tropical delights

Lime and coconut layer cake






225g (8oz) unsalted butter, softened
250g (9oz) caster sugar
4 large free-range eggs, lightly beaten
225g (8oz) self-raising flour
¼tsp baking powder
75g (3oz) desiccated coconut
finely grated zest and juice 
3 limes

for the filling 

100g (4oz) unsalted butter, softened
250g (9oz) cream cheese
3tbsp creamed coconut (leave somewhere cool so the oil separates to the top; remove and use the cream underneath)
½tsp vanilla extract
400g (14oz) icing sugar, sifted
zest and juice 1 lime

to decorate

200g (7oz) fresh coconut chunks, finely sliced
zest 1 lime

(use organic ingredients) 


Heat the oven to 170C, 150C fan, 325F, gas 3. To make the cakes, using an electric mixer, whisk the butter and sugar until light, pale and creamy. Now, very gradually, beat in the eggs, mixing well after each addition.

Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture, add the desiccated coconut and fold in gently until thoroughly incorporated. If it seems too thick, add a few tbsp milk. Now fold in the lime zest and juice.

Divide the mixture evenly among the 3 tins, level it out with a palette knife and bake in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes or until springy and cooked through.
Allow the cakes to cool slightly before removing from the tins and taking off the baking parchment, then leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Toast the coconut slices: arrange in a single layer on a lined baking sheet and toast in a hot oven for 10 minutes, or until golden. Keep an eye on them, as they will burn quickly.
To make the filling, beat the butter, cream cheese, creamed coconut and vanilla until smooth, then gradually beat in the icing sugar until well incorporated. Then beat in the lime zest and juice.

To assemble the cake, spread some of the frosting on top of the base layer of the cake then top with the next layer and repeat the process with all layers. Cover the whole cake with the remainder of the mix and smooth with a palette knife. Gently press the toasted coconut shavings on the sides of the cake, and finish with a sprinkling 
of lime zest on top.

Pineapple upside-down cake

330g butter, softened
330g caster sugar
1 small pineapple (peeled, cored and cut in to 2cm rings)
4 large eggs
200g self-raising flour
2tsp baking powder
50g ground hazelnuts

(use organic ingredients)

Take 6 individual round tart tins about 6x3-4cm deep. Melt 80g of the butter and mix together with 80g caster sugar in a small bowl. Brush half of this mixture over the sides and base of the tin
Heat the remaining melted butter mixture in a frying pan until it begins to bubble. Add the pineapple slices and cook over a medium to high heat, turning every so often, until they begin to colour. Remove from the heat

Place a pineapple ring and teaspoon of cooking liquid in each mould, reserving any excess
Preheat the oven to 175C/gas mark 4. Put the remaining butter and sugar, the eggs, self-raising flour, baking powder and hazelnuts in a food processor and mix together for a minute or so until smooth
Pour the mixture evenly into the tins and cook for 30-40 minutes, until golden. Leave to cool a little, run a knife around the edge of each tin and turn out onto warmed serving plates

Spoon over any excess cooking liquid and serve either hot or warm with thick cream or creme fraiche

Passion fruit cheesecake slices 

For the crust:

250g (9oz) digestive biscuits, finely crushed
125g (4 ½ oz) butter, melted

For the filling:

175g (6oz) cream cheese, at room temperature
250g (9oz) ricotta cheese, at room temperature
125g (4 ½ oz) caster sugar
3 eggs
1 level tbsp cornflour
1 lime, zest finely grated and juice reserved
150ml (1/4 pt) sour cream
175ml (6fl oz) passionfruit pulp, approx 5 large passionfruit
Icing sugar to decorate

(use organic ingredients) 

Heat oven to 150C, 130C fan, 300F, gas 2. Place the biscuits and butter in a bowl, mix well then press into the base of the prepared tin. Chill whilst you make the filling.

Place the cream cheese, ricotta, sugar, eggs, cornflour and lime zest in a large mixing bowl and beat well until smooth, add the sour cream and beat again. Add the lime juice to the passionfruit pulp and stir into the cream cheese mixture until thoroughly combined. Pour over the biscuit base and bake for 25-30 minutes or until set around the outside with a slight wobble in the centre. Turn off the oven and leave the door ajar for about 1 hour. Remove the cheesecake from the oven and when cold chill for a minimum of 6 hours or overnight.

To serve, dust with icing sugar, cut into rectangles and serve. The cheesecake will keep for 3 days, covered in the fridge.

