Caipirinha drizzle cake

It’s been a lot of fun following Nigella’s comments about her Brazilian trip: for what she’s written she really had a lovely time around here. Apparently one of Nigella's favorite Brazilian treats was the coxinha, described perfectly by her as a sort of chicken croquette – she’s made coxinhas in her kitchen and posted the recipe on her website – along with the caipirinha, the latter being something I can totally relate. :D

Since too many caipirinhas can cause some damage having them in cake form is a good idea – here, I’ve adapted Lily Vanily’s margarita drizzle cake and the result pleased everyone.

Caipirinha drizzle cake
adapted from the delicious Lily Vanilli's Sweet Tooth: Recipes and Tips from a Modern Artisan Bakery (I bought mine here)

Cake:
225g all purpose flour
½ tablespoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon table salt
60g unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
finely grated zest of 2 limes
2 large eggs
150ml whole milk, room temperature

Syrup:
¼ cup (60ml) water
90g granulated sugar
¼ cup (60ml) cachaça
¼ cup (60ml) lime juice

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 20cm (8in) round cake pan, line the bottom with baking paper and butter the paper as well.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla followed by the lime zest briefly. Add the eggs, one at a time, and scrape the sides of the bowl. In low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients, then the milk, then the remaining dry ingredients. Scrape the sides of the bowl then beat all together for 1 minute.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden and risen and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 20 minutes, then carefully unmold, remove the paper and place it top side up onto the rack.
During those 20 minutes, make the syrup: heat water, sugar, half the cachaça and lime juice in a small saucepan over high heat, stirring constantly, for about 6 minutes, or until you get a thickened syrup that is starting to color. Remove from the heat, add the remaining cachaça, then boil for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and cool for 5 minutes.
Prick the cake all over with a toothpick than generously brush it all over with the syrup. Cool completely before serving.

Serves 8

Caipirinha truffles

The sweet and lovely Emiline is hosting her first food event: St. Paddy's Day Pub Crawl!!
I’m not Irish like her, but I do have my share of Italian/German/Portuguese blood and I like some alcohol sometimes. :)



It took me a while to decide what to prepare for the event (today is the deadline to take part in it) because I wanted something with a Brazilian feel. Finally, I went for these caipirinha truffles (the ones I had previously in mind when I made these).

I think the truffles are OK, but not as good as I expected. The cachaça flavor was strong and I think some lime juice would have worked well to replace part of the liquor.

Emiline, I hope you like my Brazilian booze recipe!

Caipirinha truffles
loosely adapted from here

400g white chocolate, finely chopped
grated zest of 1 lime
¼ heaping cup (70ml) cream*
3 tablespoons cachaça
cocoa powder, enough to cover the truffles

Combine chocolate, zest and cream in a heatproof bowl; place it over a saucepan of gently simmering water.

Stir until chocolate is melted. Remove from heat, add the cachaça and mix vigorously until mixture is silky and smooth. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until firm enough to form balls.

Scoop out rounded teaspoons of the mixture (while it’s still cold and firm) and form balls – you don’t want your truffles to be perfectly rounded. Roll the truffles in cocoa powder and place in small fluted paper cases or on a plate. Keep refrigerated.

* Once again, I used a type of cream we have here that is packaged in small Tetra Pak boxes; it contains 25% fat. I did it to avoid wasting an almost full jar of heavy cream.

Makes 35 truffles