… do any of my other blogger-friends out there suffer from blogger food-lag? This is the lag between making the food and eating the food… sometimes this can be a stressed 30 seconds whilst your very patient friends and family are waiting for food whilst you photograph stuff and at other times it can be a matter of days from the bake to the photograph… there are just so many variables that non-bloggers don’t quite understand. Take this cake for instance. I baked it on a very lazy Saturday evening and the aroma in the kitchen was incredibly intense and probably not very wise just before going to bed… the cake then spent most of Sunday on the cooling rack as I was sick in bed and just couldn’t bring myself to dress and photograph it… then on Monday it went into an air-tight container as I spent the day at work… and it wasn’t until Monday night that it was finished but of course I couldn’t photograph it until this morning as the light was better, which meant it didn’t actually get eaten until Tuesday lunchtime… I’m told it was delicious but I doubt it was as good as it could have been on Sunday morning. At least it looks pretty…
coconut and lime cake with a rum toffee sauce
i’ve made this cake specifically for JP at the office… he’s cake-crazy and has been pestering for cake for months and this is the only way to shut him up. I’m not entirely sure why I went for a rum and coconut cake but we were talking about his caribbean heritage and I think this must have inspired me. JP also told me that his favourite cake was a simple Victoria Sponge so I wanted to make something that was simple and followed the tradition of that classic cake. It’s been an absolute age since i’ve baked a proper cake so it was a nice one to make, with a classic sponge mix and some added naughtiness for good measure…
for the cake
200g butter – at room temperature
200g sugar
3 large free-range eggs
200g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons desiccated coconut
2 tablespoons rum
the zest of one lime – finely grated
a little milk to slacken
for the lime buttercream icing
600g icing sugar
300g butter – softened
the grated zest of 1 lime
desiccated coconut for dressing
for the rum toffee sauce
300ml pot of double cream
90g butter
100g dark muscavado sugar
1 tablespoon rum
pre-heat the oven to 170C and grease and line a 20cm loose bottom cake tin
sift the flour and baking powder together
in a large bowl cream the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon or a hand-held blender, until light and pale and fluffy
add one egg, beat well in, followed by 1/3 of the flour, then repeat with the remaining eggs and flour
fold in the rum, lime zest and desiccated coconut
you may need to beet in a little milk to slacken the mixture, it should be thick but should drop off the spoon
pour into you cake tin and bake for 40 mins or until golden and risen and a skewer inserted comes out clean – set aside to cool on a wire rack for 5 mins then remove from the tin and allow to cool completely
make the butter cream by beating the butter until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes) and then gently add half the icing sugar and beat in, then add the run and lime zest and beat in the remaining icing sugar until you have a thick and light buttercream icing – you may need to add a little more sugar if it’s not thick enough
carefully cut the sponge in half and spread half the buttercream onto the bottom layer, sprinkle with a little coconut and place the top layer on top, then spread the remaining buttercream on top and sprinkle with coconut
make the rum toffee sauce by melting the ingredients in a pan – let it bubble away until it turns a nice dark brown then let it cool… as it cools it will thicken, so let it cool completely before drizzling all over the cake in a pornographic way…
eat and of course, enjoy!
Extra naughtiness is always a good thing =D this cake looks and sounds wonderful. It also sounds a bit like when I describe something I've made 'oh I just made a really simple cake this time. Aaaaaaand then I added this and this and this'. So how much peace do you think you will get before the requests start again?!
Looks stunning and yes our household knows only too well Blogger Food Lag! This is why you see so many hands in my shots! Our teenagers can only wait for so long before they have to get stuck in. Oh well, I can work with that. Elinor x
That looks and sounds delicious. The perfect tropical cake to get us through this cold and snowy weather
The tropical flavours of this cake are just what this cold + snowy February day need. Love that rum caramel too.
