Coconut and Lime Cake with Toasted Meringue
Tropical, tangy, and crowned with torched marshmallow clouds
Contents
Coconut and Lime Cake with Toasted Meringue
Ingredients
- 250g unsalted butter, softened
- 250g caster sugar
- Finely grated zest of 4 limes
- 4 large eggs
- 200g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 100g desiccated coconut
- 150ml coconut milk
- Juice of 2 limes
- 4 large egg whites (for the meringue)
- 200g caster sugar (for the meringue)
- 0.25 tsp cream of tartar
- 50g coconut flakes, lightly toasted, to finish
Method
- Heat the oven to 170C fan and line two 20cm sandwich tins with baking paper.
- Beat the butter, sugar and lime zest together until pale and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well, then fold in the flour, baking powder and desiccated coconut.
- Loosen the batter with the coconut milk and juice of one lime, then divide between the tins.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until golden and springy, then cool in the tins for ten minutes before turning out.
- Whisk the egg whites with cream of tartar to soft peaks, then add the sugar gradually, whisking to stiff, glossy peaks.
- Whisk in the juice of the second lime, then sandwich the cooled cakes with a thin layer of meringue and pile the rest on top.
- Swirl the meringue into peaks and torch until deeply golden and blistered.
- Scatter with toasted coconut flakes and serve within a few hours while the meringue is still soft.
This is the cake I make when I want to feel like I am on holiday in a kitchen that is, in reality, grey and drizzly and three minutes from a bus stop. Coconut and lime is one of those pairings that simply works, the way salt works with caramel; the sweetness of the coconut wants the sharp green edge of lime, and the lime wants something soft and creamy to lean against. The twist here, and the reason people go quiet when you bring it to the table, is the toasted meringue on top. Instead of a buttercream or a glaze, you swirl a billowing Italian-style meringue over the cake and blast it with a blowtorch until it scorches into something between a toasted marshmallow and a campfire memory.
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