By some people’s standards, my 40+ cookbook collection is pretty meagre. I’ve tried really hard to only buy books that I know I will actually use, but after flicking through once or twice, I’m guilty of leaving many of them on the shelf, having never cooked a single recipe from them.
So I’ve kind of made a deal with myself to have cooked at least one recipe from each book before the end of the year. In theory this should be easy, but I’m not sure how the reality will go. I’ll let you know in about 10 months time.
I bought the Country Women’s Association (CWA) of New South Wales Jam Drops and Marble Cake book a while ago, and one of the first recipes that caught my eye was the lime and buttermilk cake. I picked up some beautiful Myrtleford cultured butter and buttermilk from The Butter Factory at a Victorian Farmers’ Market with the sole intention of finally making this cake.
I decided to finally also use the bundt pan I bought *several* months ago but hadn’t used once! The result was a beautifully textured cake that tasted great. It was lovely and crunchy on the outside and soft and moist on the inside. I’m sure the CWA ladies wouldn’t approve of my use of the bundt tin, but I’ve never really been one to follow the rules!
Lime Buttermilk Bundt Cake
Ingredients
- 250g butter, softened
- 220g caster sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons finely grated lime zest (the original recipe had just one tablespoon, but I think it could do with a bit more)
- 3 large eggs, separated
- 300g self-raising flour, sifted
- 250ml buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
Method
Heat oven to 180°C (350°F) non fan-forced and grease either an eight inch tin or an 8-10 cup bundt pan – this one from Nordic Ware was my choice.
Cream the butter and sugar in a small mixing bowl until pale and creamy. Add and beat in egg yolks one at a time until combined. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and mix in lime zest.
Stir in half of the flour, half of the buttermilk and half of the lime juice. Stir in the remaining flour, buttermilk and lime juice.
Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold in about half of the egg whites into the mixture then fold in the remainder – it will mix in better. Spread into the prepared tin.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, turning halfway through and checking with a cake tester after 50 minutes. Stand for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.
Icing
If you wish, you can make a thin icing to drizzle over the cake. To add to the lime flavour, I used lime juice instead of water. Sift one cup of icing sugar and add either one tablespoon of lime juice or hot water and mix. Slowly add up to one more tablespoon of either juice or water to get your desired consistency and dribble or spread over the cake, depending on the shape.
