Clementine, Coconut and Cranberry Bundt Cake

Clementine, Coconut and Cranberry Bundt Cake – a Christmas cake alternative

It’s another one of those “National flogging stuff” days, this time National Bundt Day. I actually bought a little bundt tin the other day, so this was the perfect excuse to use it. Having never made a bundt cake, I sought out the expert musing of Dolly McGrath, who I follow on Twitter and who has a brilliant blog with loads of bundt recipes and advice. I was really pleased with how it turned out – soft and tender from the citrus and coconut with berry bursts from the cranberries – so though this was my first bundt, I doubt it’ll be my last.

This recipe is an adaptation of Dolly’s build-a-bundt, but as my tin is only little I’ve halved the quantities and added some other stuff for more flavour. For a standard sized bundt tin (10 cups/10 inches diameter/2.4 litres) double the recipe and cook for about 1 hour 15 minutes.

Clementine, Coconut and Cranberry Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

• 115g butter, softened
• 225g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 175g plain flour
• quarter tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 125ml coconut yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 clementines
• 50g desiccated coconut (plus about a tablespoon for decoration)
• 75g dried cranberries
• 100g icing sugar

Heat the oven to 160C and grease and flour a small bundt tin. In a large bowl (or in a free standing mixer) cream together the butter and sugar until pale and soft. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until the mix becomes fluffy and smooth. In a separate bowl mix the flour and bicarb, and in another bowl or your measuring jug mix the yogurt, vanilla and finely grated zest of two clementines and juice of one. Mix about a third of the flour with the butter and eggs, then half the liquid ingredients followed by a bit more flour, the rest of the yogurt and finally the last of the flour. Don’t over-mix, and use a spatula to scrape down the sides of your main mixing bowl to make sure you’re getting everything incorporated. Lastly, stir in the cranberries. Use a spoon or spatula to dollop the cake mixture into the prepared bundt tin and don’t fill more than 3 quarters full. Bake for 50-60 minutes. It’s done when a skewer inserted comes out clean and it’s coming away from the sides of the tin. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, before carefully turning out (use oven gloves to hold the tin – it’s still hot) to cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the glaze, mix the icing sugar with the juice of half a clementine. Drizzle over the bundt so it drips artfully down the sides, and sprinkle with a snowy smattering of coconut whilst the icing is still damp. Leave it to set before cutting.

The clementines and cranberries in this make me think of Christmas – I reckon this cake could be a good alternative for those who don’t like the traditional fruit Christmas cake. For other recipes that make me think of Christmas, click here.

Christmas Bundt Cake, studded with ruby cranberries and scattered with a snowy topping of coconut

Gluten-Free Lime & Coconut Cake

Gluten-Free Lime and Coconut Cake

Last week I went to #DrunkTaco night (basically an excuse to eat a ton of incredible meaty tacos and drink gin) with some lovely ladies, two of whom are intolerant to gluten. As if the evening wasn’t decadent enough I decided to up the ante and bring cake. I’ve made a few gluten-free cakes before – it really doesn’t make much odds with cakes in the way it does with bready products – and this was a good excuse to give something new a go. To be vaguely in keeping with the Mexican theme, I came up with a lime and coconut cake, adapted from my usual lemon drizzle cake. If you’re not bothered about keeping this gluten-free you could use normal plain flour, or self raising flour and leave out the baking powder and bicarb.

Lime & Coconut Cake made with Gluten-Free Flour

Ingredients:

• 115g soft butter
• 140g caster sugar
• 170g plain gluten-free flour – I used rice flour
• 5 limes
• 100g desiccated coconut
• 1 tin coconut milk (you may not need the whole tin, but make sure it’s well mixed and not separated into solids and clear liquid)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tbsp milk
• 100g icing sugar

Grease and line the base of a 9″ spring form cake tin. No need to pre-heat your oven, this cake mix goes in to a cold oven. If you have a food processor that’s the easiest way to make this cake, otherwise a mixer or good old fashioned elbow grease will work just as well. Firstly, finely grate the rind of 4 of the limes into the food processor or a bowl. Then juice the limes into a separate bowl and add the desiccated coconut and 6 tablespoons of the coconut milk – mix well.

In the food processor or mixing bowl with the lime rind, add the butter, sugar and flour and mix well, scraping down the sides if necessary. Add the eggs, followed by the lime juice and coconut mixture and beat again. You want to achieve a soft dropping consistency, so if the mix is a bit thick, add the milk and beat again until incorporated. Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin and put into the oven at 175C for about an hour. Check it at 50 minutes – when it’s ready it’ll be coming away from the sides of the tin and spring back when lightly pressed; a skewer should come out clean. Leave it in the tin during cooling.

About 10 minutes before your cake is due to come out of the oven, heat together in a pan the icing sugar, juice and finely grated rind of the remaining lime and 1 tablespoon of coconut milk. You want this mix to be slightly thick and syrupy so you may need to boil it for a few minutes. When you take your cake out of the oven, and whilst cake and syrup are both still warm, prick your cake all over with a skewer or fork and spoon the syrup over so it seeps into the holes. Leave to cool and set before removing from the tin to serve.

Once again, I failed on the photo front, but luckily one of my lovely friends (thanks, Nicole) got a shot. I promise I’ll improve with the pictures!

If you’re interested in eating good gluten-free food, check out The Gluten-Free Dining Guide blog, or @gfdining on Twitter.