Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, just can't believe how quickly time flies and before you know it, it's Monday again......

For my baking weekend, I decided to try something a little different, I made an Orange and Coconut Cake, topped with frosting and toasted coconut = yum!  Originally I thought it may not work, I would never have put orange and coconut together (even in a shampoo!) but it works quite well.  I did find the cake to be drier than most so you may want to increase the amount of frosting you use between the cake slices but I am also thinking that maybe next time I'll add a touch more orange juice just to give it a little more moisture.

I must apologise for the quality of the photos of my cakes, I need to come up with clearer way to take my photos but for now........

Ingredients:

450g Self Raising Flour
Pinch of Salt
200g Soft Brown Sugar
100g Desiccated (Shredded) Coconut
200g Soft Butter
2 Medium Eggs
90 ml Milk
2 Medium size Oranges (juice and grated rind)

Toasted coconut (on a baking tray, sprinkle a covering of coconut and lightly toast under the grill.  Watch this carefully as it tends to toast quickly).

Method:

1. Preheat your oven on 180ºC and grease two 20cm tins.  You may line them with greaseproof baking paper if you want but not necessary.
2. Sieve the self raising flour and salt into large mixing bowl. 
3. Add the sugar and coconut.  Rub in the butter till you have a bowl of fine breadcrumbs.
4. Make a hole in the centre and add the lightly beaten eggs, milk, juice and rind.  Mix well till fully combined.  Mixture is quite heavy and dense.
5. Split between the two tins and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour (till golden brown).  Always check the cake by inserting a skewer.
6. Leave to cool down a bit in tins (5 minutes), then remove and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Frosting

250 g cream cheese

60 g unsalted butter, soft

200 g icing sugar

Beat the above ingredients together until creamy and spread half the frosting on the bottom half of the cake. Place the other half of the cake on top and using the balance of the frosting, ice the top of the cake, leaving the sides open.  Complete the cake by sprinkling the toasted coconut onto the frosting. 

To be enjoyed with a cuppa tea........

 Tip ~ you can add a little orange flavouring to your frosting to enhance the flavour of the orange in your cake.