The coconut flavour is in no way over powering either. It balances the sharp Lime Syrup that is poured over each cake after baking.
Ingredients - Imperial /oz are approx weights which are calculated by a 3rd party app
- 225 g butter softened
- 200 g caster sugar
- 4 medium eggs
- 225 g self raising flour
- 150 g Coconut Cream
- 50 g desiccated coconut
- Zest of 1 lime
Topping
- Zest of 1 lime
- Juice of 2 limes use the juice of the left over lime from making the cake
- 2 tablespoons caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon coconut
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170 deg fan assisted. Grease and line 2 x 1lb loaf tins with baking parchment or cake liners.
- Using an electric mixer. Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Gradually add the eggs, one at a time. Adding a little flour between each one to help prevent curdling. Mix until well combined.
- Add the remaining flour and mix until well combined.
- Add the coconut cream. Mix until well combined
- Add the coconut and Lime zest. Mix until well combined. Avoid using the electric mixer at this stage, as all the lime zest and coconut will end up wrapped around the beater. Such a waste. Far better to use a wooden spoon or spatula instead.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 40 – 45 + mins. Or until baked, testing the centre of each cake with a skewer until it comes out clean.
- Leave in the tins to cool. Do not turn them out at this stage.
- While the cakes are cooling. Make the Topping.
- Mix together the sugar, zest and lime juice until the sugar has dissolved. No need to warm the syrup.
- While the cakes are still slightly warm, spoon the syrup over each cake. Leaving the cakes in the tin allows for any syrup to soak through the cake rather than pour over the sides.
- Finish off by sprinkling each cake with coconut.
- Once the cakes have soaked up all the syrup, turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
I've just made this cake and it tastes delicious. The recipe is absolutely spot on, a lovely balance between lime and coconut. I baked mine as one large rectangular cake. I brushed the topping on to ensure an even coverage. I also used Stork baking margarine and the texture is amazing.
I'm so pleased that you liked the recipe and that it turned out well after baking it in a different sized tin. It's also good to hear that Stork works just as well.
I love coconut and lime together! This cake looks so moist and delicious!
Thanks Natalie. Let me know how you get on with it.
Thanks for a speedy reply and helpful answer.
I haven't made this cake yet and want to ask about the amount of sugar used in the recipe, i.e. 200g. I understand the sugar content in cake recipes can affect the texture of the cake, hope I have this right? Am wondering why less sugar in volume than butter and flour? The cake does look lovely, just a thought before I try this. Is the end result quite moist, it certainly looks it.
Many thanks.
Thanks for the question Sandra. I'm often trying to reduce the amount of sugar in cakes. Most of my recipes are based on the generic recipes of same amount for butter flour and sugar and half weight of eggs. eg 8 oz butter, flour, sugar and 4 eggs. The reduction of 25g in this recipe is not a huge amount. I took into account the sweetness that you'll get from the desiccated coconut and the coconut cream.
TBH. I find that most sponge cakes are best eaten on the day they are made. I actually froze one of these cakes for a couple of weeks and reports from huby that it still tasted good and moist. As with all cakes, just make sure that you don't over bake the sponge.