Fresh Lime Chiffon Cake

It's just so nice of everyone to keep having birthdays! I made this a few week's ago for a girls' night birthday party at my house. Lime is such a mouthwatering flavor, but I had no idea it could be this good in a cake.

I'd never made a chiffon cake before, but it was how it sounds - in texture, about halfway between angel food and regular white cake. In flavor, whatever you make it. In this case, DELICIOUS!

It was an occasion to buy 8-inch round pans. I only had 9-inch, and I'm sure they would have been fine, just cut down the cooking time, but I wanted to do it by the book, so I got 8-inch. They cooked up light and golden, and then came my favorite part - assembly! The filling is so simple and so perfect - lime juice, lime zest, sweetened condensed milk. What more could you want? Except maybe an icing of Cool Whip, sugar and more lime juice. Talk about a summery treat!

And since there are three components to this cake - the cake, filling and frosting, each requiring lime juice, I added it all up so I could get all the juicing done at once. This recipe calls for a TOTAL of 11 T of lime juice, or 2/3 cup. It took about 3 1/2 limes for me. You also need a TOTAL of 2 tsp lime rind (about 2 limes.)

Fresh Lime Chiffon Cake

Filling:
1 tsp finely grated lime rind
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

Cake:
cooking spray
1 T cake flour
2 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
7 T canola oil
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
3 T water
1 tsp finely grated lime rind
1 tsp pure lemon extract
3 egg yolks
8 egg whites
1 tsp cream of tartar

Frosting:
3 T sugar
2 T lime juice
2 1/2 cups fat-free whipped topping, thawed
Fresh mint springs, blueberries, lime wedges, etc. (optional), for garnish

1. Prepare filling: Combine lime rind, lime juice and sweetened condensed milk in a small bowl, stirring until blended. Cover and chill 3 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 325. Coat bottoms of three 8-inch round cake pans with cooking spray; line bottoms with wax paper. Coat wax paper with cooking spray; dust with 1 T flour.

3. Place egg whites in large mixer bowl; beat with mixer at high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar; beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar, 1 T at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Pour into another bowl to hold until needed.

4. In the same mixer bowl, combine 2 cups cake flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk until combined.

5. In a medium bowl, combine oil, lime juice, water, rind, lemon extract, and egg yolks in medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add oil mixture to flour mixture; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth.

6. Gently stir in one-fourth of egg white mixture into cake batter; gently fold in remaining egg white mixture. Divide cake batter evenly among prepared pans, spreading evenly. Break air pockets by cutting through batter with a knife. Bake 20 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove from pans. Remove wax paper. Cool completely on wire racks.

7. To prepare frosting, combine 3 T sugar and 2 T lime juice in a small glass bowl. Microwave on high for 20 seconds at a time until sugar dissolves. Cool completely. Fold into whipped topping.

8. Assemble cake! Place 1 layer on cake plate. Spread with half of filling. Place second layer on top; top with remaining filling. Place third layer on top.Spread frosting over top and sides. Garnish, slice and serve. Can be stored covered in refrigerator up to 3 days.


Recipe from Cooking Light, June 2006