Little lemon syrup soaked coconut cakes

I’ve probably written about this already here but there it goes: I usually fear (a little) watching again now the movies I loved as my much younger self – there’s always the risk of deception, the “what the heck was I thinking?” feeling. Luckily this hasn’t happened often and the movies I’ve seen lately have permanently cemented their place in my heart. One example is “The Crying Game”: I adore Neil Jordan’s work and that film is a masterpiece.

* spoilers *

To this day very few movies have deserved the Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay as much as “The Crying Game” – the “twist” in the plot is a very creative one and I love the way Jordan unfolds it in the movie. Knowing that Stanley Kubrick and Jordan exchanged ideas about the movie made me love it even more – Kubrick believed that the role of Dil was uncastable; if the film production were to start today I would suggest the name of Andrej Pejic to both gentlemen – I wonder what they would think of my idea. :)

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These little cakes, as simple as they look, are packed with a lot of flavor – lemon and coconut are really delicious combination.

Little lemon syrup soaked coconut cakes
slightly adapted from In the Sweet Kitchen

Cakes:
2 cups (280g) all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 ¼ cups (250g) granulated sugar
1 cup (100g) sweetened desiccated coconut
2 large eggs
1 cup (240ml) coconut milk
1 cup (226g/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
freshly grated zest of 2 large lemons
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Syrup:
½ cup + 2 tablespoons (124g) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (80ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ cup (60ml) water

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter eight ¾ cup (180ml) capacity muffin cups or individual cake molds*.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. Stir in the sugar and coconut. In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs, then add the coconut milk and cooled melted butter. Stir with a whisk to blend the mixture into a thick, smooth liquid. Stir in the lemon zest and vanilla extract. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients all at once and stir with a wooden spoon just until incorporated.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until risen and golden around the edges and a wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Towards the end of the oven time, make the syrup: in a small saucepan, combine the sugar, juice and water and place over low heat, stirring just until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to medium and bring the mixture to a boil. Boil for 6 to 8 minutes, until the syrup has thickened slightly. Remove from heat and set aside (the syrup is supposed to be pour over the cakes while both the syrup and the cakes are still warm).

Transfer the pans to a wire rack set over a baking sheet and cool for 10-12 minutes. Carefully remove the cakes from the pan, then return them to the pan (this is to ensure the cakes won’t get stuck in the pans). Use a small toothpick to make holes in the tops of each cake. Spoon the syrup over each cake and leave them to cool completely.

* this is the pan I used

Makes 8