One of my favorite morning memories is a grande cafe americano with a lemon scone and a good book. The lemon scone has a sweetness that is perfectly balanced by the coffee and has never been matched by any other coffee shop. But when I saw the Peruvian lime cake by Astrid, one of the top pastry chefs in Peru (she being German, married to a Peruvian) I knew I just had to try it. And since everyone seems to be swept by the citrus fever, I couldn’t be left out!
The cake is not a match for the lemon scone but I did enjoy the taste quite a bit. It could have been lime-ier (next time, add more) and more tender (next time, stir less). The part that fascinated me the most with the “glace” topping. I have seen it on a variety of pastries but never knew how to make it and still haven’t a clue what it might be called in English (or am I missing the obvious?).
Queque de Limon
Adapted from Nuestros Grandes Chefs
by Astrid Gutsche
10 servings
1 tablespoon (packed) of fresh grated lime peel
4 eggs
1 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/3 cup of cream
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 cup of butter, melted and cooled
100 grams of glace (recipe to follow)
1/2 teaspoon of fresh grated lime peel
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Beat the eggs with the sugar until the mixture doubles in size. Add the lime peel and vanilla and cream. Fold in the flour and baking powder. Add the melted butter in a slow stream. Pour into a loaf pan, coated with cooking spray.
2. Bake at 350F for one hour. Remove from the oven, unmold and allow it to cool on a cooling rack. To make the iced topping, stir together the glace and the lime peel and spread it over the loaf.
Glace
Adapted from Nuestros Grandes Chefs
by Astrid Gutsche
Makes 250 grams
1 egg white
200 grams of powdered sugar
drops of lime juice
1. Mix the egg white with the powdered sugar and lime juice until it reaches a smooth consistency.
2. Spread over cooled cakes.
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Queque de Limon is being served up for Sugar High Friday – Citrus, hosted by Helen from Tartelette. created by Jennifer from the Domestic Goddess.
That is just beautiful. I don’t use lime often enough, I really need to make this cake!
I kid you not, I made a Key Lime Pound Cake today too. Mine was in a tube pan though. Yours looks fantastic!! Looks very similar to the Lemon Pound Cake at Starbucks that Jaos loves so much.
What a coincidence! I have a ton of leftover lime zest in the freezer from a lime experiment yesterday, and I was wondering what to do it and happened upon your blog.. now I know! Thanks–will try this soon
That looks like a wonderful cake! I especially like that glace. Did you beat the egg white at all or just stir it into the sugar?
I use limes all the time in savory dishes, but I never think to use them in sweets.
Looks absolutely gorgeous. What a great entry.
I’ve an award for you on my blog:
http://culinarytravelsofakitchengoddess.wordpress.com/2008/05/25/thank-you/
Yum! I am a sucker for anything with citrus in it, andthis looks soooooooooooo good. BTW, the icing is called royal icing.
This looks absolutely delicious. I fell in love with limes four years ago when I went to India and I got fresh lime-aid every day. The limes they used were different to the ones we get here (more like key limes).
Will have to put this one on my “to bake” list.
j
So very beautiful and lime – I just know it’s oh so very good.
I think glace will work just fine in English.
Oh so much truth in ’stir less’.
Looks good! I like the sound of a lime cake.
I don’t know why I haven’t made a lime cake before, I should after seeing this!
Beautiful! I love the pics…
this sounds so delicious.
lovely cake Gretchen!
How lovely! Now I’m craving cake all over again.
That cake looks delicious! I love the taste of limes and anything citrusy…
Cheers,
Rosa
That cake looks delicious! I love the taste of limes and anything citrusy…
Cheers,
Rosa
That cake looks delicious! I love the taste of limes and anything citrusy…
Cheers,
Rosa
That cake looks delicious! I love the taste of limes and anything citrusy…
Cheers,
Rosa
DELICIOUS! I want this at my next grill out! Thanks for the recipe!
I love this idea – I’ll bet it is delicious! Those slices look wonderful!
mmm…yum. i bet that was good!! hey–is astrid owner of the “astrid&gaston” restaurants? just asking because it’s an unusual name and the restaurants are peruvian. went to the one in santiago a couple months ago…it was great and dessert was awesome!
Bookmarked! Now I know what to do with my (endless) lemons. The icing looks awesome.
Steph – one in the same…one in the same! I have a series of 10 cookbooks from Gaston, I respect what he has done for Peruvian cooking. Astrid is his wife and puts more of her effort into the pastry side of things. Astrid & Gaston has gone into a few other countries now. So glad to hear that you ate there and enjoyed it!
I was going to call it a “glaze” in English – but what do I know!! This has my mouth watering – it sounds delicious!
What a great cake! I love how it looks and sounds! Thank you for participating in this month edition of SHF!
Tartelette
looks just like one of my favorite things from starbucks… the glaze is what makes it good
Gretchen I had to come see your entry it looked so good. Especially since I am drinking my morning coffee, wanting a slice. Great entry and photos, enjoyed.
Wouldn’t I love to have a slice of this beauty right now!
yum, looks really delicious!
Oh, yum. I just added this to my “to make” file. At the rate that I’m going today, I’m going to be dreaming of limes tonight.
That is simple royal icing. A classic that has fallen out of favor in the US due to the raw eggs. Royal icing would just use lemon juice instead of lime.