I apologise for the fact that I do not know who Lorna is – I discovered this recipe on the New Zealand Food Lovers website and it sounds divine. Here and there I find people talking about their favourite feijoa and coconut cake and wonder if this is the same recipe, or if there are (probably more likely) a number of variations of the recipe out there.
LORNA’S MOIST FEIJOA AND COCONUT CAKE
Ingredients
- 2 cups feijoa flesh in chunks
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 150g butter
- 1 ½ cups caster sugar
- 3 eggs, separated
- 2 cups desiccated coconut
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons creme of tartar
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 cup milk (if necessary)
Method
- Scoop the feijoa flesh into a 2 cup jug and pour over the lime juice. Set aside while you continue with the recipe.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Beat in the egg yolks.
- Fold in the coconut and sifted dry ingredients. Add the fruit. If necessary, add some milk, bit by bit.
- Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the cake mixture.
- Turn into a well-greased and lined 23 or 25cm cake tin.
- Bake at 180°C for 1 hour or until cooked, putting several layers of newspaper under the tin after about 30 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before turning out.
FEIJOA FEIJOA 
This is an excellent feijoa receipe. I’ve had so many people ask me for the recipe after I serve them the cake! So thanks for sharing. I whizz up feijoas in the food processor and freeze them in 1 cup portions, so that I always have feijoa pulp, even when they’re not in season. Once defrosted, they’re wet enough that I don’t need to add the milk at all, feijoas and lime juice are enough moisture. Have also experimented with swapping out half the dessicated coconut with coconut flour, and that works well too. I top it with a plain lime/lemon icing (icing sugar, butter, lime juice) and it’s magic.:-)
Well I have stumbled across this recipe after my man brought home a lot of feijoa’s from a colleague at work….I love this recipe as it’s simple and easy….thanks for the sharing
Hi Julianna
I am Lorna. I’ve just found your comment on my recipe on the Foodlovers website. My recipe has been adapted to my taste from the generic recipe, as you suggested: A very forgiving recipe,I have changed it by doubling the amount of feijoa, with the addition of lime juice and ginger and left out the milk. I also reduced the number of eggs. Makes a very moist, flat-topped cake, 5cm high.
I live in New Zealand on the East Coast of the Coromandel Peninsula where feijoas are plentiful at this time of year (I see this post is almost exactly 1 year to the date when you made yours). I love feijoas and am very happy to have found this site through your posting.
Wow, thanks for finding me and leaving a comment. I haven’t made this cake myself yet… suffering from an absence of feijoas here on the Central Coast… but I love the sound of the ginger and lime. I’m a Bay of Plenty girl originally so I know the Coromandel fairly well… lucky you. Enjoy the season!