Coconut, lime and macadamia cake - a surprising cake

I bought a bag of limes especially to make this cake – the idea of mixing them with coconut and macadamias sounded really good. Like many Saturdays, I removed the butter from the fridge very early in the morning so it would become soft for my baking section. Then, reading the recipe and placing all the ingredients on the sink I stopped, read it again and then again – there’s no butter in the cake. There’s no oil either. Ok, so the fat will come from the nuts, fine. Stop worrying and carry on, Patricia.
I placed the cake in the oven and started thinking: will it be dry? I hate dry cakes. Well, it was too late for that – all I could do was wait for it to be ready.
After spreading the deliciously sharp icing over it I could no longer resist: I cut a rather small slice of it and tasted it. One bite and I was in heaven: not only was the cake extremely tender but it also tasted wonderful. Absolutely rich. I should have known all along: it’s one of Bill Granger’s recipes after all. :)

Coconut, lime and macadamia cake
slightly adapted from the great Bills open kitchen

Cake:
150g unsalted macadamia nuts
3 tablespoons (30g) all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs, separated
½ cup + 2 tablespoons (124g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
finely grated zest of 2 small limes
1/3 cup (34g) sweetened shredded coconut
pinch of salt

Lime icing:
¾ cup (105g) icing sugar, sifted
finely grated zest of 1 lime
1 ½ tablespoons lime juice

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 20cm (8in) round cake pan, line the bottom with baking paper and butter the paper as well.
Place the macadamias, flour and baking powder in a food processor and process until the nuts are ground. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy. Fold through the lime zest and coconut, then the nut mixture. Place the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl, add the salt and whisk until stiff peaks form. Fold lightly through the nut batter.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until risen, golden and pulls away from the sides of the pan – a skewer inserted in the center of the cake should come out clean.
Remove from the oven and cool in the pan, over a wire rack, for 15-20 minutes. Carefully unmold onto a rack, remove the baking paper, invert onto another and let cool completely.
Make the icing: combine the icing sugar, lime juice and zest in a small bowl and mix until spreadable (add more juice if needed). Add more juice if necessary. Drizzle over the cooled cake to serve.

Serves 8-10