Mango and ricotta souffle with passion fruit sauce

3 passion fruit
500ml bottle freshly squeezed orange juice
softened butter , for greasing
85g caster sugar , plus 1 tsp for coating
zest 1 orange
250g tub ricotta
100g fromage frais
1 tbsp cornflour , plus 1 tsp for the sauce
2 free-range egg yolks
1 large, ripe mango , flesh cut into 1cm pieces
3 egg whites
1 tbsp Orange Curaçao or Cointreau
icing sugar , for dusting

(use organic ingredients)

Halve the passion fruit and scoop out the pulp into a saucepan. Add the orange juice and boil until reduced by half. Strain into a jug, to give about 250ml, rubbing through with a spoon. Discard the pips. Cool.
Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 6. Butter the sides and base of 8 x 150ml ramekin dishes evenly, then coat with 1 tbsp of sugar.

In a large bowl, whisk together half of the caster sugar, the orange zest, ricotta, fromage frais, 1 tbsp cornflour and the egg yolks. Fold in the mango flesh and 6 tbsp of the reduced juice.

Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then whisk in the remaining sugar. Fold this into the ricotta mix and spoon into the prepared dishes, levelling the top. Set the dishes in a large, deep roasting tin and pour round boiling water to come halfway up the dishes. Cover the whole roasting tin with foil and seal the edges loosely. Bake for 50 mins until the soufflés have risen and set.

Meanwhile, make the sauce. Blend the 1 tsp cornflour with a little cold water. Bring the remaining juice to the boil in a small saucepan, mix some into the cornflour, then pour back into the pan with the Curaçao or Cointreau. Heat, stirring until thickened. Set aside to cool. 

Dust each dessert lightly with icing sugar and drizzle with a little sauce. Serve remaining sauce separately.

Passion fruit and coconut panna cotta

12 ripe and wrinkly passion fruits
300ml pot double cream
160ml pack coconut cream
140g caster sugar
juice ½ lemon
12g sachet powdered gelatine
2 tbsp icing sugar

(use organic ingredients)

Halve 6 of the passion fruit and scoop out the pulp into a saucepan. Add the cream, coconut cream, caster sugar and lemon juice, heat everything together, then gently boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. When the cream is just simmering, scoop out about 100ml into a small bowl and scatter over the gelatine. Stir until dissolved, stir back into the saucepan, then take off the heat. Press through a sieve into a jug, then pour the mixture into 4 individual mini pudding basins. Leave to set in the fridge for at least 4 hrs until completely set.

Meanwhile, halve and scoop the rest of the passion fruit through a sieve into a bowl. Mix to sweeten with the icing sugar, add 1 tbsp of the seeds from the sieve back into the sauce, then stir to mix. Can be made up to 2 days in advance and chilled.

To serve, briefly dip the panna cotta moulds into hot water until they just loosen at the sides, then invert onto serving plates. Spoon the sauce around the plates and serve.

Pineapple ravioli 

1 ripe pineapple
100g golden caster sugar
2 vanilla pods
a small bunch mint
2 tbsp crème fraîche
2 tbsp mascarpone
1 mango , finely diced
2 punnets raspberries
8 strawberries , diced
large handful blueberries
2 passion fruit , halved

(use organic ingredients)

Cut the top and bottom off the pineapple, starting at the top as if you are segmenting an orange, slice downwards following the curve of the fruit to take the skin off. Turn the fruit slightly, follow the first slice with the next and repeat this going all the way around. You want to end up with a rounded shape so that when you slice through the pineapple, your slices are round rather than looking like 50p's. Don't worry about all the eyes at this stage, the majority will come off but any others will disintergrate when the stock is poured on. If you cut them out at this stage, the pineapple will be harder to slice and keep intact. You also need to leave the core in for the same reason, again the stock will cook this and make it tender.

Slice the pineapple as thinly as you can, you'll need a knife with a long blade which doesn't go to a point, a ham knife is perfect if you have one. Don't worry about any ragged edges, you won't see them in the finished dish. Lay the slices flat in a deep tray, overlapping them slightly.

Next make the sugar syrup. You want this to be 1/3 sugar and 2/3 water; so not too strong. Put the sugar with 200ml water into a saucepan. Run the back of a knife along one of the vanilla pods to rumble all the seeds up a bit and then split the pod and scrape the seeds into the pan, add the pod as well. Bring slowly to the boil. Take the pan off the heat and add most of the mint, stalks as well. Pour over the pineapple slices and marinate for up to 3 days in the fridge, the longer you leave it, the more fragrant it will get.

To make the filling, put the crème fraîche and mascarpone in bowl and scrape in the seeds from the second vanilla pod. Mix together, this cream makes a good binding agent for the fruit. You don't need any sugar, the sour edge from the crème fraîche acts as a good foil for the fruit and sugar syrup. Fold in the fruit and passion fruit pulp but leave aside 6 raspberries to decorate each plate. Finely shred a few mint leaves and fold these in. The fruit will bleed into the filling and stain it which will add a nice bit of colour.

