Coconut and Lime Low Carb Cake ... perfect with a cup of tea or coffee

Ewelina says "this is a lovely, refreshing combination of coconut and lime that gives you a bit of tropical flavour. I omitted the lime drizzle as I don’t think this cake really needs it. It’s great without any extras, maybe just a bit of powdered xylitol for the icing."

Ingredients (makes about 15 slices 5.7g carbs per slice):

60g Soy flour, sieved

70g Ground almond
50 g desiccated coconut, ground in a coffee grinder
85g butter, softened
Equivalent of 250g sugar (e.g. 250g Xylitol, ground using coffee grinder)
5 eggs, separated
2 tsp. baking powder
Pinch of cream of tartar
Juice from 1 lime

Zest from 1 lime 

Preparation: 

1. Preheat oven to 170C and line little baking tin (19cm long, 8cm wide) with baking paper.

2. In medium bowl mix soy flour, ground almond, coconut and baking powder.
3. In a separate bowl, using electric mixer, beat eggs yolks with butter until yellow and fluffy. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, sweetener and mix all together well.
4. In a large bowl whip egg whites with cream of tartar (with electric mixer it takes only few minutes).
5. Add 1/3 of whipped egg whites to the eggy mixture and using spatula fold it in as gently and slow as possible. Fold the whole mixture into remaining egg whites and again, fold it in as gently as possible.
6. Add half of mixed flours and fold it in gently. Add remaining flour and repeat folding in.
7. Pour the batter into a cake tin and bake for about 50 - 60 min. Check with a skewer if the cake is baked (the skewer should come out clean). Let it cool and decorate with xylitol (powdered).

Original recipe can be found here

Limes are the same shape, but smaller than lemons, with a bright green, fairly smooth skin, limes are a highly aromatic fruit. Like lemons, limes are high in vitamin C.

There are three main types:

Tahitian, which is the largest, with the most acidic flavour;

Mexican, slightly smaller, very aromatic, and with a particularly bright green skin;

Key lime, which have a paler skin, a high juice content and a strong flavour. 

Limes are available all year round, when buying them look for unblemished, firm limes that feel heavy for their size as they will be the juiciest. If you intend to use the zest, buy them unwaxed (shops should state this clearly). If you can't find unwaxed limes, scrub the limes thoroughly before zesting.

To extract the maximum amount of juice, make sure the limes are at room temperature, and firmly roll them back and forth under your palm a couple of times - that helps to break down some of the flesh's fibres. Alternatively, microwave them for around 30 seconds, depending on the size of the lime - warming them up also helps them give up more juice.

You can store limes in a perforated bag in the fridge (for a couple of weeks); in a fruit bowl (for around a week). Once cut, wrap in clingfilm and keep in the fridge for up to four days.

A variety of recipe ideas/articles are found within this blog, and not all may be suitable for you. If you may have any food allergies, or underlying health issues these must always be taken into account. If you are a diabetic and not sure how certain foods may affect your blood sugars, test is best, i.e. use your meter.

All the best Jan