Lemongrass and Lime Sorbet

I had some friends round for a meal recently and I planned a Thai/Asian themed meal. I was debating what to make for dessert when my mum suggested a lemongrass and lime sorbet. She tested the recipe and I tweaked it further to come up with this recipe. I've never made my own sorbet before and it's actually really simple. I'll definitely be making lots of sorbet especially in the summer months. I made some lime jelly to go with the sorbet and my guests were really impressed. The lemongrass flavour is subtle and you can definitely taste the lime. The sorbet was really refreshing and the jelly provided a different texture and addtional lime flavour to the dessert. 

I'm entering this to AlphaBakes which I am hosting with Caroline from Caroline Makes who hosts on alternate months. The letter this month is S for sorbet. 

I'm also sending this to Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream hosted by Kavey from Kavey Eats. This is my first time entering this challenge as I've never made ice creams or sorbets before. The theme this months is dairy free which is perfect for my sorbet recipe.

 sugar, lemongrass, limes, lime jelly and an egg white (optional) 

 boil lemongrass with sugar and water 

 making the lime jelly

 sorbet in syrup form ready to go in the freezer 

 looks like a margarita at this point

 whizz in a food processor and it looks like sorbet! 

 served with lime jelly and a slice of lime

An original recipe by bakingaddict
Makes approximately 500mls

150g caster sugar
750mls water
6 stalks lemongrass
juice and zest of 4 limes
1 egg white (optional)
1 pack of lime jelly to serve (optional)

• Cut the lemongrass in half or thirds. Use the back of a knife to bash the firm end of the lemongrass. You should get a strong lemongrass fragrance.
• Place the water, sugar and lemongrass in a pan and bring to a boil.
• Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes to allow the lemongrass flavour to infuse. 
• Zest and juice 4 limes. Keep the zest aside for now.
• After the sugar syrup has cooled, add the lime juice and stir.
• Allow to cool completely before adding the lime zest.
• Add in the egg white if using.
• Place in a container and freeze for a few hours but preferably overnight.
• Make up the lime jelly if using following the instructions on the packet. 
• Scrape the frozen mixture with a fork to loosen and place into a food processor. 
• Whizz until it's white and smooth. 
• Place it back in the same container and freeze again until set.
• Serve with lime jelly and a wedge of fresh lime. 

Key Lime Pie

This is my late entry to AlphaBakes which I am hosting so I am obviously allowing the late entry! It's been a really busy month what with going away for my birthday and moving house and being ill so I've not really had a chance to bake or blog much. I'm still living in a sea of boxes which makes it harder to bake as I don't have all my regular equipment. I had to be inventive with opening the can of condensed milk as I couldn't find my can opener. 

When I chose the letter K at the beginning of this month, J mentioned that he wanted a key lime pie. I've never made one before and was keen to make it for AlphaBakes but time ran away with me. Anyway I managed to bake this quickly earlier tonight and it looks really good! I've had a little taste (saving it for tomorrow)  and you can clearly taste the lime. I love the crunchy biscuit base and the sweetened cream adds extra indulgence whilst cutting through the rich filling. 

As mentioned this is for AlphaBakes which I am hosting this month with my co host Caroline from Caroline Makes. The letter is K for Key Lime Pie. The round up will be ready later tomorrow or Monday at the latest - apologies for the delay. 

 adding lime zest 

 baked crust 

 add the filling and bake for 15 minutes 

 looks a little plain... 

 add whipped cream and lime zest 

Recipe from BBC Good Food 

Triple Citrus Cake and Clandestine Cake Club

Last weekend I attended my first ever Clandestine Cake Club (CCC). I joined 2 London clubs for a while but never made it due to other commitments. So when I moved to my new place, I decided to see if there was one near me. In fact there were 2 nearby but one was due to meet in a few weeks so I quickly signed up. The theme was "Spring Fling" and there were 12 amazing cakes on display. The cakes were Lemon cream, coconut and lime, orange and almond, springtime on Madeira, citrus layer cake with pastel sprinkles, Lavender and Lemon, Spring bunny carrot cake, orange daffodil almond cake, violet festival cake, chocolate mini egg cake, spring flowers cake, orange and lemon layer cake with limoncello frosting. It was a very enjoyable morning of tea, cake and chat. We also got to take cake home which meant I could sample all the cakes :) I can't wait for the next cake club! 

