This weekend we went away. Away to the land of lights and gambling, over-the-top-ness and still actually allowing smoking indoors. Ick. It was our friend Ashlei’s birthday, and we met up with her in Vegas, spending a few days (mainly) eating and going to see a Cirque show. Mr M had a little play at Roulette, and actually didn’t lose any money! He didn’t come away with much either…. but still.

But what about our poor pussycats you ask? A lovely neighbour of ours from our apartment complex came and gave them some love while we were away, so I made her a little something to say thanks! A quick inspection of the fridge and cupboards led to these little pretties.

I used the Joy the Baker method to bring out all the citrus-y flavour of the limes, rubbing the zest into the sugar to unleash all the essential oils.

Lime and Coconut Butterfly Cakes – makes about 8 (random number I know, but that’s all the eggs I had!)

Ingredients

120g sugar

zest of 2 limes

120g unsalted butter, softened

2 eggs

120g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

50g shredded coconut

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

Rub the lime zest into the sugar, then add the butter, and cream together until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition.

Sift together the flour and baking powder, combine with the butter mixture, then add the coconut.

Fill your prepared papers with a large scoop, or until just over 2/3 full (you want them to be slightly domed above the top of the cases when baked).

Bake for approximately 20 minutes, until lightly golden, and a skewer inserted comes out clean, then remove from the tin and allow to cool on a rack.

Make some buttercream frosting by combining together softened butter and icing sugar to taste.

Slice the tops off the cakes, then cut the removed piece in half. Add a blob of buttercream to the top of the cake, then apply the cake pieces like wings to the top!

Done!

Yummy!

Now I need to get me some fruits and veggies…. STAT. #vegasoverload