Mojito cake
- Preparation and cooking time
- Total time
- + cooling
- A little effort
- Serves 10-12
Ingredients
- 6 eggs
- 260g golden caster sugar
- 115g melted butter, cooled to room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 260g plain flour
MOJITO SUGAR SYRUP
- 150g light muscovado sugar
- 4 limes, 2 thinly sliced for the top
- 75ml white rum
- a medium-sized bunch mint, torn or cut into small pieces
LIME BUTTER CREAM
- 200g butter, room temperature
- 400g icing sugar, sifted
- ½ tsp or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- vanilla extract
- 2 limes, zested and juiced
Method
- STEP 1
To make the syrup, put the sugar, 40ml water, lime juice and white rum in a small, heavy-based saucepan. Bring to a simmer on a low heat to dissolve the sugar, then boil for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, add the lime zest and mint leaves, and stir. Allow the syrup to cool, then leave it to sit for a few hours so the flavours infuse.
- STEP 2
Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Butter 2 x 20cm sandwich tins and line the bases with baking paper. Beat the eggs lightly in a metal or glass mixing bowl, then add the sugar and lightly beat again. Put the bowl over a pan of just boiled water, making sure it doesn’t touch the water. Whisk with an electric hand whisk for 10 minutes until the mixture is thick and has tripled in volume. It needs to reach the ribbon stage where batter trailed across the rest of the batter takes a few seconds before it sinks in.
- STEP 3
Add the butter and vanilla extract down the side of the bowl and fold it in with a large spatula, being careful not to knock the air out of the batter. Add the flour in three batches by sifting it on top of the batter and then folding it in. Pour the batter into the tins and level the tops. Bake for 15 minutes until slightly browned on top and springy to the touch. A skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean.
- STEP 4
Allow the tins to cool for 5 minutes, then loosen the cakes around the edges and tip them onto a wire cooling rack. Once cooled, strain the mojito syrup and brush it liberally over the tops of the cakes with a pastry brush, repeating every few minutes until you’ve used up two thirds of the syrup.
- STEP 5
To make the butter icing, cream the butter until smooth, then beat in the icing sugar, vanilla, lime juice and zest. Add more icing sugar if you need to. Smooth a thin layer of icing over the top of the first cake, then place the second cake on top. Smooth the rest of the icing over the cake, starting at the top and then the sides. Decorate with lime slices and serve with the remaining syrup.