Description
Tender cake infused with aromatic and citrusy lemongrass. Paired with a tangy key lime frosting, this cake is divine.
Ingredients
Lemongrass Milk:
1 cup (237 ml) milk
2 stalks lemongrass
Lemongrass Cake:
1 1/2 cups (225 g) all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup (158 ml) lemongrass milk (recipe below)
2 tablespoons lemongrass paste *
Key Lime Frosting:
1/2 cup (113 g) salted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon key lime zest
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
8 ounces (227 g) icing sugar
2 tablespoons key lime juice
1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
Lemongrass Milk:
Cut lemongrass into 1/4" slices. Put into small saucepan with milk. Bring just almost to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for four minutes. As soon as milk heats begin to stir frequently to prevent milk from burning. Remove saucepan from heat and steep for 10 minutes. Strain milk into a measuring cup. Top up with more milk if needed to have 2/3 cup lemongrass milk. Discard lemongrass.
Lemongrass Cake:
Grease two 6" cake pans with butter. Cover the bottom with a cut out circle of parchment paper and flour the sides. Preheat oven to 350.°
In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In stand mixer with a paddle attachment (this recipe can also be made by hand), cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high for about 3 minutes until pale and fluffy.
Reduce speed and mix in eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla. Next, alternate additions of dry ingredients and lemongrass milk (dry-milk-dry-milk-dry). Be sure everything is well incorporated between each addition. Finally, mix in the lemongrass paste.
Pour batter evenly into the prepared cake pans. Weigh with a scale for most accurate evenness. Bake for approx. 35 minutes, checking doneness by inserting toothpick in center. It should come out almost clean. Be careful not to over bake as you would lose some of the lemongrass flavour. Cool cakes in pans for 10 minutes, then cool the rest of the way on wire rack. Make sure to cool completely before decorating.
Key Lime Frosting:
In stand mixer with paddle attachment on medium speed, mix butter, zest, and vanilla together until creamy. Add 1/3 of icing sugar. Add 1 tbsp lime juice. Add 1/3 icing sugar. Add 1 tbsp lime juice. Add final 1/3 icing sugar. Add 1 tbsp milk (you can add more milk to adjust consistency if desired). This frosting recipe makes enough for a fairly thin layer on this cake. If you like lots of frosting, I recommend doubling it.
Notes
* I used store bought lemongrass paste for this recipe. However, you could make your own by puréeing 2 1/2 stalks of lemongrass (peeled, ends discarded & sliced) with 2 tbsp olive oil and 1/4 tsp salt in a blender or food processor. Blend them until you get a fairly smooth texture, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed. This should make about 1/4 cup of paste.
Buttercream Flowers information:
Colours: green (moss green + touch of brown), white (tiny bit of violet to cancel yellows of butter), yellow (golden yellow).
Tips: PME 58R for flowers. Wilton 70 for leaves.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 453
- Sugar: 43.7 g
- Sodium: 369.8 mg
- Fat: 19.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 59.2 g
- Protein: 4.3 g
- Cholesterol: 86.5 mg
Keywords: lemongrass cake