Chateau Gateau

Roopa

After much travel, I’m back in my kitchen with some time for real baking! My company is doing a Cinco de Mayo themed lunch, so I volunteered to make cake. What is more themey than margaritas?!

MARGARITA CAKE (adapted from Pastry Affair)

INGREDIENTS

• 350 g cake flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 400 g granulated sugar
• zest from 4 limes
• 114 g unsalted butter, softened
• 4 large eggs
• 110 g (118 mL) vegetable oil
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 110 g fresh squeezed lime juice (~6 limes)
• 20 g lime concentrate
• 120 g tequila (I used coconut tequila)
• 30 g orange liqueur (I used orange Patron)

  (Brush onto cake after baking)

• 60 g orange liqueur*
• 120 g tequila*

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line (parchment paper) and grease (shortening) 3 x 8″ pans.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
3. In a stand mixer, mix together the sugar and lime zest until fragrant.
4. Add in the butter and cream until light and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
6. Mix in the vegetable oil and the vanilla extract.
7. Mix the lime juice, lime concentrate, tequila, and orange liqueur together. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the tequila mixture to the butter mixture, starting and ending with the flour mixture.
8. Split the mixture between the pans, using a scale to ensure even batter distribution. Bake for ~25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
9. Brush a mixture of the tequila and liqueur that was set aside onto the cakes*

*I found that there was too much alcohol brushed on, and by brushing it on while the cakes were in the pan I sacrificed the integrity of the cakes. If I made this cake again, I would make half of this amount and would brush it on as I was assembling the cake.

COCONUT BUTTERCREAM ICING

INGREDIENTS

• 340 g unsalted butter, softened
• 170 g coconut milk (canned, refrigerated)
• 3-5 cups icing sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2.5 tsp. coconut extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Cream the butter in a stand mixer until white.
2. Add coconut milk to the butter and mix well.
3. Add in icing sugar until the desired consistency is obtained.
4. Add salt and coconut extract to taste.

To assemble the cake, I used round cookie cutters to put holes in the layers, and then filled each layer with a combination of sour candies and sprinkles. I thought this was a floofy sort of cake, so I left it as a naked cake with imperfect icing. I topped it with some lime slices, lime rind, and some silver sprinkles.