Coconut & Lime Macadamia Cake

This is one of the offerings I made for the hen's party afternoon tea last week, and it just happened to fit in exactly with the theme for this month's Blog Party - Tiki theme, invented by Stephanie! What fortuitous circumstances.
This is a Bill Granger recipe from his Bill's Open Kitchen chapter on Afternoon Tea, and it's actually an interesting recipe. It is dairy-free, so good for those who are lactose-intolerant or avoiding butters and fats. It's also almost gluten and wheat free as it only has 1/3 cup of SR flour, and that's only used when crushing the nuts to stop them getting sticky, and could easily be substituted with something else plus some baking powder.
The structure of the cake is made up with coconut and beaten egg whites, and you could almost convince people it was healthy! It's kind of like a big coconut macaroon in cake form. As it was, I used it as my 'healthy' sweet offering for the party....and it just goes to show that at parties full of women, healthy offerings are not what we're looking for. Only one slice was taken, whereas the flourless chocolate cloud cake and chocolate custard tarts disappeared in the blink of an eye!

Don't be tempted to skip the lime icing. We felt the tangyness of the lime juice in the icing is really needed to cut through the fat waxiness of the macadamias in the cake. Next time I would probably add some lime juice to the cake batter just to increase that sharpness and tang.
But with the ingredients of macadamias, coconut and lime, it has impeccable tropical pedigree, and I do hope it is considered a worthy offer for Stephanie's Tiki Party. :-)
PS - No posts for a few days, as I'm leaving in the morning for a long weekend in Canberra, to be a good Australian and visit our national institutions!
Read on for the recipe:


Coconut and Lime Macadamia Cake
from Bill's Open Kitchen

200g (7oz) macadamia nuts
40g (1/3 cup) self-raising flour*
a pinch of salt
6 eggs,separated
165g (3/4 cup) sugar
finely grated zest of 1 lime
45g (1/2 cup) dessicated coconut
lime icing (below)

-Preheat the oven to 180C(350F). Place the nuts, flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and process until the nuts are ground. Place the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and beat for 3 minutes, or until the mixture is pale and creamy. Fold through the zest and coconut then the nut mixture. Place the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form. Using a large metal spoon, fold lightly through the nut batter.
-Spread the batter evenly into a 23cm (9 inch) greased or non-stick springform cake tin.
-Bake for 40 minutes, or until the cake is lightly golden.
Remove from the oven and leave to sit for 10 minutes in the tin. Turn the cake out onto a serving plate. Spread the lime icing over the warm cake, allowing it to drizzle down the sides.

Lime Icing
125g (1 cup) icing (confectioners') sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth and glossy.

*If replacing the flour with something else to make it a gluten-free cake, make sure you replace the self-raising aspect of the flour with some type of leavening agent such as baking powder.