Coconut Lime Drizzle Cake√

This weekend Carol and Amy from Tampa came to visit. Carol is a British homeopath turned film maker and we've been friends for about 20 years, following each other first to the West Coast of the US and then the East without even knowing what the other was up to! It was delightful to catch up and hang out for a few days, and for Ellen and I to get to know Amy.


We went tubing down the Ichetucknee River - a magical, funny, relaxing and beautiful hour and a half with a long walk at either end so we were hungry by the time we got home in spite of a yummy picnic.


All that fresh air and clouds gathering and having a true Brit in our midst as we drove home gave me a craving for tea and cake. I remembered the divine Coconut and Lime Drizzle cake Marie had offered one afternoon at the Travelling Homeopaths Camp and I decided to whip one up before we went to the movies.

This is a foolproof cake recipe - I never have to look it up. It is a hybrid of my mother's chocolate cake recipe and Hannah's Austrian Fruit Kuchen ...

Carol can't eat gluten so I substituted the wheat with rice flour. I happened to have some super fine rice flour I bought from the Indian Supermarket. It was light and divine.

6 oz. each of the following: flour, sugar, butter, coconut (shredded/unsweetened)
6 small eggs (or 4 extra large ones)
zest of 2-3 limes
2 tsp. baking powder
half a cup of milk

Throw the butter and sugar into the food process and mix till soft and pale.
Add the eggs one at a time - mixing each one in well.
Add half a cup of milk (or more ... it should be fairly 'gloppy' at this point).
Throw the flour, coconut, zest and baking powder into the processor and pulse till mixed.
Pour into a buttered and floured 8" cake tin and bake for 45 mins - 1 hour at 350 degrees - until it has risen nicely, is golden brown on top and a knife or skewer comes out clean.

Turn it out and let it cool completely - it's good to go for a long walk at this point so you don't get impatient and pour icing on the cake while it's still warm - it will inconveniently slip right off and pool all over the plate.

Once the cake is cold make the icing: mix the juice of 1-2 limes with more confectioner's sugar than seems reasonable - keep adding sugar until it stops falling off the spoon i.e. until it is really thick!
Spread the icing on top of the cake - a little drizzling down the sides is fine.

It was absolutely delicious. We devoured two pieces a piece before heading off to the movies and then had another piece with our morning coffees. Which is why the photo of the cake looks like this ...


Afterwards I wondered whether coconut flakes might have been better - or maybe a mixture of finely shredded coconut AND flakes to give taste AND texture.

And then I wondered whether I should have cut it in half and spread a thin layer of icing so that it could percolate its sweet tartness from the inside out as well as from the top down!

I shall try both of these one of these days and let you know (once I get my weight back under control!)