It’s been a busy week of cooking for photoshoots, recipe creation and food styling. My kitchen has been harbouring obscene quantities of cakes, biscuits and desserts – I’d have done a roaring trade if I’d set up a stall at the front of the house. Needless to say the neighbours have been eating well this week!
My working life as a freelance food writer seems to fluctuate from a fairly laid back existence of blogging about what I cooked for the boys’ tea, to a frantic period of recipe development where I disappear into a cloud of icing sugar and emerge 10 days later totally frazzled.
So as I reconnect with the real world, catch up on the washing and piles of admin, I’ll also be sharing the highlights of what i’ve been up to, starting with this rather zingy coconut and lime drizzle loaf cake.
It’s one of those brilliant chuck-it-all-in-and-give-it-a-good-mix kind of recipes, so there’s no faffing about and therefore an ideal recipe for children to make (for Mother’s Day perhaps?!). If you’re trying to get your primary school aged kids interested in maths, then how about assigning them with all the weighing and measuring?
If you have lunchboxes to fill, make a batch of mini loaf cakes using those nifty mini cases you can get at the supermarket. Reduce the cooking time to around 20-25 minutes, cool, decorate and then freeze. It’s great having a stash of frozen baked treats for picnics or when guests come over.
Coconut and lime drizzle loaf cake
Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 1 hour
INGREDIENTS
For the cake
225g flora cuisine
225g caster sugar
2 limes, zest and juice
225g self raising flour
100g dessicated coconut
3 eggs
For the drizzle
1 lime, zest and juice
8 tbsp icing sugar
METHOD
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper.
2. Put all of the cake ingredients in a large bowl and beat until combined.
3. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour until risen and golden. Insert a toothpick into the centre and if the sponge is cooked it’ll come out clean. Pop onto a wire rack to cool.
4. For the drizzle, sieve the icing sugar into a large bowl and then mix in the lime zest and juice to form an icing thin enough to make the glaze.
5. Brush over the surface of the cake and allow to set before serving.
Cook’s tip: Keep an eye on the cake when it’s had about 40 mins in the oven. If the top is starting to go dark pop some foil over the top to stop it burning.
Margarine or butter?
The rather golden colour of this sponge is not from using butter as you might expect, but from a product i’d not tried before. Flora got in touch to see if I could come up with a recipe for them, so I picked up a bottle of Flora Cuisine to try. It’s kind of like liquid margarine, so it’s mega easy to squirt into a mixing bowl. If you’re keeping an eye on your saturated fat intake, Flora Cuisine contains 85% less than butter.
I have to admit I am a complete butter addict, but I was pleasantly surprised how tasty this cake turned out and how light and fluffy the resulting sponge was. I’d certainly use it again, but will always use butter for frosting where you can taste it so directly.
Do you use margarine or butter in your baking? Can you tell the difference in cakes and biscuits?
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Disclosure: I have been paid for the time spent creating and photographing this recipe featuring Flora Cuisine, and for writing this blog post. All views are my own.
would love to try this, looks yummy!! 🙂
Thanks Stephen – try it you must!! So easy!!!
oooh, coconut and lime, what a glorious combo.. must try that flora stuff too, i’m always intrigued.
Thanks Dom… It’s a bit like a cocktail in a cake… Must add booze next time!!!
Really ,one coconut & lime together in both sweet and savoury dishes. The sharpness of limes does work brilliantly with rich coconut. This is a must make cake, it looks and sounds so delicious!
Thanks Laura! I’ve got a bit of a thing about limes at the moment… putting it in everything!
I am loving the flavour combo in this one. I must have a go with that. I wasn’t sure if it would be any good.
Thanks Jac – yes it was a bit of an experiment really but thankfully turned out lovely 🙂
What a gorgeous looking bake. Love the lime and coconut combo. Am not sure about margarine. Am a butter person too. I remember Mary Berry was always a margarine advocate so it’s made me a teeeeeeny but less sceptical. Love a good debate!
Thanks Urvashi. I think it’s also got something to do with the fact that Mary and my mum’s generation were brought up during rationing and butter was seen as a luxury.
I’m right with you on the freelance lifestyle. I’m just catching up with the blog, too after a period of craziness. Lovely recipe for Flora.
It’s nice when things slow down and you can get back to blogging isn’t it 🙂
Beautiful Katie! Coconut and lime is such a good combination!
Thanks Hels xxx
Hi Katie,
My eight-year-old and I made this tonight and the verdict from everyone in the family was a massive thumbs up. The lime and coconut combo work really well. Going especially well with a cup of tea. I bought the Flora Cuisine & desiccated cocunut especially for this. Like you, I use butter in everything, but this was a fun and simple approach, which saved so much time. No compromise on flavour. Yummy!
So glad it was a success!! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave your comment – hugely appreciated.
Hi, I was wondering if I used butter would it be the same quantity as the Flora?
Yes that’d be fine 🙂
Really enjoyed this cake thank you. A simple and tasty recipe.
have never tried this cake before. Sounds so good. Gonna give this a gon over the weekend. Thanks for sharing
Hope you enjoy it!