Blimey! That's a Limey Cake...

After all the bakes we did for our Macmillan Coffee Morning, it's quite impressive that less than a week later Julie was back to it for another Delia blog bake. Team meeting Friday was round again and this time it was the Fresh Lime & Coconut Cake that was our treat. It's on page 38 of Delia's Cakes and it's a recipe she pinched directly from her Summer Collection. Although not strictly summer, we were experiencing an unseasonably warm start to October, so it went well with the sunshine.

The recipe called for the 'essential ingredient' of coconut milk power, which even Delia herself admitted was hard to get hold of (and that means it's near impossible!) so Julie made do with some creamed coconut that she keeps in the cupboard for making curries.

When we looked at the recipe the day before, it sounded a bit heavy on the limes. I love lime, but altogether the recipe called for four of them! The desiccated coconut in the cake is first soaked in lime juice, and then added (after an hour of soaking) to the cake mix (which includes plenty of lime zest) so it's no wonder the cake was incredibly limey!

Julie arrived at work on Friday morning looking unconvinced about the success of the cake, but when, part way through the morning all three of us collectively decided we couldn't wait until the afternoon's meeting to have a taste, we all tried a slice. I really liked it, but would have to describe it as a lime cake with a little bit of coconut - I don't think the balance was quite right. Now, perhaps had we followed Delia's instructions in obtaining some dried coconut milk powder (I've checked online and it seems Ocado stock it, but otherwise it's not the easiest thing to source), the balance of lime and coconut would have been a bit more fair. Perhaps one of the reasons I like it is that it reminds me of a gin & tonic (which can only be drink with plenty of fresh lime!) but like it I did. It you want your coconut flavour to stand up against all those limes, I'd suggest finding some of Delia's magic dried coconut milk powder and giving that a try. Or perhaps just lose a lime next time!