I’ve reworked an old favourite to make it gluten-free and also tweaked the ingredients a bit – now it’s even more fabulous. With lots of fruit, a crown of lemon icing and toasted coconut, it’s a big treat to share with friends.
INGREDIENTS
250 grams butter, at room temperature
2 cups caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 large eggs, size 7
1 cup plain gluten-free flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
1 cup ground almonds
1 cup desiccated coconut
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon ground ginger
⅓ cup roughly chopped crystallised ginger
1 cup plain yoghurt
finely grated zest 1 large lemon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups peeled and chopped feijoas
Lemon icing
1 cup icing sugar
2–3 tablespoons lemon juice
toasted shredded coconut for garnish
METHOD
Grease a 26cm spring-form cake tin and line the base and sides with baking paper.
Preheat the oven to 150˚C fan bake.
Cake: Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until very light and pale, this will take at least 5 minutes.
Whisk the eggs together then gradually beat them into the butter mixture until very well combined.
Combine the flour, ground almonds, coconut, baking powder, the ground and crystallised ginger together.
Using a large metal spoon, gently fold this into the butter mixture along with the combined yoghurt, lemon zest and juice. Fold in the feijoas.
Pour into the tin and smooth the top. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean, covering the top loosely with foil after 40 minutes to prevent the top over-browning.
Let the cake cool completely before removing from the tin.
Icing: Combine the icing sugar with enough lemon juice to make a thick but pourable icing. Place the cake on a serving plate and drizzle over the icing. Scatter with toasted coconut. Makes 1 large cake
Pantry note: I use Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose gluten-free flour. It’s available from good food stores and some supermarkets. You can also use regular plain flour. When feijoas aren’t in season, use the same quantity of chopped nectarines, peaches, apricots or plums.
Cook's tip: To peel the feijoas, slice off the ends and stand upright on a board. Cut down the sides, removing the green skin but leaving the firm white flesh surrounding the centre.
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