This year I thought that I would start cleaning some things up in my apartment to make room for the things that really count. Having a nicely arranged bar in my kitchen for example. Mission: accomplished! But you won’t see the choc-a-block cupboards of booze that are hiding beneath that well organised bar… thats for another time.
When the baker and the chocolate maker came over for lunch on Australia Day, we decided it was a perfect time to bust out all the cocktails that husband-to-be and I had been making over the holidays. This one was from a cute little book that S and S from work gave me for Christmas.
So I am a little obsessed with limes. And when they get made into delicious things like…
lime syrup cakes
can you blame me? Now if you’re feeling like you’ve got a bit of deja vu, then you wouldn’t be too far off. I did post the CWA Lime Cake way back in 2010 when I began this blog. But with the second birthday of this little blog of mine swinging round, I thought i’d bring back my old favourite but with a little delicious tweak.
I saw this recipe on the beautiful Kiki’s blog after i’d scored a bag of limes ridiculously cheaply. Apart from making a Key Lime Pie and some watermelon, lychee and lime cocktails, Lime Syrup Cake was the perfect way to use these babies up. And the Women’s Weekly recipe that Kiki used intrigued me with its addition of ricotta. What I love about the CWA recipe is the beautiful light buttery texture of the cake as well as the lovely limey syrup left at the bottom. This recipe is much more dense but infinitely soft and oh-so-lime-syrupy!
I used Greek Style Yoghurt instead of ricotta because I couldn’t get my lazy ass to the shops to buy some. Oops.
But look at the cute tea cosy behind it!
If you’re currently suffering from the chilly turn in Sydney, I’m sure this hot, fresh out of the oven cake will warm you up
The super moistness and limeness of this cake comes from a little lime in the batter but mostly the lime syrup trickled over the top while it is still warm.
I recently discovered Weis Vanilla Bean Icecream. This has to be hands down the best vanilla ice-cream i’ve had so far. A few scoops of this baby cuts through the lime if you’re not such a fan of the sour.
mmmmmmmmmmmm
and an action shot, just so you can feel jealous. But better than feeling jealous, you can go get some limes and make this freakin cake! You won’t be disappointed!
So, my lovelies, do you love limes? And what do you like to eat to keep away these winter chills that are currently invading Sydney?
Lime Syrup Cake – Adapted from The Australian Women’s Weekly
Cake Ingredients
200g butter
1 tablespoon lime zest
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
3 eggs, separated
250g greek yoghurt
1/2 cup (125ml) milk
1 1/2 cups (225g) self raising flour
Syrup Ingredients
1/3 cup (80ml) lime juice
1/4 cup (60ml) water
2/3 cup caster sugar
Method
Preheat oven to 180deg (160deg if fan forced). Grease a 20cm bundt pan well with extra melted butter.
1. Beat butter, rind and sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy
2. Beat in egg yolks, yoghurt and milk
3. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in sifted flour.
4. Beat egg whites in a small bowl until soft peaks form
5. Fold into batter in two batches then pour into a greased 20cm bundt pan. Bake on 160 degrees for 40-50 mins. Check regularly as mine was truly cooked by then
6. Turn cake out onto a wire rack and cool for 5 mins before covering in syrup
Lime Syrup Method
1. During the last 10 mins of the cake baking, begin making your syrup
2. Stir the lime juice, water and sugar in a saucepan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil.
3. Boil uncovered for 10 mins, keeping a careful eye on it! Don’t let it caramelise! In the mean time, stab your cake all over it’s surface with a skewer to help the syrup absorb
4. When the syrup has thickened a little, take the pan off the heat and pour gently over your cake.
If you live in Sydney then I must begin this post by applauding you for still being here. After the extreme prolonged heat yesterday (37 degrees Celsius – that’s 98 degrees F my European and American friends!) anyone who didn’t dissolve into a puddle on the floor must be commended as having superhuman strength. That was one damn hot day, and on a damn hot day you need something light, cool and refreshing. Which, I imagine, is why we have the Key Lime Pie.
And thank god we do.
Because I totally heart Key Lime Pie.
And biscuit crumbs.
(see what I did there?)
At the moment with the heat and general busy-ness that comes with the winding down of the year, I am feeling the easy/quick prep dishes, and this one is about as simple as you can get. The base is just cookie crumbs, butter and coconut. The filling is sugar, eggs and condensed milk. The topping is cream, vanilla and a little icing sugar. I think that the cooking time was about 15(ish) mins each for the base and the filling and you can make it in short bursts over a few days. This is particularly good if you are lazy (like me) or if you are sweltering under a series of hot days and can only manage having the oven on for a short amount of time.
I started off with some Butternut Cookies and as I was sans food processor, I bashed them out with a rolling pin. Did I mention that this recipe was also good for stress relief?
Soon I was left with a mountain of crumbs
to squish into the pan and blast in the oven
Then I sampled baked the filling.
Whipped the cream, sugar and vanilla for the topping
and spread that baby over the top of the pie
What you end up with is a tangy, cool and refreshing Summer dessert, perfect for cooling you down. Delightful! I used the recipe from the wonderful blog Mangada [to eat] who always floors me with her creativity, simplicity and beautiful photography. The only change I made was the omission of the ginger cookies from the base as the mothership malfunctions when fed anything containing even a hint of ginger.
So, my lovelies, what do you do/eat/drink to cool you down when it feels as though the world around you is melting? And are any other Aussies freaking out at the prospect that days like yesterday are the shape of things to come?
So it seems like ages since I made anything with limes. Or anything with fruit for that matter. I seem to be stuck in a bit of a rut of only eating things from the top of the food pyramid. If its at the top it must be the most important right? Right…
So I was lured into the fruit shop by my guilty conscience, extreme sugar low and the memory of this lovely lady’s lime creation. I was also drawn in by the sight of all those bright green limes winking at me. See! I like fruit. Fruit that is incorporated into cake. I think this is a losing battle…
Time for cake! P.s. this is the first time in my entire life that i’ve ever lined a tin around the edges. Crazy!
Lime cake batter! Woooo! Its so close you could almost lick it… almost…
Yes I have made this cake before, you might remember it from this post. Thank god for the CWA! And limes. Im always thankful for limes. But I wasn’t satisfied with the original recipe. It wasn’t well, limey enough! How could I inject a concentrated shot of lime goodness into this cake?
Two magic words: Lime Syrup.
But first you need to prick the cake all over with a skewer to allow all that lovely syrup to permeate. And by ‘prick’ I mean ‘stab’. See, its a theraputic recipe!
Phwoar! Look at all that tasty syrup 😀
Drumroll please…
Hooray!
I personally think there’s nothing like a warm lime syrup cake to help you beat the winter chills. You can find the recipe for the cake here. And remember, limes = fruit = good for you. What more incentive do you need?
Lime Syrup Recipe – From Nigella Lawson’s “How to Be a Domestic Goddess”
Ingredients
4 tablespoons lime juice
100g icing sugar
Method
1. Using a small saucepan, dissolve the sugar in the lime juice over a low heat. Thats it!
