Please excuse my absence from the food blogging world for almost two weeks. Not that I have not been busy in the kitchen but I had some other important matters to attend to …  relatives are visiting from overseas. I was (and still am) the tour guide, which I do not mind at all because I get to show my uncle and his wife the beautiful spots ( local and touristy) in Sydney. Before they arrived, I actually made something to share for St. Patrick’s Day. It is this weekend so hopefully this is not too late to inspire you and get whipping up something green in the your kitchen.

This recipe was inspired by the famous Key Lime Poke Cake. But instead of poking holes in the cake and pouring in the prepared key lime jello mix, I used fresh key lime juice and green food colouring to give this cake its citrus flavour and colour. I added a cup of toasted desiccated coconut, which gave these green treats a very interesting texture and tropical flavour.  Another thing that I did differently is I used different baking trays/pans to make these. These recipe will yield 6 medium muffins, 12 whoopie pies ( I used macaron pan that they actually looked more like macarons than whoopie pies) and 24 small patties. To finish off these yummy treats, I frosted the muffins and patties with lime buttercream frosting and filled the middle of two whoopie pies sandwiched together  with the frosting.  Of course, if you do not want to go through the trouble of cleaning lots of pans, you can bake it in a standard 9 x 13″ pan. So, take your pick – muffins, patties or whoopie pies. Different shapes, same yummy taste!

 

Ingredients

For the cake

• 1 box white cake mix ( I used Duncan Hines Signature French Vanilla Cake Mix), plus the ingredients to make the cake
• 1 cup desiccated coconut, toasted
• 1 tablespoon lime zest
• juice of one lime
• green and yellow food colouring (to produce lime green colour)

For the buttercream frosting

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon lime zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups pure icing sugar
• 1 to 2 tablespoons milk
• green and yellow food colouring ( to produce lime green colour)
• toasted desiccated coconut, for garnishing

1. Prepare the cake mix according to directions on the box. Just before whisking the cake mix, add lime juice then whisk according to directions on the box. Stir in toasted coconut and lime zest.
2. In a small bowl, combine 2 drops of green food colour and 6 drops of yellow colour to produce lime green colour.  Stir in food colour into the prepared cake mix with a fork or chopstick.
3. If using one 9 x 13″ cake pan, bake according to directions on the box. Otherwise, use the following cooking times as guide. Preheat oven to 160C degrees. Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes, patty cakes for 10-12 minutes and whoopie pies for 8-10 minutes. Please note that oven temperature varies so check if they are done. Cake tops will be moist and soft to touch.
4. Turn cakes into racks and cool completely before frosting.
5. To make the frosting, beat first 4 ingredients with an electric mixer over medium speed until creamy.
6. Gradually add icing sugar, alternately with the lime juice and milk, a tablespoon at a time.  Beat until desired consistency.
7. Frost tops of muffins and patty cakes. Spread frosting on top of one whoopie pie then top with another pie to make a sandwich. Roll whoopie pies in toasted coconuts. Sprinkle toasted coconuts on top of muffins and patty cakes.