You put the lime in the coconut... olive oil greek yogurt cake.

Happy Monday, eaters!

I'm really excited about this cake. Like, really, really excited. 

I'm one of those strange birds who doesn't really like icing on cakes. It actually really used to stress me out when I was younger. My mom was typically a no-to-light-froster on birthday cakes and when I found myself at a friend's birthday party with a store-bought, icing covered cake, I would get really stressed out... What if some poor soul handed me an end piece? It doesn't sound like such a dilemma now, but when you're 8 years old and the highlight of the party is the cake, and you've been waiting for it the whole party... waiting for a middle, only-on-the-top frosting piece feels like eternity. 

As it turns out when you are 26 years old, waiting for this cake to bake feels like an eternity. Don't get me started on how long it takes for it to cool...

Anyways!

This cake is first and foremost delicious, without any frosting. And secondly, it's quite lovely without any frosting.

I combined two recipes (found here and here) to make this one. I'm a big fan of using both Greek yogurt and olive oil in cakes- the Greek yogurt keeps things light but the olive oil adds a certain je ne sais quoi. This cake turned out incredibly moist, light and super fresh- perfect for the end of a Memorial Day cook out.

Coconut Lime Greek Olive Oil Cake

3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup low-fat vanilla Greek yogurt
3/4 cup 1% low-fat milk
3 tablespoons lime zest
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4  cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the topping:

Zest of one lime

1-2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp desiccated coconut

 

 

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease an 8-9" round pan. 

In one bowl, whisk together the eggs and the sugar. Add olive oil, yogurt, milk, zest and lime juice. It'll look like you're making a key lime pie at this point. Really pretty and really great smelling. Add your coconut and whisk gently or use a spatula to fold gently into the mix.

In a separate bowl, whisk together your flours, baking powder and salt. 

Slowly add your flour mixture to your wet ingredients and stir gently with a spatula until there are no clumps (you'll be able to see the coconut, but no lumps aside from that). 

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 45-50 minutes. 

While the cake is baking, prepare the topping. Combine sugar and lime zest in one bowl and mix together with a fork. Keep your sugar zest separate from your coconut for the topping. Mixing together just creates for a soggy mess. 

Once the cake is done and cooled, sprinkle the sugar zest and coconut on top of the cake and garnish with lime wedges. 

Until next time,