On account of SCIENCE...you put the lime in the ginger cake!

Yeah, see, I actually had this one ready to type up yesterday, but then I took my cousin to the science museum and was knackered afterwards, so never typed it up. Because I was tired, not a slacker like someone would have you believe. Typing it up now. I do have pics to put in here, but my phone is not co-operating, so I shall add them when my phone decides to behave.

So, to the post. I have a bumper post to make up for being a complete numpty and messing up the last couple of weeks. Here we go.

So, we had some sunny weather here, and the temperature hit 20. In Scotland, this caused great excitement. And makes me excited for summer drinks, my favourite being rum with ginger beer and lime.

And of course at this point ideas happened, and I had to go prep the kitchen:

Yes, everything I do is this erratic.

Summery drink love got me thinking; if it's super tasty as a drink, why wouldn't it be tasty as a cake? So your first recipe today: ginger and rum cake with a hint of lime.

Recipe:
50 g/2 oz butter or margarine
120 ml/4 fl oz/0.5 cup black treacle (molasses)
1 egg lightly beaten
60 ml/4 tbsp rum
100 g/4 oz/1 cup self-raising (self-rising) flour
10 ml/2 tsp ground ginger
75 g/3 oz soft brown sugar
25 g/1 oz crystallized (candied) ginger, chopped
(I also add 2 tablespoons of lime cordial)

Method:
This one is pretty easy. Melt the butter and treacle together in a pan until glossy, then let it cool slightly. Mix the rest of the ingredients in to form a soft batter, spoon into an 8inch cake tin, and bake at 200C/400F/gas mark 6 for 20 minutes. And you're done.

I use silicon moulds, which keep the cake really really moist, but be warned, the cake would take a little longer to cool in these, so don't try and turn them out too quickly (or they will fall apart, like mine did, which is why there isn't a picture).

I made this one initially because one of my workmates didn't believe I could bake. He said the only problem with it was the slice wasn't big enough!

Second up is something I have craved for ages, so decided to make, and is super summery: Key Lime Pie (explained the title yet?). Again, I found a super easy recipe for this, it is a little time consuming because the limes take a while to grate, but it's so, so worth it.

Recipe:
375g/12oz plain or sweetmeal digestive biscuits, crushed
150g/5oz unsalted butter
grated zest and juice of 8 large limes
570ml/1 pint double cream
1 x 397g/14oz can sweetened condensed milk
crystalised lime zest, to decorate (I'll explain this bit at the end)

Method:

melt the butter over a low heat. While this is happening, crush the biscuits to within an inch of their life. I used a pestle, just to make sure. Mix them into the melted butter, 'til it goes into a soggy-ish paste, like this:

then into the pan it goes (I used the same silicon mould as the last one, if using a metal pan make sure the bottom pops out). This needs to cool before adding the topping, so pop it in the fridge for now.

Now, the topping. This is simple, but will seem time consuming, as it takes ages to grate the limes. If you want to make candied lime peel to decorate, peel rather than grate the peel of one lime, and set it aside for later.

For the zest, grate the peel of the limes into a bowl, then cut the limes in half and juice them into a large bowl. The zest will get added to the mix later.

Once all limes have been zested and juiced, add the cream and condensed milk to
the juice, and wsk for about 2 minutes (it's possible to do this by hand, it doesn't go too stiff). At this point, you gently mix in the lime zest.

Get your super-dooper base back out of the fridge, and spoon the topping on to it.

Even it out, and stick back in the fridge for an hour/hour and a half, and voila, key lime pie.

So good it was out of the fridge for about 3 seconds before being munched, so i didn't get a chance to make the crystalized lime peel this time, but here's the trick to it in case you fancy it:

"To make the crystalized lime zest, wash and dry 2 whole limes and peel with a vegetable peeler. Using a sharp knife cut the peel into thin matchstick-sized strips. Blanch in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain and refresh in cold water. Place 50g/2oz caster or granulated sugar into a small pan with enough boiling water to cover. Bring to the boil and heat until it reaches 180C/350F, use a sugar thermometer to test the temperature. Add the lime zest and remove from the heat. Stir well and pour into a metal sieve over a bowl. As the sugar cools separate the lime zest with a fork and allow to cool completely. When cool remove the lime zest from the sieve and rub off the excess hard sugar. Use as required in the key lime pie recipe."

I'm actually super surprised this lasted us 3 days, it really brought out my dormant sweet toot again.

And what do we have to go with cake? Well, it's summer, so.....ICE CREAM!

Recipe:
4 egg whites
1 can condensed milk
1 carton double cream
flavouring of your choice (i use vanilla extract, 2 teaspoons).

**quick point on flavouring: if doing flavour from a bottle, use extract rather than essence. The condensed milk is rather thick, and won't pick up the flavouring from essence. Just so you don't waste time (^_^)**

Method:
Whisk egg whites 'til stiff. Add condensed milk. Whisk until stiff. Add cream. Whisk until stiff. Add flavouring, mix well. Place in a container and into the frezer for 24hrs. take out 5 minutes before use to defrost to scooping temperature. And seriously, it's that easy.

Enjoy people!