Buddha's Hand and a Lemon Cake

Ever since I saw "Battle Citrus" on Iron Chef America I have been obsessed with citrus. I love all citrus but one variety in particular caught my eye on that episode. It was so interesting and kind of ugly, like an old, shriveled hand. Iron Chef Bobby Flay was zesting it into a dish that I cant quite remember (probably because I was so mesmorised by the ugly shriveled hand) and I remember them calling it a Buddha's Hand.

I had to have one, but I couldn't find them anywhere. Till one day while Googling, I found that I could buy a tree and grow my own! Daleys Fruit sent my Buddha's Hand to me from Queensland within a couple of weeks and just like that I was on my way to fullfilling my obsession. I also bought a dwarf Lemonade tree which I am equally excited about, but that is for another post.

The Buddha's Hand or Fingered Citron (Citron Medica) is native to the foothills of the Himalayas and contains little to no flesh, the pith is mild tasting and edible and the zest is supposed to be extremely fragrant, as are the flowers. The fruit is also used in religious ceremonies and as a room freshener. I can think of so many things to make with this fruit and I cant wait. In the meantime, there will always be lemons.

Almond and Lemon Cake with Lemon, Vodka and Thyme Syrup

Adapted from a Lemon Syrup Cake recipe in Belinda Jeffery's "Mix and Bake"

For the cake:

50g plain flour

200g almond meal

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

4 eggs

190g caster sugar

250g unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into largeish chunks

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 tsp almond essence

finely grated zest of 1 1/2 large lemons

double cream to serve (optional)

For the lemon, vodka and thyme syrup: 

150g caster sugar

zest of 2 lemons cut into 1 cm wide strips

125 ml strained lemon juice

1 cup water

50 ml vodka

About 8 sprigs thyme, reserve a few leaves for garnish

1.       Preheat oven to 160°C and butter a 20cm square cake tin, line the base with greased baking paper. Dust the tin lightly with flour.

2.       Put the almond meal, flour, baking powder and salt into a food processor (I only have a small processor attachment that came with my stick blender, this was fine) and blend together for about 20 seconds, then tip them into a bowl and set aside.

3.       Add the eggs and sugar to the processor and and blend for about 1 minute or until they are light and  bubbly.

4.       Add the butter and blend again for another 40 seconds or so, Belinda said that at this stage that the mixture will look curdled but it will be fine, well it did and it was fine.

5.       Now add the lemon zest, the almond and vanilla essences to the mix and process  again to combine.

6.       In Belinda's recipe, it says to add the almond mixture to the butter mixture in the food processor and pulse to combine. Because my processor was too small to combine the two mixtures, I added the the butter mixture to the almond mixture in the bowl and stired well to combine. Make sure you dont over process or stir the mix or the cake will be tough.

7.       Scoop the mixture into your prepared pan, smooth out evenly with a spatula and bake for 1 hour or until a fine skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

8.       For the syrup,put all the ingredients into a medium sized, heavy based saucepan over a high heat. Stir until the sugar disolves, then stop stirring and bring to a boil. Let the syrup boil for about 10 minutes or until the syrup has thickened. then turn off the heat and set the syrup aside and keep warm.

9.       Now back to the cake. When it is ready, cool it in the tin on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. Lossen the cake around the edges with a blunt knife. Gently turn the cake over onto the rack and peel off the baking paper.

10.   Remove the sprigs of thyme from the syrup and discard. Place a baking tray under the wire rack (to catch any drips) and using a pastry brush, paint  3/4 of the  warm syrup all over the cake.

11.   Cut the cake into diamonds or squares and serve on a plate, drizzle some of the syrup over the cake, drape a few of the lemon zest strips and garnish with a few thyme leaves.

12.   Serve with a dollop of double cream on the side if you wish.