My previous attempts at low-fat baking haven’t been entirely successful. I can make a deliciously fudgy and intense chocolate cake but my attempt at a ultra low-fat mocha cake last month was disastrous to say the least. Evaporated milk is not good in cakes!! Still, I keep persevering in the hope that I’ll come up with something truely wonderful.

This lime and coconut cake started out as a recipe for Lime Coffee Cake from the Canyon Ranch Cookbook. Canyon Ranch is a truely wonderful spa in Arizona which makes a point of serving delicious low-fat food. The cookbook is a bit hit and miss, a lot of the recipes are a bit lacking in flavour but when they work they’re great. I’ve tweaked their recipe slightly by adding significantly more lime zest and juice (I find that lime loses a lot of its flavour when baked) and also by adding coconut icing. The main reason I added the icing was because I’ve had a box of coconut powder sitting in the cupboard for months and I’ve been dying to use it in something! If you don’t have any coconut powder, you could use coconut milk. Lime icing would have worked wonderfully well too.

This was both a failure and a success. The cake was supposed to rise fairly high, like a teabread, however it sunk back on itself and wound up looking pretty awful on top. So, I made the executive decision to flip it over and ice the base instead. This turned out to be a good idea as it gave a perfectly flat base for icing. I got a bit creative and made some candied lime slices (simmer your sliced lime [no more than 1/8 inch thick] in a syrup made of one cup sugar and one cup water for 50 minutes, drain and cool on greased foil). Sadly the lime didn’t retain its green peel, but it still looked quite pretty.

The biggest surprise was that the cake had the same texture as a pound cake! Much to my surprise Dave agreed with my thoughts and I’m now wondering how it managed to turn out this way – I hope I can reproduce it next time around! The crumb was dense but fluffy and moist with a nice lime flavour. The coconut icing was a wonderful addition and gave it a fantastic tropical feel. A definite success overall!

Lime and Coconut Cake, adapted from the Canyon Ranch Cookbook

Serves 12

245g plain flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
200g caster sugar
3 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used corn oil)
42g (3 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 large egg whites, room temperature
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon grated lime peel
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup low-fat buttermilk

Coconut Icing
approx 200g icing sugar (I just threw it in a bowl, sorry)
approx 2 tbsp coconut powder
cold water

Preheat oven to 180�C / Gas Mark 4.

Lightly oil 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2-inch loaf tin with vegetable oil.

Mix flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar, vegetable oil and butter in large bowl until well blended. Add egg whites one at a time, beating to blend after each addition. Beat in lime juice, grated lime peel and vanilla extract.

Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients and beating just until combined after each addition. Transfer cake batter to prepared tin.

Bake until top of cake is golden brown (you may need to cover with foil after about 30 minutes) and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Transfer pan to rack. Cool cake in pan on rack 20 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack and cool completely.

Sieve the icing sugar into a large bowl, add coconut powder and mix to a smooth thick icing (dropping consistency) with a little cold water. Taste and add some more coconut powder if liked. Leave to stand for 10 minutes and adjust consistency if necessary so that you can pour it evenly over the cake. Decorate with candied lime slices if desired or perhaps some chopped candied peel.

The uniced cake can be prepared 1 day ahead. Wrap tightly in plastic; store at room temperature. Cut into slices.