Lime & Mint cake – Yann Couvreur

09/08/20214passionfood

Prep time: 40 minutes

Cook time: 2 hours

Serves: the quantities given are to make a cake of 18cm / 8.5cm and 7cm in height. Or double them to make 4 cakes 14,5cm/7,5cm / 5cm in height.

This Lime – Mint Cake is a sort of a virgin Mojito cake. It’s the perfect summer treat, it’s fresh, moist, incredibly delicious and most important for me, that the cake doesn’t taste too sweet.

If you love virgin mojitos or the combination of mint and lime, this cake is definitely for you.

How to make this Lime & Mint cake ?

This delicious cake is chef Yann Couvreur’s recipe.

First let’s make the lime powder :

This lime powder adds a concentrated tangy citrus flavour to the recipe, so please don’t miss it.

It’s important to use organic lime, because we will use the peel to make the powder. 

Preheat the oven to 70C. Wash and dry the limes with a clean tea towel or a kitchen paper. Use a vegetable peeler, to remove the “zest” which is the coloured part of the skin, the white pith tastes bitter, so avoid it. Then place the peels on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Bake for 1 hour. Remove from the oven, it should be crisp to touch, leave it to cool. Using a clean coffee grinder or spice mill, grind the dried peels, until you have a fine powder. Use a small sieve to filter out any chunks that didn’t grind properly, ( you can use them later to add more flavours to the soup or broth). Put the fine powder in small airtight container until needed.

You can use this technique for any citrus that you like, specially when you make a limonade and you don’t know what to do with the peels.

Now let’s make the cake :

Make sure that the butter and the egg are at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 170C fan, grease and line the loaf tin, and set aside.

First place the lime zest and the mint leaves, in a food processor and blitz for about 2 minutes.

Add it to the butter and sugar, beat on high speed for 3-4 minutes, until light, lower the speed and add the egg, once it’s combined add the sifted flour and the baking 1/3 at a time, alternating with the cream, and mixing well in between.

The combination of lime and mint pairs perfectly together, so the best way to release all these amazing flavours in the cake is to sit the batter in the fridge overnight. ( It’s optional but makes a big difference ).

Reduce the heat to145C Fan, and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake to rest 5 minutes, then remove it from the pan. After 10 minutes pour the lime juice all over the cake using a brush. The trick is to pour the lime juice over when the cake still warm. This allows the cake to soak up all the juice and keeps the cake moist for days.

Cover it with a cling film and place it in the freezer for 30 minutes. Meanwhile combine the glaze ingredients in a small bowl and mix together until smooth, be sure that there’s no lumps.

Preheat the oven to 170C Fan. Brush the cake twice with the glaze, sprinkle with the lime powder, then place it on a wire rack, bake for 2-3 minutes just to make the glaze dry.

The thing I like about this cake is that it gets better the next day. It stays moist, vibrant and full of flavours. Give it a try, you will love every bite of it.

And, here one of my favorites citrus cakes recipes that you should try “Lemon & olive oil cake – Christophe Bacquié”, or if you want something more sophisticated, try these” two citrus & orange blossom tart”.

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Lime & Mint cake - Yann Couvreur

  • Prep time: 40 minutes
  • Cook time: 2 hours
  • Total time: 2 hours 40 minutes
  • Serves: the quantities given are to make a cake of 18cm / 8.5cm and 7cm in height. Or double them to make 4 cakes 14,5cm/7,5cm / 5cm in height.

Ingredients :

For the lime powder

  • 2 limes

For the batter :

  • 50 g unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 large egg
  • 200 g caster sugar
  • 2 g of salt
  • 2 limes, to get their zest
  • 5 g mint leaves, fresh don’t use the dried mint
  • 150 g all purpose flour, sifted
  • 2 g baking powder, sifted
  • 150 ml whipping cream, ( double liquid cream )
  • 70 ml lime juice , to soak the cake

For the glaze :

  • 50 g icing sugar, sifted
  • 20 ml lime juice

Method :

To make the lime powder:

  • 1)

    First make the lime powder :

    Preheat the oven to 70C.

    Wash and dry the limes using a clean tea towel or kitchen paper.

    Use a vegetable peeler to take the zest, and make sure to not take the white pith, it has a bitter taste and it’s not what we are looking for.

    Spread the peels evenly on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, and bake for 1 hour. Don’t try to speed up the process by drying at a higher temperature, in this case the zest will burn.

    Take the peels out of the oven, they are hard and crisp to touch. Let them cool little bit, then transfer the peels to a spice mill or a clean coffee grinder. Grind until powdery, transfer to a sieve to discard the chunks that didn’t grind properly ( you can use it later to add extra flavour to the soup or the broth). Put the fine powder in small airtight container until needed.

Make the cake :

  • 1)

    In a food processor, blitz the lime zest and mint leaves together for 2 minutes.

    Place the butter, the sugar, the salt and the blitzed lime zest and mint leaves, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium – high speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg, once completely combined, reduce the speed of the mixer to low, add the sifted flour and baking powder to the creamed mix, 1/3 at a time, alternating in batches with the cream, and mixing well in between, scraping down the sides of the bowl a few time, to make sure that all the ingredients are perfectly combined.

    Pour the batter in a pastry bag, and keep it in the fridge overnight. I realised that is the best way to release all flavours in the cake.

  • 2)

    Next day, preheat the oven to 170C Fan, grease a loaf tin and line with the baking parchment.

    Spoon the batter into the tin. Fill a pipping bag without pipping tip with 1 teaspoon of cold butter, cut off the end about 3mm, then draw a line one the middle along the length of the cake.

    Reduce the temperature of the oven to 145C Fan. Bake for 50 minutes – 1 hour, or until the cake is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake 5 minutes to cool before removing from the tin.

  • 3)

    Transfer the warm cake from the mould on to wire rack, set aside for 10 minutes. Using a brush, soak the cake with the lime juice. The trick is to pour the lime juice over when the cake still warm. This allows the cake to soak up all the juice and keeps the cake moist for days.

    Cover the cake with the cling film and place it in the freezer for 30 minutes.

  • 4)

    Meanwhile make the icing, place the sifted icing sugar and the lime juice in a bowl and whisk until smooth without any lumps.

    Spread the icing over the top, using a brush or spatula make sure that the icing cover all sides, sprinkle with the lime powder. Then place the wire rack on top of a baking tray and place the cake in a preheated oven 170C Fan, bake for 2 – 3 minutes just to make the icing dry.

  • 5)

    This cake keeps well for up to 5 days in an airtight container in the fridge, bring it to room temperature before serving it.

    In fact this cake gets better a day or two after it’s made, the icing won’t look as fresh as it does on day one but tastes absolutely fine.

     

    Enjoy !!

Nutrition

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