West African Lime Cake
London, United Kingdom · Voir toutes les recettes
Aperçu
This is a plain butter cake flavoured with lime juice and finished with chopped peanuts, presented in the source as West African. No country is named and the recipe carries no regional technique or ingredient beyond the lime and the peanut garnish. That is worth saying plainly. Limes grow across West Africa and are used constantly, and peanuts are one of the region's defining crops, so neither ingredient is out of place. But a creamed butter and sugar sponge baked in a square tin is a European baking format, and nothing in the method points to a specific West African tradition or dish name. Where the region's own baking is concerned there are named dishes with documented histories: Ghanaian sugar bread, Nigerian agege bread, chin chin, puff puff, kuli kuli. This is not one of them. It is a simple cake, it is very easy, and the source notes that children can make it with supervision, which is fair. It is left in the African collection because the ingredients point that way, with no country attributed and a flag for a decision.
Ingrédients
Les mentions alimentaires sont fournies par les contributeurs à titre indicatif. Elles ne sont pas vérifiées par AFN et dépendent des produits que vous achetez. En cas d’allergie grave, vérifiez vous-même chaque ingrédient. Cuisine, allergies et votre propre jugement
Préparation
- 1
Preheat the oven to 150°C. Grease and flour an 8x8 inch baking dish.
- 2
Beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- 3
Beat in the eggs and lime juice.
- 4
Stir the flour and baking powder into the butter mixture until combined.
- 5
Pour the batter into the prepared dish.
- 6
Bake until browned and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
- 7
Garnish with chopped peanuts.
Notes de l’Africook
Notes personnelles de Nympha Nzeribe- Cream the butter and sugar for the full three minutes. That aeration is the only lift the cake gets besides the baking powder.
- Use the zest as well as the juice if you want more lime. Almost all the aroma is in the zest and the juice alone gives a mild result.
- 150°C is a low oven for a cake this size, so check at 25 minutes and expect it to need longer if your tin is deep.
- Two and a half tablespoons of butter is very little fat for this quantity of flour, so expect a plain, dry-ish crumb rather than a rich one.
- The peanut garnish carries an allergen. Leave it off, or use toasted coconut instead.
- A lime glaze of juice and icing sugar spooned over while warm lifts it considerably.
Questions fréquentes
Is this a traditional West African cake?
The source calls it West African and names no country, and nothing in the method points to a specific tradition or dish name. Limes and peanuts are both genuinely West African, but a creamed butter sponge in a square tin is a European baking format. It is flagged for a decision rather than presented as traditional.
What are the named West African baked goods?
Several, with documented histories: Ghanaian sugar bread, Nigerian agege bread, chin chin, puff puff, kuli kuli and bofrot among them. Each has its own name, technique and regional identity. This lime cake is not one of them, which is why no heritage claim is made for it.
Why does it use such a low oven?
150°C is low for a cake of this size and will give a slow, even bake with little colour. It is what the source specifies. If yours is still wet at 25 minutes, that is why: check with a skewer and give it longer rather than raising the temperature partway through.
Can I make it richer?
Yes. Two and a half tablespoons of butter is very little for a cup of sugar and a cup and a half of flour, so the crumb is plain and fairly dry. Doubling the butter, adding the lime zest, and spooning over a lime and icing sugar glaze while warm all improve it considerably.
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