Banana cake with coconut and lime icing

'Can you bake a cake for an open day at the school?' I was asked. 'No problem,' I said. 'One slab of banana cake with coconut and lime icing, coming up!'


What you'll need

For the cake
2 large, overripe bananas, mashed
125g butter at room temperature (or slightly melted)
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract (or seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod)
100ml milk
1 1/2 cups (225g) self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda

For the icing
1/2 cup shredded coconut
Juice and zest of one lime
1 1/2 cups icing sugar

Butter to grease the cake tin

What to do

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease the cake tin and line it with non-stick baking paper. I used a 20 x 20cm cake tin.

Place the butter, sugar, mashed banana, eggs and vanilla in a bowl and mix well. You can do this by hand or with electric beaters. Add the milk and mix to combine.

Add the flour and bicarb soda. Mix until combined. Pour the batter into a prepared tin and use a wooden spoon to smooth the batter and move it into all the corners of the pan. Bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then remove the cake to a wire rack to completely cool it.

Once cool, make the icing.  Pour the icing sugar into a bowl, squeeze the lime juice into the icing sugar, mixing as you go with a spoon. The consistency is right when the icing is the consistency of softened butter. It should not drip off the spoon, otherwise it will run off the cake. Add more icing sugar if the icing is too wet. If the icing is too dry, add warm water, a few drops at a time until you have the right consistency.

Spread icing over the cake, using a knife that has been heated under running, hot water. Once spread all over the cake (to the edges and down the sides if you want to), sprinkle over the coconut and the lime zest. Let the icing set for 10 minutes, then slice with a sharp knife. It will be easier to cut cleanly if you heat the knife under hot, running water before each slice.

This cake will store in an airtight container for three or four days. Alternatively you could slice the cake and then freeze to use in lunchboxes etc. Layering the individual cake slices between pieces of baking paper will make it easy to remove from the freezer, ensuring it won't stick to the other cake slices.