Thursday, May 31, 2012

Publication Cake

At Andy's new job, his bosses have a tradition of celebrating all publications with cake. They buy fancy cake from a bakery somewhere, but the principle of the idea is a good one, I think. So last week when a paper of mine was published online, I decided to replicate the practice with some cake of my own.

We had an excess of limes, so I decided to make a lime syrup cake. For the cake part, I adapted a recipe from Joy of Vegan Baking. For the syrup, I searched the internet. Here is what I came up with.

Cake:
2 c. plain flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. bicarb soda
zest of 2 limes
egg replacer equivalent to two eggs
1/3 c. lime juice
3/4 c. maple syrup
1/2 c. sunflower oil
1/2 c. coconut milk

Heat oven to 180 (350F) and lightly oil a deep, round pan. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk up the egg replacers (powdered kinds work best here) until they are frothy - plan on whisking by hand for 2 or 3 minutes, or use electric beaters for a minute or two. Add the rest of the liquid ingredients, and whisk again for another 2 or 3 minutes. Pour these wet ingredients into the dry, whisk for a minute or so until combined, pour into the pan and stick it in the oven. Mine took about an hour, but check after 45 minutes - the baking time will depend on your pan size, and how deep your batter is. It should get golden around the edges and a skewer should come out clean when stuck into the centre.

As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, prepare the lime syrup:
1/3 c. water
3 Tbsp. sugar
juice of 1 lime

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Bring it up to a boil, let it boil for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to simmer. Add the lime juice, stir and simmer for another 3 minutes. While the syrup is still hot, pour it over the hot cake. Cool the cake fully.

At this point I topped my cake with toasted coconut, which was a bit of a mistake I think. The lime flavour was delicate and lovely, but was overpowered a weensy bit by the toasty coconut.

6 comments:

Kari said...

Congratulations on the paper! Wonderful news :) I love the idea of having cake to celebrate and may just adopt that tradition myself...this cake looks fantastic too and I like the idea of having lime syrup instead of the more common lemon.

radioactivegan said...

Congratulations!!! I like the way you celebrate :)

Mel said...

Congrats on the paper! This does sounds like a great way to celebrate. I love the sound of this cake as citrus flavours are so appealing to me. I adore limes yet don't have many sweet recipes featuring them so I'll have to try this cake one day!

Hannah said...

Congratulations on the article! Dr Theresa, taking over the Internet one article at a time...

Lovlie said...

Congratulations for the publication! And that cake looks gorgeous! Lime syrup,hmmm! :)

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