Lime Madeira Cake

Having the girls around for afternoon tea means cooking a sweet treat! This time I wanted to use my limes. We have a few left still and once they are gone my mum will most likely keep us in supply until hers run out too! Last year we juiced quite a few of them and we still have the ice blocks in the freezer, so this year I wanted to actually use the limes.

I first thought that I would recreate the lime curd tart that I made for mother's day, but decided it would be too fiddly to make. I then thought about making a lime chiffon cake but discarded that on the basis of having to buy a new tin. So back to basics and I pulled out a the recipe for a Madeira cake from the Sweet Foods cookbook. I have modified to my quirks and also to use the lime.

The cake was nice and light, although I thought it a little bit dry.

180g unsalted butter, softened
185g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
3 eggs
165g (1 1/3 cups) self-raising flour, sifted
2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest
1 teaspoon lime zest
2 teaspoons caster sugar, extra, to sprinkle
icing sugar, to dust

Preheat the oven to 160C (150C fan forced). Grease and flour a deep 20cm round cake tin, shaking out any excess.

Cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well to combine after each addition.

Fold in the flour, lime zest and juice until well combined.

When smooth, pour into the tin and level the surface. Sprinkle the exra caster sugar over the top.

Bake for fifty minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake.

Allow to cool for 15 minutes in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack.

To serve, dust with icing sugar.

Notes
- The recipe suggests that to serve you also garnish with zest.
- The recipe says to cook for an hour. I cooked the cake for 50 minutes before I checked it and the skewer came out clean. I left it in for an extra five minutes just because and then removed it. I am thinking now that could explain why it was dry!