Lemongrass Coconut Cake

Whilst I am quick to dismiss those who express surprise that I still manage to bake with a small baby in the house - I just enjoy it, I'm not Superwoman - I have to admit that I'm finding myself increasingly drawn towards a simpler style of cake nowadays.  I've never been one for overly-elaborate baking, I don't really have the patience for that, but right now my very favourite things to make have to be super-low-effort, super-tasty, and ideally keep super-well so I don't feel that I have to eat it all too quickly before it goes stale (one of the perils of being at home all day).

Nigella's Lemon Syrup Loaf Cake fits the bill very nicely and is one I make often (the link will take you to a nice write-up and the recipe on another blog).  The addition of the lemony syrup poured over the still-hot cake keeps it beautifully moist, and I can have the whole thing made, baked and mixing-bowl washed up within the hour.

But thanks to a cooking group that I am part of on Facebook, I have discovered a new favourite:  Lemongrass Coconut Cake.  When I saw the name I thought I'd like to try it, but when I saw how amazingly simple the recipe was I just knew I'd have to bake it.  This is a cake from Rachel Allen's latest series (and I assume an accompanying book?) 'Cake Diaries', but the recipe can be found online here. 

As you can see, it's one of those lovely bung-it-all-in-a-food-processor recipes - fabulous!  The smell of the lemongrass as it's blended into the sugar is incredible, and I have to say that the unbaked mix nearly didn't make it into the tin as it was so flipping delicious.

Once baked it looked plain, yet elegant, and when I'd doused it in the syrup I sprinkled over a little more dessiccated coconut; the recipe calls for 125g and I'd bought a 150g box of it so this seemed a good way to use up the annoyingly small amount left over. 

The recipe suggests serving this as a dessert, but the first few slices were simply eaten alongside cups of tea and coffee.  Last night however we did have some for pudding, accompanied by the creme fraiche indicated in the recipe, but also with some chunks of papaya spritzed with lime juice.  We ate papaya regularly when we lived in Brunei, so as well as being a perfect marriage of Asian flavours, this was a little trip down memory lane. 

Definitely a winning recipe, I think I'll be baking this one again and again.