I initially wanted to make a pastel swirl cake after watching this video on sweetapolita but I ran out of time and icing so I did a simple icing instead. I'm still getting used to my new oven and managed to burn 1 of the 3 layers in the cake which I ended up re-baking the morning of the cake club! The finished cake didn't look too bad in the end and it was edible. I made a basic sponge cake which I divided into three. I added the zest of 1 fruit and 1 tablespoon of juice to each bowl (1 orange, 1 lemon and 1 lime) I also added a little food colouring appropriate to that fruit.

 triple citrus

 orange, lime and lemon

 I couldn't find all my food colours but I think you get the idea :) 

 My freshly baked layer on top of my pre-frosted cake 

 the finished product - extremely uneven layers! Will have to try harder next time! 

Lemon, Lime and Basil Cookies

Time for something different from all the fancy cupcakes and Jubilee baking. Back to basics with fresh, simple ingredients. I saw these on Chasing Delicious and bookmarked them immediately. You have to click through to see the awesome pictures and read the beautiful post. I'm so pleased I finally got round to making these as they are delicious!! I love citrus and the addition of basil is inspired. You can really taste the freshness of the citrus and the smell and taste of the basil is lovely. Everyone really enjoyed this at work and I had a few requests for the recipe. 

I made very minor modifications to the recipe as it's such a good one. I decided to add in some lemon and lime juice for extra citrus zing! The batter was not too liquid but required a few extra minutes of cooking time. I also used plain flour as I didn't have bread flour as specified in the original recipe and it worked fine. 

I'm entering this to multiple challenges as I am a bakingaddict and a challenge-addict. Plus I love killing many birds with one stone (no animals were harmed in the making of these!)

First up I am going to enter this to Simple and in Season as basil is currently in season as are lemons. Simple and in Season is run by Ren from Fabulicious Food and hosted this month by Urvashi from The Botanical Baker. 

Next I am entering this to Herbs on a Saturday hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage.

As this recipe uses fresh ingredients I'm also entering it to Made with love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior's Cookin' w/ Luv where the idea is to make foods from scratch. 

I am also entering it to Bookmarked Recipes hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes as I've had this recipe bookmarked for ages! 

Finally I am entering it to One Ingredient Challenge where the theme is Lemons. This is a monthly family friendly cooking challenge hosted by Laura from How to Cook Good Food and Nazima from Working London Mummy.

 my lovely fresh ingredients - basil, lime and lemon

 adding chopped basil to the batter 

 lovely cookie dough

 

 How many would you like? :) 

Recipe adapted from Chasing Delicious - published with kind permission from the author

Makes approximately 24 cookies of the size shown

(My modifications are highlighted in blue)

113g butter, at room temperature
170g caster sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest from 1 lemon
Zest from 1 lime
2 tablespoons basil leaves, finely chopped
200g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Optional:
2 tablespoons lemon juice 

1 tablespoon lime juice 
Note - if adding juice, the cookies need to be cooked for a few minutes longer

• Preheat an oven to 190°C. 
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Cream the sugar and butter together until it is light and fluffy.
• Add the egg, vanilla, zests and basil and mix in well.
• Add in the lemon and lime juice if using.
• Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt. 
• Mix well.
• Spoon the dough onto the lined baking sheets. I used an ice-cream scoop. 
• Bake in a preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes - you may need 15 minutes with the addition of the juice. 
• Allow to cool for a couple minutes before removing from the baking sheet.

Save the Children Name A Day Campaign : Kiwi and Lime Bundt Cake

This is a slightly different post to normal. Yes there is still cake involved but I'd like to take the time to talk about an important issue. Cake and hunger are not two words you would normally put together but this is how I can make a difference by raising awareness and spreading the word through what I can do - baking.

Did you know that in a world with food enough for everybody, 300 children die of malnutrition every hour of every single day? 

This month's Pink Whisk Challenge is dedicated to Save the Children and the Hidden Hunger Campaign. Ruth says "I would love for you to donate a recipe. The theme for the challenge is ‘Family Favourites’, recipes you enjoy making and that you love to share, there’s nothing more to it than that – it doesn’t even have to be baking (I hope you realise how much that hurt me to write!)  All recipes gathered for the challenge will be collated and published in a Save the Children e-book which will be sold to raise awareness and funds for the campaign."

Read about Ruth's firsthand experience in Rwanda here and here.

Save the children asks that you name a day to beat hunger. They want the Prime Minister to host a world hunger summit aimed at making the global food system work for the millions of children going hungry.
All you have to do is name a day and when your day comes round, they’ll ask you to take one of five simple actions – from sending a tweet to cooking a meal – to help spread the word about this devastating crisis. I've named my day. Will you? 

