Lemon Coconut 'n Honey Cake

I checked to see if there had been a lemon cake posted yet...and sure enough there had been...by me (well, with the help of Betty's recipe.). Grin....oh well. With the start of the New Year I, as many many others I am sure, have been revisiting my more 'low cal' or heart healthy recipes and I have gone back into my 'vegetarian years' stash. I had nearly forgotten this recipe. I know Betty won't mind me posting another lemon cake as she loves lemon AND coconut....both of which are prevalent in this easy, yummy and slightly healthy version of a lemon cake.

(I'm not sure where I got this recipe but as I will share over the next while...there were a group of us friends who, in the late 70's, baked and cooked and shared recipes and we all ended up with those cute little recipe cards I still have today.)

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 2 tsp grated lemon zest
• 1 cup fine sugar (NOT icing sugar....berry sugar. You can use regular sugar but it is not so delicate a texture if you do. This cake tends to be heavy with the other ingredients as it is. However, as it calls for fine sugar this is an excellent recipe to replace the sugar with Splenda - measure for measure.)
• 3 eggs separated
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 1/4 cup ground almonds
• 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 1/2 cups self rising flour
• (or make your own as I do - see tip below)
• 1 cup plain, low fat, organic yogurt

Honey Syrup

• 1 medium lemon
• 1 cup honey

Grease an 8 inch fluted tube pan. Cream the butter, zest and sugar in a small bowl with mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Transfer the mixture into a large bowl and stir in the coconut, ground almonds and juice. Then add the sifted flour and yogurt.

Beat the egg whites in a small bowl until soft peaks form....fold them into the cake mixture. Pour it all int the prepared pan and bake in 350F oven for about an hour or until firm. Spoon the hot syrup over the the hot cake while still in the pan. Cool in the pan before turning over on serving plate.

Honey Syrup:

Squeeze enough lemons to make 1/4 cup lemon juice or use bottled juice. Combine the juice with the honey and some lemon zest in a saucepan. Heat to almost a boil stirring well. Pour over the hot cake just taken out of the oven.

TIP: What is Self-rising flour?

Self-rising flour is all-purpose flour with added salt and leavening (baking powder). You will notice that recipes that call for self-rising flour do not call for baking powder. Make your own self-rising flour

For 1 cup self-rising flour use:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• a pinch of salt.