P1020177

They’re having a cake sale at Beth’s nursery this morning, and I wanted to make something a little bit summery to cheer us up in this awful weather. The secret to these little cakes is that as well as desiccated coconut, there is coconut milk in the cakes and in the icing, this really brings out the flavour and acts as a counterbalance to the sharpness of the lime.

Ingredients

For the cakes

  • 110g butter
  • 150g caster sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 125ml coconut milk
  • 200g self-raising flour
  • 1tsp baking powder
  • 50g desiccated coconut
  • zest of 1 lime

For the icing

  • 100g mascarpone cheese
  • 2 tbsp coconut milk
  • 125g icing sugar
  • juice of 1 1/2 limes

For the topping

  • 40g toasted desiccated coconut
  • zest of 1 lime

The cakes

Set the oven to 150C

Whisk together the butter and the sugar. Add the eggs and whisk again. Add the coconut milk a little at a time. If the mixture starts to separate add in a tablespoon of flour. Continue untill all the coconut milk has been added and then sieve in the remaining flour and baking powder.

Stir in the lime zest and desiccated coconut.

Spoon the mixture into cake cases and bake for around 20-25 minutes.

The icing

Mix together all the ingredients, tasting as you go along. I found I needed  little extra lime juice than I was expecting, but I do like sharp flavours. If the mixture looks too wet, add a little more icing sugar.

Wait for the cakes to cool and then spread over the top.

The topping

To toast the coconut just sprinkle it in a frying pan and allow to turn a golden brown. Keep an eye on it all the time – it doesn’t take long to turn from white to toasty to burnt. Remove from the pan so it doesn’t continue to cook.

Allow to cool before sprinkling on top of the mascarpone icing. Add a few strands of lime zest as decoration.

MAKES 21.