Lime Picnic Cake with Strawberries

Looking for that perfect cake for that last summer cookout?  This buttery moist cake is just the ticket with a hint of zesty lime, it will be your new favorite pound cake.  There are a few extra steps to this cake but the end result is delectable.  I adapted this from lemon to lime from the Land O Lakes Best Loved Recipes.  There are no worries about baking a new recipe when it comes from  the folks who make the butter, right!   With fall upon us, the school bake sales will be here before you know it and this would be an excellent contribution.  Now get to baking!  Oh, yeah this would be my 100th blog post! Sound: applause.  So I would like to kick off a series of giveaways over the next few posts, maybe three or four.  The first giveaway is a set of my new Miss in the Kitchen flour sack towels.  These are so brand spankin new that they won't be available in stores until later this fall. Here's the gig on how this will work.

• Just click on over to the Miss in the Kitchen Designs tab and choose your favorite set, then come back here to this post and leave a comment on which set is your favorite.
• Comments will be open until Thursday, September 9, 2010 at 8:00 Pacific Time
• I will choose a winner at random and send out the set that was chosen.
• You can have an extra chance to win if you become a fan on facebook, just leave another comment stating that you have.

Disclosure: I am the sponsor of  this giveaway.

Lime Picnic Cake with Strawberries

Ingredients:

Cake:

4 eggs, separated

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter, softened

3 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons lime zest

4 teaspoons lime juice

Glaze:

⅓ cup sugar

⅓ cup lime juice

1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced in half

Whipped cream or whipped topping for garnish, optional

Cooking Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  In a small mixer bowl beat egg whites at high speed, scraping bowl often, just until stiff peaks form (2 to 3 minutes).  Set aside.

In large mixer bowl combine 2 cups sugar and butter.  Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy.  Add egg yolks beating until creamy.

In small bowl stir together flour and baking powder.  Reduce  speed to low.  Beat, gradually adding flour mixture alternately with milk to butter mixture, until well blended.  Add lime peel and lime juice.  Continue beating until well mixed.  By hand, gently stir in egg whites.

Pour batter into greased and floured 12-cup Bundt pan or 10-inch tube pan.  Bake for 50 to 65 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

In 1-quart saucepan stir together sugar and lime juice.  Cook over medium heat , stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved.  With toothpick, poke holes in top of cake; pour glaze over cake.  Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.  Serve with fresh strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Miss