Michelle Darmody: How to make a lime traybake to feed a dozen people

This is a nice fruity bake that can be prepared in advance and cut before serving.

Traybakes are a real failsafe for family gatherings or birthday parties.

You can cut the slices to whatever size suits your guests. They are also great for feeding hungry mouths at sporting events or at picnics.

This is a nice fruity bake that can be prepared in advance and cut before serving.

Lime juice not only adds a sharp citrus taste to baking, it also adds to the moistness of a cake.

Like yogurt, as the heat of the oven bakes the batter the acidic property of lime juice helps the raising agent to begin its important job of adding air bubbles.

The reaction helps to make a fluffier, lighter cake packed with flavour.

Using the zest of citrus fruit adds an intensity of flavour that is difficult to replicate with juice alone.

When you are zesting you are releasing all the natural oils contained in the skin of the fruit. It is worth trying to source unwaxed limes.

If this is not possible you can place your limes in some warm water and quite vigorously dry them with a clean towel to remove the layer of wax that most farmers and importers add to the skins.

The wax is mainly used for keeping up appearances, so that the fruit look bright on our shop shelves.

It also benefits the importers as it seals the moisture into the fruit on their long journey across the ocean.

Lime Traybake

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

Traybakes are a real failsafe for family gatherings or birthday parties

Servings

12

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 55 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 15 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 250g self-raising flour

• 35g ground almonds

• 225g soft butter

• 200g golden caster sugar

• 4 eggs

• zest 2 limes

• juice 1 lime

• For the icing:

• 110g soft butter

• 220g cream cheese

• 300g icing sugar

• zest 2 limes

• juice ½ lime

Method

1. Line a shallow 8-inch square cake tin with parchment.

2. Preheat your oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.

3. Sieve the flour, stir in the ground almonds and set aside.

4. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

5. Slowly add the eggs until combined

6. Add the flour mixture and lime zest.

7. Slowly stir in the lime juice to loosen the mixture, about two tablespoons should work.

8. Scoop the batter into your prepared tin and smooth the top with the back of a spoon.

9. Place the tin in the centre of your oven and bake for 55 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

10. Allow the cake to cool in the tin until it is cool enough to handle, then remove it and place it on a wire rack to cool completely.

11. Whisk all the ingredients for the icing except the lime juice until smooth.

12. Add the juice a few drops at a time until the icing is spreadable.

13. Spread the icing on to the cooled cake and slice into whatever size square you would like.

Baker's Tips

I use a shallow tin to make this tray bake but if you do not have one, a loose-bottomed tin of the same size will do.

When zesting, it is important to only take the top, colourful layer from your fruit. If you zest too much and get to the white layer, the pith, it will add a bitter taste to the cake.

When adding the lime juice, you just need enough so that the batter mixture softens enough so it drops easily from a spoon.

Keep an eye on the cake towards the end of baking and if it looks like the top is beginning to burn, you can cover it in tin foil for the final 10 or so minutes.

It is best to use full-fat cream cheese as the lower-fat options do not whisk well. Also, for optimum results, use room-temperature cream cheese and butter.

If your cream cheese icing becomes too thin, you can put it into the fridge to firm up, or you can add a little more cream cheese and continue to whisk air into the mixture.

When making the icing, start your mixer or hand whisk slowly. Incorporate the butter and sugar before adding speed otherwise the icing sugar will billow up.

When portioning your cake, gently draw all the lines in the icing with a long breadknife before cutting through to the base.

The cake will keep well in the fridge for about three days and is best brought to room temperature before serving.

The cake also freezes well without the icing. Defrost at room temperature before spreading the icing on top.

Big juicy limes are now almost as common as lemons. If you’re not a fan, you can use other citrus fruit.

Three delicious variations

Raspberry and lime traybake

Dot the top of the traybake with 200g of fresh or frozen raspberries before putting it into the oven. The raspberries are very nice with the lime and look so pretty you may not want to ice the cake.

Chocolate and lime tray bake

Use a chocolate ganache instead of the cream cheese to top this bake. You can also add 100g of dark chocolate chips to the batter before scooping it into your tray. To make the ganache, heat 300ml cream until shivering on top, then take it off the heat and stir in 300g of dark chocolate drops. Allow to come to room temperature before spreading over your cooled cake.

Passion fruit tray bake

To make a passion fruit version, add the zest of an orange and juice of about half an orange to the sponge. Top with passionfruit cream cheese icing which is made by replacing the lime zest and juice with 1 tablespoon of sieved passionfruit pulp.