Citrus Coconut Loaf

The secret to this moist, light, zesty, dairy-fee loaf is…peas. You honestly can’t taste the peas and it adds a subtle natural light green colour.

If you don’t need the loaf to be dairy-free, feel free to use a Greek style dairy yoghurt instead of coconut yoghurt. If you don’t have self-raising flour, you can use plain/cake flour with baking powder instead (2 teaspoons/10ml baking powder for every 1 cup/150g of flour). The glazed loaf can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months (whole or already sliced).

Makes one large loaf - 30x11x17cm (about 15 slices)

CITRUS COCONUT LOAF BATTER

peas, 80g (125ml or 1/2 cup) - cooked or defrosted from frozen

unsweetened coconut yoghurt, 250g (250ml or 1 cup)

egg, 1

caster sugar, 100g (125ml or 1/2 cup)

orange/lemon/lime zest, 30ml (2 tablespoons) - I use the zest of 1 orange, 1 lemon and 2 limes

orange juice, 60ml (1/4 cup) - usually the juice of 1 orange

oil, 125ml (1/2 cup) - a neutral flavour oil works well (such as grapeseed oil)

desiccated coconut, 50g (125ml or 1/2 cup)

self-raising flour, 300g (500ml or 2 cups)

CITRUS GLAZE

icing sugar, 165g (250ml or 1 cup)

unsweetened coconut yoghurt, 15ml (1 tablespoon)

orange/lemon/lime juice, 15ml (1 tablespoon)

To start, preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan) and grease or line (with baking paper) a large loaf tin.

Place the peas, yoghurt and egg in a blender or food processor and blitz until smooth.

Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl.

Add the remaining batter ingredients and mix until uniform.

Transfer the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for approximately 45 minutes (or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean).

Once baked, remove the tin from the oven and cool the loaf in the tin for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack or serving plate to cool completely (covered with a clean tea towel to keep it from drying out).

Once completely cool, make the glaze by combining the ingredients in a small bowl.

Drizzle the loaf with the glaze.

Decorate with coconut flakes and extra zest if you like.