Coconut, Lime and Courgette Cakes

These light summery cakes are packed full of zesty lime and cooling coconut flavours… I have made a cream cheese icing but you could use icing sugar and lime zest or coconut icing instead.

2 free range eggs
2 floz / 1/4 cup of maple syrup (you could use honey, agave nectar or 100g of sugar)
zest of 1 small lime
200g finely grated courgette (zucchini)
150g white spelt flour (you could use rice flour or plain flour)
50g desiccated coconut
2tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the Icing:
150g cream cheese (you could use ricotta)
juice of half a lime
2 tbs honey
3 tbsp desiccated coconut

Whisk the eggs until they are light and fluffy and doubled in size, then whisk  in the maple syrup, followed by the courgette and lime.

Next fold in the flour, coconut, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Once all combined transfer into muffin or cupcake tins and bake at 180c for 25-30mins.

(I used muffin cases when I made these, but because the mixture is low in fat it tends to stick to the paper cases… I would recommend putting them straight into greased tins)

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Chocolate Chip (& Carrot) Muffins

These gluten and dairy free cakes are packed full of chocolate chunks and have a sweet and light texture thanks to the addition of grated carrot.

3 eggs
160g demerara sugar
250g finely grated carrot
2tbs coffee
120g rice flour
50g ground almonds
40g cocoa powder
2tsp baking powder
100g chopped dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 180c and line a 12 muffin tray with paper cases.

Using an electric whisk, beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl until really pale and fluffy. You want the mixture to be voluminous and airy (try and beat them for about 5mins)

Next whisk in the finely grated carrot, coffee, ground almonds, cocoa powder and baking powder until well combined. Next fold in the chocolate chunks.

Spoon the mixture into 12 muffin cases and place the tray in the oven for around 25-30mins.

 

Tea & Cake

1 Nordic Bakery

Tucked away on Golden Square in Soho this café is a peaceful spot to enjoy a delicious cup of coffee, open rye bread sandwiches and the best cinnamon buns in town!

Nordic Bakery Soho – 14a Golden Square, Soho, London W1F 9JG tel – 020 3230 107731

2 Rosie’s Deli cafe (Brixton)

Located in the bustling heartland of Brixton market Rosie’s cafe offers a fine selection of cakes many of which can be found in her own book Spooning with Rosie

Rosie’s – 14e Market Row , Brixton, London, UK SW9 8, tel – (0871) 961 1983

3 Konditor & Cook

The first Konditor & Cook shop opened in 1993 on a quiet back street near Waterloo station, now they have 6 different sites across London (including a café at the Curzon Soho cinema). Specialising in hand made contemporary cakes for weddings and birthdays (their Curly whirly Cake is delicious!) they also have a tasty daily changing menu of brownies, tarts and desserts

Waterloo – 22 Cornwall Road, Waterloo, London SE1 8TW, tel – 0844 854 93 61
Curzon Soho – Curzon Cinema / Shaftesbury Ave, London W1D 5DY, tel – 0844 854 93 67

4 Postcard Teas

Just a few mintues walk from Oxford Street Postcard Teas is a little shop dedicated to all things tea. Selling teapots, tea leaves, tea books and even tea postcards (hence the name). They also have tea tasting sessions every Saturday between 10 and 11am.

Postcard Teas – 9 Dering Street, London W1S 1AG. tel – 020 7629 3654

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Lemon Curd Cupcakes

Lemon Curd Cupcakes

These cupcakes are really delicious. They are a vanilla sponge containing ground almonds with a lemon curd filling and zesty lemon icing. These taste great straight out of the oven when the lemon curd is still warm and oozes out of the centre when you bite into it – but they are equally lovely when left to cool and iced and the lemon curd soaks into the sponge to create a moist and lemony sponge. I used Nigel Slater’s recipe for the lemon curd.

150ml yogurt
3 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
175g caster sugar
140g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
100g ground almonds
175g melted butter
Lemon Curd
100g Icing sugar
zest and juice of half a lemon

 

Beat the eggs, yogurt and vanilla extract in a bowl and set aside.

In a larger bowl add the sugar, flour, baking powder, almonds and make a well in the centre. Fold in the yogurt mixture and the melted butter. Make sure that you do not over-mix otherwise the sponge will become to heavy.

Line a muffin tin with paper cases and fill two thirds of the case with the cake mixture. Then add a teaspoon of lemon curd and top with some more of the mixture. Make sure the lemon curd is totally covered in the mixture otherwise it will bubble out the top of the cake when it cooks in the oven.

Bake at 180c for 15-20mins and until golden. Leave the cakes to cool while you mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice and zest. When cakes are completely cool top with the icing and enjoy!!!

Cupcakes with lemon curd filling