Lime and ginger cream cake - a good recipe after a really bad one

Possets are desserts I adore, not only because they taste delicious but also because they’re really easy to make – there’s little cooking involved and the citrus juices and the fridge do all the work.

I had an eye on a grapefruit posset for a really long time, a recipe I’d seen on Delicious Australia and after making the grapefruit bars the other day I thought a posset would be equally nice – I was wrong. :(

It was too bitter and too greasy. It did not set properly.

It was probably the first recipe from the magazine I got disappointed with – it was a bit of a shock, since I cook and bake from it regularly, always with wonderful results. I’m glad I halved the posset recipe – less food in the trash is always a good thing – but for that reason I ended up with some heavy cream left in the fridge and needed to use it quickly before it went bad.

Deborah Madison’s cream cake came to my rescue (Eat Your Books being really useful, as usual), but instead of brown sugar and ginger, I baked it with granulated sugar, ginger and added lime – the result was a delicious cake with the perfect amount of spice and citrus, and so tender it was tricky to slice it neatly (just like the Port cake I baked weeks ago).

The grapefruit posset might have been a waste of good cream, but this cake was the perfect way to use it up.

Lime and ginger cream cake
slightly adapted from Seasonal Fruit Desserts: From Orchard, Farm, and Market

105g all-purpose flour
95g cake flour – homemade: 80g all purpose flour + 15g corn starch
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
175g granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
finely grated zest of 2 limes
1 tablespoon lime juice
icing sugar, for serving

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 20cm (8in) round cake pan with a removable bottom, line the bottom with a circle of baking paper and butter the paper as well.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, ginger and salt.
Using the whisk attachment of an electric mixer, beat the eggs until foamy, then add the cream, sugar and vanilla. Beat on high speed until you have what looks like soft whipped cream. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally.
Add the lime zest, juice and the dry ingredients and beat on low speed just until incorporated and smooth. Pour into prepared pan and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 50-60 minutes. Cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then carefully remove the outer ring and let the cake cool completely. Remove the pan bottom, peel off the paper, transfer cake to a plate and dust with icing sugar.

Serves 8