This lemon coconut loaf is an easy breezy recipe! It's buttery, tangy and moist.
I've never owned a cake mixer or electric mix, so I've had to teach myself to make cakes without all the "right" equipment. You learn to have better control of how your cake turns out when you make it by hand, and it also helps you understand the science of baking better.
The proportions are equal, so if you need to make a small batch, you can always divide this.
What you need:
A wooden spoon
A spatula
A spatula
A bowl
A loaf tin
Baking sheet
Ingredients:
150g butter (softened, at room temperature)
150g sugar (can be brown or caster sugar)
3 eggs
150g self-raising flour (or you can use 150g plain flour and add 2tsp of baking soda)
30g desiccated coconut
1 lemon
2tbsp milk
Extra bits of desiccated coconut, butter and sugar for top layer
How to bake (1 hour):
1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius
2. In a bowl, combine butter and sugar using a wooden spoon and beat till sugar is well incorporated. This takes a few minutes.
3. Add in one egg at a time and beat the batter. Don't worry if it gets clumpy; just keep beating until everything is dissolved and smooth. It is perfectly fine to over-beat the batter at this point.
4. Grate a whole lemon into the batter and mix well.
5. Fold in the self-raising flour and the desiccated coconut. You don't want to incorporate too much air, so fold your batter gently until everything comes together.
6. Line a cake loaf tin with a baking sheet and pour in the batter.
7. Top the batter with the desiccated coconut and bits of butter. Sprinkle a bit of sugar. This helps to form a beautiful crust.
8. Bake for 50 mins. To check, insert a knife in the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, it's done.
9. Cool the cake for 10 mins before cutting slices to serve.
Tip: You can use this recipe to make muffins too - just change the baking time to 25 mins.