It looks fab Dom and was well worth the wait I bet! Funnily I have just baked something sort of similar, cooling in the kitchen as I type! We must both be craving some tropical flavours in the cold.
Classic, but with a lovely modern twist Dom. We need more rum in recipes!
I so know what you mean – many's a recipe that has never made it to the blog due to hungry people nearby, bad lighting, etc. Gorgeous cake though. And, may I ask, where is random recipes? Want a slack co-host to chivvy you along?
This looks really, really good, Dom – I love lime, and the thought is making my tastebuds go into overdrive. The sauce sounds dreamy too. My food lag is usually the 30 seconds though – enough for my food to go cold. Beyond that and it usually gets eaten. Sorry to hear you've been poorly.
You nailed it with the blogger food-lag. People just don't know! I know one blogger that says they never gets to eat the food because it sits there too long while taking photos. I must say that I do eat what I make and try to plan ahead for the photo shoot. This cake is amazing and the flavor combination terrific. I bet JP was thrilled to get it! And thanks for the naughtiness – we need more naughty in our lives!
really nice photographs, it makes such a difference, I really want a slice of this now! Yummy!
What a lovely idea for a cake. I eat everything I make for the blog but mainly because I make it at the weekend, sometimes the lighting isn't great but if I waited it wouldn't get any better!
The cake sounds lovely. Love the addition of the rum toffee sauce! And yes…. blogger food-lag is one of those frustrations for everyone here too! I have some ice cream in the freezer that I made about 3 weeks ago and still haven't got round to photographing. I am endlessly making things and ending up eating them because I haven't got round to photographing them (and there comes a moment when the need to eat is more of a priority!). I am finding the light so poor at the moment… going to work before it's light enough and getting home after dark……. roll on spring!
Yes! That happens to me all the time, and sometimes, I even freeze the damn stuff before I get to photograph it! This cake looks amazing, and anything with rum in it has my name all over it! I hope you feel better now Dom, Karen xxxxx
Dom, we're on the same wavelength this week — I just posted coconut cupcakes with rum buttercream icing! Not as fancy as *this* little beauty! And, yes, I frequently suffer from “blogger food-lag” — though not usually quite as long a lag as you had with this one! 😀
just wanted to thank you all in a group comment for all your lovely comments on this post!… we're so funny as a group aren't we? Food Bloggers Rule The World!!!!!!!! xxx
My dear Aunt Emma always said a cake had to sit for three days before being eaten. This was upsetting to us little girls when she pulled one from the oven and we were leaving that afternoon. Fortunately, she always relented and gave us a slice. Your cake looks like sunshine on a plate.
Best,
Bonnie
Yes, I too recognise the signs of blogger food-lag! In my posts about food the last photos (the ones showing the finished item, plated-up) are always the worst, because we are so often in a hurry to eat before the food goes cold. I'm always suspicious of photos of “hot” food that look just too perfect to be true.
Looks lovely! I photograph things as soon as I have made them, usually because we want to eat them! I'm also quite impatient and don't take the time I should to prepare the shot or as you said 'dress' the cake. But as I work full time (plus long commute) I have to take photos as and when, which usually means in the evenings when it's dark! I must invest in some lighting….
The cake looks and sounds wonderful and your photos are superb.
Lime and coconut cake is one of my favourites but finding the opportunity to make one isn't easy as nobody else in the family likes coconut – which means I would have to eat it all myself…..what a shame !!!
Ah yes photography – the bane of a food bloggers life – not to mention friends and family. I would, however, be more than happy to polish off a 4 day old slice of this little piece of scrumptiousness – wow!
Looks delicious, as always 🙂 x
For me I tend to do recipes on a day off. Which means I can just about do the recipe and photograph it in the same day usually writing it up the next. Winter is my nightmare because there is less useable light to take a decent picture with. So yes I completely understand how you feel. Hope you are feeling better now chap.
A slice please!
Oh wow, one of my favorites. Yummy. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Simon