Lemon Tarts and Coconut Cake

Lana was the host for the Monthly Family Lunch.
The second Sunday of Summer another lovely day.
She served a wonderful retro meal
Gazpacho - Shrimp Cocktail - Quiche


Helen made a wonderful Coconut Cake for dessert.
While in Rarotonga one of the restaurants served a Coconut Cake as a dessert.
She was very impressed and has adapted a recipe from Nigella Lawson
adding her own coconut frosting.




It was delicious. Look pretty good to doesn't it.?

This is how you make it
225g unsalted butter, softened
225g castor sugar
12 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs
200g self-raising flour
25g cornflour
½ teaspoon baking powder
50g desiccated coconut, soaked in 150ml boiling water

Prepare 2 x 21cm sandwich tins, buttered and lined
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Make the cake by putting all the ingredients in the food processor and blitzing until you have a soft batter.

Pour into the prepared tins and cook for about 25 minutes or until ready; not so springy on top as a plain sponge, but still coming away from the edges; a cake tester, inserted should come out cleanish.

Sandwich together with a little of the cream cheese frosting and then ice the top too.

Malibu Cream Cheese Icing (Helen’s Adaptation)
25g soft butter
180g cream cheese
375g icing
25g desiccated coconut, toasted
4 tablespoons Malibu liqueur

3 tablespoons desiccated coconut, toasted (extra)

Beat the butter until it’s really soft and creamy. Add the cream cheese, beat until smooth. Add the icing sugar, coconut and Malibu and beat until smooth.

Use some of the icing to sandwich the cake together and the remaining icing for the top of the cake … sprinkle the top with the extra toasted desiccated coconut.
Beautiful served with Honey Greek Yoghurt

Now onto the divine Lemon Curd.
Paula Deen from Food TV inspired me to make these lovely mini
tarts which you fill with the following
Lemon Curd

1 cup sugar
Zest and juice of 3 lemons
4 whole eggs
115 gms butter melted

Place sugar, lemon juice & zest and eggs into food processor and whiz
Slowly pour in melted butter and continue to pulse till well blended

Put into double boiler and cook till it thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
Paula said 3 minutes but I thought more like 6-7
Pour into container and cool in fridge.
This will keep for over a week in the fridge.
Now you need little shells to put it in.

Heat your oven to 170C (fan bake)
and make the following
This pastry is dead easy.

1 cup flour
85 gms cream cheese
115 gms cold butter chopped up

Everything into the food processor
Pulse till it forms a ball
Push together
Wrap in plastic wrap chill about an hour
This makes about 24 mini tarts.

Rip into small pieces and roll into little balls
Put balls in mini muffin tins and press down with a shot glass
dusted with flour to stop it sticking
Using your finger press the side up to cover the little tins


Bake at 170 fan bake oven for 20 minutes. Turn out onto rack like so and cool



I filled 6 tarts for the children with Ganache for their dessert and put the remainder of the shells in a airtight container.


Chocolate Ganache
Simply put equal amounts of cold chocolate broken up with just boiling cream.
Let sit for a couple of minutes and whisk to combine.
Cool
Simple and rich as!!!



Look at those little Chocolate Mint Leaves.
(Courtesy of Paula Deen)
This is gorgeous and very easy
Simply melt some good chocolate in a double boiler
Dip the fresh mint leaves in the chocolate using tweezers
Place on waxed paper and place in fridge to harden
You now have you own after dinner mints


This morning I filled the rest of the little shells with the curd
Took them into work...A huge hit with the staff