Michelle Darmody: How to bake a lime and coconut cake in under an hour

This cake is rich and dense with butter, coconut and zest of lime which add a hint of warmer days to come.

This cake is rich and dense with butter, coconut and zest of lime which add a hint of warmer days to come. May Day has just passed so the Irish summer, or the ‘bright half’ of the year, has already begun.

There are many traditions associated with May Day, particularly ones to do with dairy and the fertility of a herd in the upcoming year. Special dishes involving butter, cream and milk were commonly created and consumed and butter was made on the eve of May Day, with salt added, to ensure it lasted well throughout the summer.

Coconut and lime are an exotic addition to an Irish cake, but coconuts have long been used in Ireland, with the first recording in Schull in West Cork in the year 1630. These were discovered by locals after a ship sank off the coast. Coconuts were a rarified object for many decades until the shipping trade expanded. Hard coconut biscuits were then baked in Irish households and commercially from the mid 20th century onwards.

You can now find fresh coconuts in plenty of Irish shops as well as many varieties of coconut milk and coconut cream to add to baking and cooking. Coconut cream or milk provides water retention in cakes and adds flavour and a softness to the texture.

Lime and Coconut Cake

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

This cake is rich and dense with butter, coconut and zest of lime which add a hint of warmer days to come. Coconut and lime are an exotic addition to an Irish cake, but coconuts have long been used in Ireland, with the first recording in Schull.

Servings

10

Preparation Time

 25 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 55 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• For the cake

• 200g self-raising flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 200g soft butter

• 180g golden caster sugar

• 4 eggs, lightly beaten

• 100g creamed coconut, grated

• 2 tbsp coconut milk

• For the icing

• 3 limes, zest and juice

• 220g cream cheese

• 200g soft butter

• 400g icing sugar

• 2 tbs coconut milk

• 100g flaked coconut, toasted

Method

1. Grease and line two 8-inch round cake tins with parchment.

2. Preheat your oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.

3. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large bowl.

4. Add the rest of the cake ingredients and beat until you have a smooth batter.

5. Scoop half of the mixture into each of the prepared cake tins.

6. Place the tins into your oven.

7. Bake for about 30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

8. Allow to cool in the tin until cool enough to handle, then gently turn each one out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

9. To make the icing, whisk all of the ingredients until light and fluffy.

10. Cut each cake in half and top each of the four disks with the icing.

11. Stack them on top of each other and ice around the outside of the cake with a pallette knife.

12. Press the toasted coconut flakes into the icing.

Creamed coconut is a handy product. It is dense and compacted into a block so it lasts quite well if kept in the fridge. You can grate it into curries to add flavour or to thicken the sauce. It is also good for baking cakes and desserts. Most good brands will simply be milled coconut and nothing else. You can actually dissolve it in water to make your own version of coconut milk.

You do not need to grate the creamed coconut too finely for this recipe; use the rough side of a box grater. If I am adding a little to a curry, I would often use a microplane as it melts into the sauce very quickly that way.

Toasting the flaked coconut not only brings out the flavour, it adds a lovely golden tip to the flakes that add a nice colour to the exterior of the cake. They just need a light toasting. Scatter them in a single layer onto a large baking tray and place it under a low grill for about five minutes. Keep a close eye on them as they go from pale to burnt quite quickly.

As with all citrus fruit that you are purchasing, feel the weight of the limes and choose the fruit that is heavy, this means it has more juice. Look for limes that are bright and not dull or too bumpy. The skin should have a slight bounce and not be hard as a rock.

When zesting the lime, you just want to capture the bright layer on the outside of the fruit, not the white layer underneath, which is the pith and has a more astringent taste.

To zest, wash the lime thoroughly. I often use warm water to remove any wax that might be on the limes and give them a good scrub with a tea towel. I use my thumb to hold the fruit in place and then drag a microplane, or another fine grater, in a downward motion over the green of the fruit. You can rotate the lime and do this until all of the green skin has been removed.

You can freeze this cake before icing and then defrost and ice when needed.

The cake will keep for two days in a cool place in an airtight container but after this the icing may begin to weep.

Delicious variations

Coconut and mango cake

You can make a compote or coulis with your mango and fill the cake with it before icing it with a coconut buttercream. To make a coulis, peel two large mangoes and cut into chunks. Place the chunks of fruit into a saucepan with 35g of sugar and 50mls of water.

Allow to simmer for ten minutes until the fruit softens, then blitz it in a liquidiser. I generally leave the lime zest out of the icing but you could add some lemon zest if you like.

Coconut and pineapple cake

Mango and pineapple will both work very well with coconut. To make a pineapple coulis, follow a similar method to the mango. Peel and core a large pineapple and cut into chunks. Place the chunks into a saucepan with 35g of sugar and 50ml of water.

Allow to simmer for ten minutes until the fruit softens, then blitz it in a liquidiser. Again, you can decide to leave in or out the lime, but it is good with the pineapple.