Cream, orange and lime cake and how I got to my latest TV obsession

I’ve been tormenting you about The Killing for many posts but I haven’t told you how I got to the show – it was because of Robocop.

I was interested in the movie for a number of reasons: José Padilha directed it, the original is a favorite of mine and also because of the amazing cast. However, I knew nothing about the leading actor – I’d seen Joel Kinnaman for seconds in Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and that was it. I liked Robocop a lot and after watching the movie I began reading about it – I got to Kinnaman, then to The Killing, and when my friend Neyara told me I would certainly love the series I gave it a go, only to become addicted by the end of the first episode and devour season after season (but you already know that). ;)

Moderation doesn’t seem to be something I’m familiar with when it comes to TV series or movies, and apparently I lack it in the kitchen, too: I’d bought heavy creamt to make the chocolate ice cream in popsicle form again – my husband can’t get enough of it – but I lost track of the amount of cream and all of a sudden there was a tub in the fridge about to go bad. I couldn’t let that happen, so I adapted a cake recipe I’d seen on Delicious made with clotted cream and that turned out to be a very smart – and flavorsome – move. ;)

Cream, orange and lime cake
slightly adapted from the great Delicious magazine UK

Cake:
4 large eggs
450g granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream
finely grated zest of 2 oranges
finely grated zest of 3 limes
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
400g all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
generous pinch of table salt

Drizzle:
juice of the limes and the oranges zest for the cake
8 tablespoons granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter two 900g/2lb-loaf pans, line them with baking paper and butter the paper as well.
With an electric mixer, whisk the eggs and sugar for 3-5 minutes until pale, thick and nearly double in size. Gently beat in the cream with the zests and vanilla until smooth, sift the flour, baking powder and salt over the mixture and fold in gently. Divide the batter between the prepared pans and bake for about 1 hour until a skewer pushed into the middle comes out clean. (Cover the cake with foil if it’s browning too quickly, but not before the 30 minute mark or the cake might sink.)
Towards the end of the cooking time, make the drizzle: put all the juices in a small saucepan and heat gently until the mixture bubbles. Leave to cool for 2 minutes, then add the sugar.
As soon as the cakes are cooked, remove from the oven and pierce them all over with a metal skewer. Gradually pour over the hot drizzle, letting it sink before adding more. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then carefully unmold onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 2 loaves, each serving 6-8