Coconut and Lime Cake

A month has gone by and it’s time for Clandestine Cake Club again. The theme was “Here we go baking cakes in May” and I very loosely translated this to mean I should make a cake on an emerald/green theme. Delia provided a flash of inspiration with her lime and coconut cake. This also covered an experiment that Rodina had suggested – using an exotic ingredient. I couldn’t find any coconut milk powder in my local Tesco, and so I ordered it from ebay!

Method

The recipe can be found here. A basic sponge is made with the addition of lime zest, coconut milk powder and desiccated coconut soaked in lime juice. The mixture was put into two round sandwich tins and into the oven (ensuring that the tins are in the middle). The icing was made using lime juice and the lime flesh. I used a very sharp knife to peel and then take out the segments of the limes. I was surprised how easy it was. Then the icing sugar was added and gently stirred in; making sure not to break up the segments. This icing went into the middle and on top of the cake. A final touch was some extra lime zest sprinkled over the top.

Results

The dodgy oven struck again and the colour on the outside of the cake was a little uneven but inside it was fine. The presentation was a bit messy but then Delia’s picture was “rustic” too and I think it added rather than detracted from the overall look. The recipe said to soak the desiccated coconut in the juice for at least an hour. However, as I was in a rush it was more like 15mins. This didn’t harm the flavour, which was excellent, but did make the texture a little harsher than perhaps it should have been. The icing was brilliant. I really like the way the flesh added texture and thickened icing. This cake tasted really good and the flavours worked well together – very summery.

The cake may have been as success but my transport definitely was not. Driving off in my car resulted in a horrible noise and me quickly parking up again. No Cake Club :( but plenty of cake for Lewis and me :)

Score: 8/10

Soundtrack: Various David Guetta tunes

Peach and Plum Clafoutis

I chose a recipe from Lorraine Pascal’s Baking Made Easy book for dessert when my parents came round for Sunday lunch. It seemed like quite an easy dish and used the extra egg yolks from the Amaretti biscuits. Also, I really love the combination of fruit and custardy flavours. Lorraine suggested peaches only in her recipe but I thought the addition of plums would be nice.

Method

First the fruit was halved and stoned and spread over the bottom of the dish.

Then, eggs, egg yolks, caster sugar and vanilla extract were whisked together until it was a frothy consistency. I then added a small amount of flour, double cream and crème fresh. The final touch was a dash of Amaretto.

The whole thing took some time to bake until it was firm.

Results

This dessert worked out well. The baking took a little longer than I expected and near the end I added some foil to the top to make sure it didn’t go too brown. I think if I did it again I would like the fruit to be in slightly smaller pieces; maybe quarters. Although then it might cook too quickly. Lorraine suggested that this dessert goes well with vanilla icecream and I had bought some posh stuff especially. However, it had frozen rock solid in my freezer so we had to make do with the left over cream from the recipe.

Score: 8/10

Soundtrack: Hearing about my parents’ recent holiday to Barcelona

Italian Amaretti Biscuits

Time for another dip into my baking books for inspiration. My parents came for lunch this Sunday so I wanted to find a biscuit to go with their cup of tea. The Hairy Bikers provided something simple but with new techniques and more piping – Amaretti Biscuits. 

Method 

First I lightly whisked egg whites till they were foamy and then gradually added caster sugar. This made a fairly stiff and sticky mixture. A couple of drops of vanilla essence were added and whisked in. After all the whisking it was time for the ground almonds that were folded in with my new big metal spoon. I was worried about keeping the air in the mix but it got very thick with all the almonds.

Then the piping! The mixture was piped out onto a lined baking tray. The recipe said it made 24 biscuits but I managed maybe twice that. My biscuits were probably too small! I attempted to stick bits of crushed sugar cube to the top but my amarettis were having none of it.

Then it was into the oven till they are “crisp and lightly browned”.

Results 

My crazy oven yet again managed to turn things for the worse. Because I ended up with three trays of biscuits I had to put them on the top and bottom shelves – huge mistake. The ones on the bottom were very burnt underneath and the ones on the top cooked too quickly so were still soft in the middle. The tray in the middle turned out pretty ok. They had a crunch but were softer than I expected and more dense. However my Dad said he liked them better than the ones in the shop! 

Point to remember: Keep baking to middle shelf and move things around if needed. 

Score: 5/10 

Soundtrack: 18 Months by Calvin Harris (10 number ones!)