lime

Earl Grey Iced Tea

- Michael 2 Comments

Earl Grey Iced Tea

We are well into the few days of summer the UK gets each year. It’s been sweltering, so I know that people probably aren’t going to be inside reading my rambles. As my last post, an open letter about just how good the London food scene is, was pretty lengthy and as my next is going to be something just as long about our trip to Budapest, I thought it’d be a good time to crack out a nice short post on a simple summer recipe. So here’s a quick and easy recipe for Iced Earl Grey Tea with Mint and Lemon. I have talked about my love for Earl Grey at length, and my most recent recipe, Earl Grey & Raspberry Loaves, is one of those times.
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Hope Cove – Pistachio and Lime Cake

- Michael Leave a comment

Here comes another not entirely baking related post, I’m sorry! Well, at least part of it is baking related. On the weekend I went to Hope Cove in Devon. It’s the 4th time I’ve made the trip with several friends and each time it has been incredible. It’s probably one of my favourite places on Earth (and I’ve seen quite a bit of this planet), at least in part due to the company. The seaside village is incredibly beautiful and the flat that we stay in is delightful.

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This weekend was a bit more special as it was my friend Tom’s Birthday. And here is where the baking comes in. I recently got my hands on the Clandestine Cake book and decided to make one for his Birthday. Unfortunately, I finished the cake fairly late the night before I had to leave and then it got a bit… squashed… on the way there (I had to get a train and then a lift early in the morning. It took us hours longer than it should have because of traffic jams). This all combined to mean that I didn’t have a chance to photograph it properly, so you’ll just have to make do with what I got. The good news is that it tasted pretty awesome.

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On the Saturday we BBQ’d and proceeded to play drinking games. We waited until he was feeling jolly before surprising him with the cake. I deliberately picked this cake as I knew that he enjoyed pistachios.

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Just make sure you have 3 20cm round cake tins for this, and a tall enough tin!

 

Hope Cove - Pistachio and Lime Cake
 
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Serves: 10-12
Ingredients
  • 300g butter, softened
  • 300g caster sugar
  • 5 eggs
  • 300g self-raising flour
  • 1tsp baking powder
  • Grated zest of 3 limes, plus the juice of 2
  • 50g pistachio nuts, finely chopped
  • For the lime syrup:
  • Juice of 2 limes
  • 2tbsp caster sugar
  • For the lime curd:
  • 60g butter, diced
  • 2 eggs
  • 170g caster sugar
  • Grated zest and juice of 3 limes
  • For the frosting & decoration:
  • 250g butter, softened
  • 200g full-fat cream cheese,from the fridge
  • Grated zest of 1 lime
  • 250g icing sugar
  • 75g good-quality dark chocolate (min. 70% cocoa solids)
  • 125g pistachio nuts
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 190ºC (fan 170ºC). Grease and line the three sandwich tins.
  2. Beat the butter and sugar using a wooden spoon or electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, and adding a tablespoon of the flour with the final egg to help prevent curdling.
  3. Fold in the remaining flour and the baking powder until thoroughly combined. Add the lime zest and juice and the finely chopped pistachio nuts and mix until well combined.
  4. Divide the mixture between the tins, spreading it evenly. Bake for 25–30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave in the tins to cool slightly.
  5. Meanwhile, make the syrup. Put the lime juice and sugar into a pan over a low heat and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved, then bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
  6. While the sponges are still warm turn them out of their tins on to a wire rack, then carefully spoon the lime syrup over the top of each one– you may not need all the syrup. Leave the cakes to cool completely.
  7. Put all the ingredients for the lime curd in a small, heavy-based pan and heat gently, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon – don’t let the mixture boil or the eggs will scramble. When it has thickened enough to coat the back of the spoon quite thickly, strain through a sieve into a bowl. Cover and leave to cool
  8. To make the frosting, beat the butter until smooth. Add the cream cheese and mix until combined. Add the lime zest, then sift in the icing sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
  9. For the decoration, melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the water does not touch the base of the bowl, then pour it on to a piece of baking parchment and spread it out with a palette knife so it is about 3mm thick. Scatter over some of the chopped pistachios and leave to cool and set.
  10. To assemble the cake, place one of the cooled cakes on a plate, spread with a third of the frosting, then cover with a generous layer of the lime curd. Add a sprinkling of the remaining chopped pistachio nuts. Place a second cake on top of this and repeat the layers (saving some pistachios for the top). Place the final cake on top and cover with the remaining frosting.
  11. Break the pistachio-studded chocolate into rough shards and arrange round the edge of the top of the cake, then scatter the remaining pistachios among them.

I’ll be bringing part 2 to you later in the week, with Maple and Mustard Pulled Pork as the feature.

 

Mini Lime Drizzle Loaves

- Michael 1 Comment

First of all, apologies for the lack of updates the past couple of weeks. I’ve spent a lot of time away the last month or so and had barely any free time. Then the sun came out, and suddenly I found my evenings filled with sitting in the sun with friends and the odd beer. But in amongst this I’ve been doing the odd bit of baking. From  cheese (scotch infused mull cheddar) and onion bread through to more summery pieces. Today’s recipe is one of the latter. I absolutely love lemon drizzle cake, it’s sharp, moist, full of flavour and refreshing. It’s perfect for a summer’s day. I also got my hands on some miniature loaf tins a few months ago and have been itching to put them to use. A drizzle loaf is the perfect thing to just make miniature.

Lime Drizzle Loaves

Unfortunately when I popped into the shop they were 100% out of lemons. It’s pretty lucky that limes work just as well for this isn’t it then? This recipe only makes a few, small loaves, which makes it great for a set of light summer snacks.

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Mini Lime Drizzle Loaves
 
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Ingredients
  • Ingredients:
  • 125g butter
  • 125g golden caster sugar
  • 125g self-raising flour
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 Dollop Sour Cream
  • 2 Limes
  • 5 tablespoons of golden syrup
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan) and grease the loaf tins.
  2. Cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy.
  3. Beat in the first egg, beating until well combined. Add half the flour, beat again. Repeat, with the second egg and then the last of the flour.
  4. Grate both limes into a bowl (do this before you juice them, or it’ll get a bit tricky). I used some of the rind in the cake mix, but it’s up to you.
  5. Mix in the sour cream, two tablespoons of lime juice and (if using) some of the lime rind.
  6. Divide up evenly between the mini loaf tins. These rise pretty well so make them about ⅔s full.
  7. Bake in the oven for between 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
  8. Remove from the oven and ease out onto a rack.
  9. While they are cooling, prep the drizzle. Take the rest of the juice from the limes and the rind. Reduce over a low heat then stir in the syrup. This will turn runny fairly quickly. Take it off the heat to avoid it catching.
  10. Prick holes into the loaves with a fork (I push the fork about ⅔s of the way into the cakes) and drizzle the syrup over the top.

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