With the amazing weather the way it is we decided to head over to my mom and dads to have a picnic in the garden. It was late afternoon and their garden is so calming to just sit in. My mom is an amazing gardener and the kids are well entertained. My husband and I get to take 10 minutes to ourselves. So he lay on the grass and read the paper and I ate and wrote – what’s new!
Grapefruit is one of my all time favorite flavours. In fact, once-upon-a-time when I was much younger than I am not and may have on occasion consumed too much alcohol, I would wake up dreaming of grapefruit juice as a hangover cure. Nowadays however, I drink it on my parents lawn mid-afternoon. Rock and roll, I know!
This grapefruit lemonade went perfectly with a little mix and match deli salad, cheeses and meats I picked up earlier in the day. For afters, I had made a coconut cake similar to the one I made previously but this time I made a coconut cream cheese frosting. Amazing! Perfect ending to the perfect day.
For the Grapefruit Lemonade, you’ll need:
100g caster sugar
4 large grapefruits
2 lemons
1 2ltr sparkling water
So this is really easy, juice the grapefruits and lemons and sieve to remove pips. Put the juice into a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Give it a little stir to ensure it’s well mixed and all the sugar is dissolved. Allow the syrup mixture to cool completely and when it has mix with the sparkling water to taste. The syrup will keep in the fridge covered for a week or so.
For the Coconut Cake, you’ll need:
200g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
75g caster sugar
75g butter
50g dessicated coconut
1/2 tsp lime zest
1 egg
125ml milk
1tsp vanilla extract
1. Turn your oven on to 170 and grease and line a square 6 inch cake tin.
2. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl. Rub the butter in the same way you would if you were making pastry or scones. By the time your finished it should resemble fine breadcrumbs.
3. Add the sugar, coconut and lime zest and stir. Mix together the milk, vanilla extract and egg in a separate jug. Add to the flour and mix well, but don’t overbeat the mixture. You should end up with a thick batter.
4. Smooth the batter into the cake tin and bake for approx. 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. While the cake is cooling you can make your frosting. For this you’ll need:
200g cream cheese
100g unsalted butter, softened
500 icing sugar
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
50g desiccated coconut
To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the icing sugar and continue to beat until smooth using the milk as you go to keep it from becoming too thick and unworkable. Add the coconut and vanilla extract and taste. If you feel it needs more of either, then work away. Spread over the cake once cooled and cut into squares. I decorated the top of mine with a little toasted coconut but you don’t have to.
Enjoy!
