Pink lime cake with cream cheese frosting

I've been longing to try this cake for some time, after seeing it on Linda Lomelino's blog last year. It's just so beautiful (her photographs are always stunning as well), and looks so yummy. So there was a birthday coming up, and I seized the opportunity to try it out. The cake is baked in quite a small tin, making it really tall and slim, which I thought was quite exciting. Decorating with real flowers is something I haven't tried before, but this went down very well with the guests, and was no trouble doing! All in all a very fun cake, that I'd happily do again. Who's birthday is it next?

The recipe is as follows:

Pink lime cake

Time: About 2 hours incl icing

Oven: 175C/Gas mark 6/350F

Tin: 15cm/6in

Ingredients

For the cake

3 large eggs

240g caster sugar

1 dl milk

180g flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Zest of 1 lime

Pink food colouring

Heat oven to 175°C (350F). Butter a 15 cm cake pan and layer the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper (the paper around the edges should be taller than the pan itself). Beat eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Heat milk and vanilla slightly in a saucepan and carefully mix with egg mixture. In another bowl, mix flour and baking powder and sift into bowl with wet ingredients. Add lime zest and pink food colouring if desired and stir until combined. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake 50-55 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

For the icing

100g butter

300g Philadelphia Cream cheese

150g icing sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat butter until light and fluffy. Add cream cheese and beat until combined. Add remaining ingredients and whip until smooth.

If frosting is too loose, put the bowl in the fridge for a while.

Decoration

Fresh roses (Pesticide-free and washed)

Cake assembly

Divide the cake into 3 parts. Put the top third on a serving tray, and spread a generous dollop of cream cheese frosting over it, covering out until the edges. Do the same to the other layers, finishing with the bottom part, which goes upside down to form a flat top. Cover the whole cake with frosting. Set in the fridge to cool.

Decorate with fresh roses. (I wrapped mine with greaseproof paper before inserting them into the cake.)

That's it!



Finally, and most importantly, make sure the dog does not get hold of the cake