Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Recipe: Raspberry limoncello cake

  • Pin It
I know, I know, I said I was all about the vegetables from now on. Don't worry, I am. I made this last week. It's just that I'm only getting around to writing about it today.

This is a variation on the limoncello cake I wrote about last week in my LA Cooking Examiner column. It's made with that delicious Ventura Limoncello, a syrupy sunny-yellow elixir made right here in southern California. I took the very same cake and put some raspberries on top before I baked it. And it turned out looking like this - completely gorgeous.

Raspberry limoncello cake (makes 8 generous or 12 small slices)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt, but any kind will do)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup oil (canola or another neutral-tasting oil)
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 5 Tbsp limoncello liqueur, divided
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 6-oz containers fresh raspberries
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt, sugar, oil, lemon zest and 3 Tbsp limoncello. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix with a rubber spatula. Do not overmix or the cake will be tough.

Spray a 9-inch cake pan with cooking spray and pour the batter in. Smooth the top and arrange the raspberries on top, pushing them down a little into the batter. If you're a little OCD like me your raspberries will end up in perfect concentric circles. If not, you're probably happier overall, and your cake will still turn out beautiful.

Bake about 45 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean and the top of the cake is golden. Cool the cake in the pan for 2 minutes, then pop out the cake and put it on a rack, underneath which you've put some newspaper.

While the cake is cooling, mix the powdered sugar with the remaining limoncello in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Spoon this glaze over the warm cake and spread with the back of the spoon (now you know the newspaper is there to catch drips). The glaze will set in just a few minutes.

Serve warm or at room temperature. The cake is just as good the next day.

4 comments:

Jennifer said...

beautiful cake!

Erika Kerekes said...

Thanks, Jennifer - I just visited your blog and loved that tangelo marmalade recipe. Can't wait to try it!

Anonymous said...

I made this cake and it tasted wonderful, however I had a small issue while baking it.
I used an 8 inch pan as directed and the batter over flowed into the bottom of my oven. Beside the mess it created the batter caught on fire and I had a small fire to deal with, plus a smoky house just before my dinner guests were to arrive.
I will definitely make this again, however in the future I will use a larger cake pan.

Erika Kerekes said...

Oy vey - I'm so sorry for the trouble. I just measured the cake pan I used for it. It is, in fact, a 9-inch pan. Many, many apologies, and I'm glad your house didn't burn down!

Glad you liked the cake, though.

Post a Comment