To make the ravioli, very gently lay 2 slices of pineapple (you don't need to drain them well, just lift them gently out of the stock) on each plate, overlapping them. Add a heaped dessertspoon of mixture into the centre and then lay 3 more slices of pineapple on top, overlapping them so they cover the filling. Use your fingers to gently press the slices into shape. Dot each plate with raspberries and add a sprig of mint. Glaze the ravioli with some of the sugar syrup just before serving.

Passion fruit and honeycomb parfait with fresh raspberries 

for the honeycomb:

225g (8oz) granulated sugar
2tbsp distilled white wine vinegar
1½tbsp clear honey
½tbsp liquid glucose
1tsp bicarbonate of soda

for the parfait:

2 large free-range egg yolks
35g (1¼oz) golden caster sugar
pulp 4 large passion fruit
200ml (7fl oz) double cream, lightly whipped
fresh raspberries, to serve

(use organic ingredients) 

Make the honeycombe. Place the sugar, vinegar, honey and glucose in a very large, deep pan with 300ml (½pt) cold water. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, turn up heat, add the thermometer and boil until it reads 140 C, 275 F (the hard crack stage).

Just before this (after about 20 minutes), mix the bicarbonate of soda together with 2tsp water. When the toffee is at the right temperature, remove from the heat, tip in the bicarbonate mix and stir quickly. It will froth violently, which is why it's necessary to use as deep a pan as possible.

Immediately tip the mixture into the oiled tin and leave to cool completely. Do not knock the tin, as it could make the mix sink. Once the honeycombe is completely cool, invert the tin onto a board, give it a whack and tip it out. Place 100g (4oz) of the honeycombe in a bag and bash with a rolling pin. You can break the rest into large chunks for snacking!

To make the parfait, place the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl over a pan of steaming water and whisk with an electric whisk for 5 minutes until thick and pale. Stir in the passion fruit, then fold in the lightly whipped cream and 85g (3½oz) of the crushed honeycombe until combined, being careful not to knock the air out. Divide the mixture between moulds. Freeze overnight.

Pina colada cake with coconut frosting

185g (6½oz) unsalted butter, softened
185g (6½oz) golden caster sugar
3 large free-range eggs
432g tin sliced pineapple, drained and roughly puréed
100g (4oz) desiccated coconut
185g (6½oz) self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder

for the frosting:
200g (7oz) unsalted butter, softened
150g (5oz) creamed coconut (the block, not the cream), grated
150g (5oz) full-fat Philadelphia cream cheese
3tbsp Malibu or 2tbsp golden rum
200g (7oz) icing sugar, sifted
juice 2 limes
50g (2oz) toasted desiccated coconut, and dried pineapple rings (available from health food stores), to decorate

(use organic ingredients)

Heat the oven to 170 C, 150 C fan, 325 F, gas 3. Whisk the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Gradually add in the eggs, beating well after each addition, then fold in the puréed pineapple, coconut, flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt. Transfer to the prepared cake tin, and bake in the centre of the oven for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. You may need to cover the top of the cake with tin foil after about 40 minutes.

When cooked, remove from the oven, cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Slice carefully into 3 layers once completely cooled.

To make the frosting, place all the ingredients in a food processor, and blend briefly until smooth. Transfer to the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up. Spread the bottom layer of the cake with 2 to 3tbsp frosting, repeat with the next layer too, then use the remaining icing to cover the sides and top of the cake.

Passion fruit and mango meringue roulade 

5 large egg whites
150g (5oz) caster sugar
2 tsp cornflour
25g (1oz) icing sugar, to dust
400ml (14fl oz) double cream
175g (6oz) mango, chopped
4 passion fruits, seeds scooped out
10g (¼oz) desiccated coconut, to garnish

(use organic ingredients)

Preheat the oven to 150C/130C fan/300F/Gas 2. Line a 30cm x 20cm (11¾in x 8in) swiss roll tin with greaseproof paper.

Using an electric whisk whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks, then gradually whisk in the caster sugar until the mixture is stiff and glossy. Whisk in the cornflour.

Spread out the meringue evenly in the prepared Swiss roll tin and then transfer to the oven to bake for 1 hour. Leave to cool completely in the tin.

Lay a sheet of greaseproof paper on the work surface and sprinkle with the icing sugar. Carefully turn out the meringue onto the paper and peel away the sheet attached to its base. Carefully flip back over.

Using the electric whisk whip the cream to soft peaks then spread over the meringue, leaving 1cm border round the edge. Scatter over the mango and passion fruit then spoon over the passion fruit pulp.

With one of the short ends of the meringue closest to you use the greaseproof paper to carefully roll up into a roulade. Dust with icing sugar and scatter with the desiccated coconut to serve.