Coconut Loaf Cake

A friend often travels to Sri Lanka, and he recently brought me a huge bag of coconut. Lovely stuff! In return, I decided to bake him a cake, with that coconut of course. I wanted a simple loaf cake with lots of flavor, and for a special zing I made a simple lime glaze. He, and everyone else, loved it. I thought it was pretty great, and I'll definitely make it again. I might add some lime zest to the cake itself - as it was, I didn't think about that until I was mixing the glaze and the cake was already done. Oh well, next time!

This cake is pretty soft and crumbly, but I like it like this. If you want it sturdier, add another egg.

Coconut Loaf Cake
200 g butter, softened
200 g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract OR 2 tsp vanilla sugar
3 eggs
200 g flour
2 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp milk
100 g coconut (unsweetened)

For the glaze:
1 lime
powdered sugar
toasted coconut

Start by creaming butter and sugar until soft and fluffy. Add the vanilla, and eggs, one at a time. Mix well between each addition. Add flour, baking powder and milk, a little at a time, and mix. Finally stir in the coconut.

Prepare the tin by buttering it well and then shaking coconut around it as you would breadcrumbs. This ensures the cake won't stick.

Pour the batter in your prepared pan, and bake at 175°C for about 35-40 minutes. Do check with a cake tester, it might need longer than that.

Let the cake cool completely in the tin before turning it out.

Toast the coconut for the topping - it takes a few minutes in a dry frying pan over medium heat.

For the glaze, just stir together lime juice and powdered sugar until it's as thick as you want. Mine was probably a little runny but still very tasty. Drizzle on top of the cake, top with the toasted coconut and you're all done!