This cake is not strictly a family favourite (but I'm sure it will be!) as I wanted to create my own recipe for this challenge.  My dad used to study in New Zealand which made me think of kiwis.  It's not a fruit I've ever baked with before so I thought it would be a good challenge.  It's very similar to my lemon and raspberry cake which worked well so I decided to modify it for this. I love making smoothies with lime, kiwi and honey so I thought why not make it into a cake? 

I tried to blitz the whole lime but it didn't work out so I used lime juice and lime zest instead.  There's whole kiwi fruit and pureed kiwi fruit in the batter.  It's quite a dense, moist sponge with the freshness of the fruit and the citrus tang from the limes. It was delicious with the glaze but you can have it plain if you prefer.   

 adding kiwi to the batter - I forgot to coat the kiwis in flour first so they sank to the bottom, well top as this was a bundt cake :( 

 I also added some kiwi puree

 thought it was a good time to use my new bundt tin

 love the heart shapes :) 

 add glaze... 

 delicious! you can see the kiwis at the top of the cake! 

An original recipe by me, bakingaddict

Makes 1 small bundt cake as shown

For the cake

150g yoghurt

140g caster sugar

40g honey

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

180g self raising flour

Juice and zest of 2 limes

4 kiwi fruit - peeled and chopped into 1/8

1 kiwi fruit - peeled and pureed

For the glaze

50g icing sugar

1-2 tablespoon lime juice 

• Preheat the oven to 180C
• Butter and flour your bundt pan or line normal cake tin with greaseproof paper. 
• In a large bowl, mix together the yoghurt, sugar, honey, eggs, vanilla extract and oil. 
• Add in the lime juice and zest. 
• Stir in the flour and mix well.
• Coat the chopped kiwi fruit in 1-2 tablespoons of flour then add to the batter. 
• Puree 1 kiwi fruit and stir into the batter. 
• Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow to cool on a wire rack.
• To make the glaze, sift the icing sugar into a bowl. 
• Add enough lime juice to make a glaze of dripping consistency. 

Flourless Chocolate and Lime cake with salted chocolate and lime ganache

The special ingredient for this month's we should cocoa challenge is lime and immediately I thought of a lime and chocolate cake from Nigella that a colleague had baked previously which was absolutely delicious. My second thought was lime and chocolate cookies which I've never tried but thought would be interesting. 

The main inspiration for this month's theme is from one of my favourite chocolate shops in London - Montezuma.  They have a flavour called Sea Dog which is dark chocolate with lime and sea salt. By the way they have the best butterscotch chocolate ever, even better than Green & Black's which was previously my favourite. 

Anyway back to the cake. The night I made my cake was the day my colleague found out he's passed his MRCP exams.  It's a professional exam for doctors which is incredibly difficult and requires knowledge, skills, hard work and dedication.  Definitely worthy of a celebratory cake. 

I used Nigella's recipe for the lime and chocolate cake.  I then made a chocolate ganache with the Sea Dog chocolate as I needed something to cover up the holes in my cake and also to be able to write a message. 

The end result is a rich, soft cake with the tangy taste of lime.  The cake also smells amazing!  You can barely taste the salt but that could be because I didn't quite have 150g of the Sea Dog chocolate and had to use some plain chocolate as well. I might try adding 1/4 teaspoon sea salt next time. 

 Beat eggs and sugars 

 add cocoa powder &ground almond mixture

 adding lime zest and juice 

 the top cracked as I removed it from the oven 

 that's what ganache is for :) 

 My fav glitter icing 

CONGRATULATIONS DR MURRAY!! 

For the cake

150g dark chocolate, chopped

150g unsalted butter

6 eggs

250g caster sugar

100g ground almonds

4 teaspoon cocoa powder

zest and juice of 1 lime

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and set aside. 
• Beat the eggs and sugar using an electric mixer until about tripled in volume, pale and moussy. 
• Mix the ground almonds with the cocoa powder and fold gently into the egg and sugar mixture, followed by slightly cooled chocolate mixture. 
• Finally, fold in zest and juice of 1 lime.
• Pour mixture into prepared cake tin and bake in the preheated oven for about 40-45 minutes. 

Dark chocolate, lime and sea salt ganache

150g "Sea Dog" chocolate

140ml sour cream

60 icing sugar

zest of 1 lime

juice of 1/2 lime 

• Put all the ingredients into a bowl and melt over a pan of simmering water. 
• Allow to melt but don't let it get too hot.
• Remove from heat and stir vigorously until you have a smooth, glossy mixture.
• Spread over cake with a palette knife and decorate as desired.