Sunday, May 13, 2012

Lemon Lime Custard Cake (grain-free : primal)

Lemon and lime give this custard cake a wonderful, fresh flavor.  It is rich, and especially tasty with some whipped cream, sour cream, or vanilla ice cream on top.  We enjoyed this for breakfast as well as dessert.

Lemon Lime Custard Cake
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 Tb honey
  • 8 oz softened cream cheese
  • 1 Tb vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp celtic sea salt
  • 4 eggs, preferably from pastured hens
  • one small lime
  • one large lemon
  • 3 Tb coconut flour
  • Garnish: whipped cream, sour cream, or vanilla ice cream
  1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat.  Turn off heat, stir in the honey, and allow to cool a bit.
  2. Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese in a large bowl until light and fluffy.  Beat in the vanilla extract, eggs, and salt.
  3. Use a microplane rasp or other fine grater to zest the lime and the lemon.  Then use a reamer to juice both the lime and the lemon.  My small lime yielded about 1 Tb plus 2 tsp of lime juice, and my large lemon yielded about 4 Tb of lemon juice.  
  4. Pour the lemon juice, lime juice, and both zests into the butter/honey.  Stir a bit.
  5. Beat the butter/honey mixture into the cream cheese.
  6. Measure out the coconut flour into a small bowl and whisk to break up any clumps.  Then beat the coconut flour into the cream cheese mixture.
  7. Butter a glass pan.  I used an 8X8 square glass dish.
  8. Pour the batter into the buttered pan.
  9. Bake in a 300 degree F oven for about 45-50 minutes, until the edges have browned a little and the middle is bubbling nicely.
  10. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature. Cover the dish. Then transfer to the fridge and chill for several hours.
  11. Top the custard cake with some whipped cream, sour cream, or vanilla ice cream.  Enjoy!

38 comments:

Vicky said...

Are there really no eggs in this? It looks awesome! My husband doesn't eat eggs so it would be lovely to make him a grain free treat...

Sarah Smith said...

Sorry, that was a mistake as there are eggs! However, here are some links to egg-free recipes that you could try! The PB coconut bars are an awesome treat, and the cinnamon almond cookies are favorites here.

http://nourishedandnurtured.blogspot.com/2011/02/apple-raisin-snack-bars-gaps-legal.html

http://nourishedandnurtured.blogspot.com/2011/11/coconut-and-fruit-granola-grain-free.html

http://nourishedandnurtured.blogspot.com/2011/01/apple-snap-granola-gaps-friendly-gluten.html

http://nourishedandnurtured.blogspot.com/2011/01/red-crackers.html

http://nourishedandnurtured.blogspot.com/2011/07/chewy-cinnamon-almond-cookies-gluten.html

http://nourishedandnurtured.blogspot.com/2011/01/peanut-butter-bars-gaps-friendly-grain.html

Leah Funk said...

Hey there, Happy Mothers Day ! This cake looks great. I will have to try it !!

By the way just wondering How much honey do you all go through each month. I know this might seem strange question , but our family of 8 can go through as much as 4 48oz jars in 4 weeks ... and i try not to bake with it , but when i bake 2 times a week and use it just to sweeten things for all our children.. it does not last . Do you think this is too much honey for us to use ?? I really try to limit it ?

Sarah Smith said...

I'm not exactly sure. I would guess we use somewhere around 1/2 to 1 gallon of honey a month.

I used to really limit the amount we used, but have learned that we actually do a bit better when we're a little less strict with it. Especially since my husband and I both have adrenal issues and need to make sure we're eating enough carbs on a mostly-GAPS diet; we both notice much better energy levels when we are a bit more free with our honey use.

Leah Funk said...

That is good too know . I too have lower energy levels when not eating enough carbs . I been trying to keep Gaps Almond butter cookies in the freezer just for snacks , fruit and seed granola are helping me too. Thank you again for sharing what has helped you with me . It is nice to see someone has done this before while nursing and has good advice. Thanks again

Anonymous said...

I would like to try to make this for my family. It sounds delicious! But I'm confused by "1/2 plus 2 Tb cup honey" in the recipe above. Did you mean it needs 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp of honey?

Sarah Smith said...

Sorry! Yes, it is 1/2 cup plus 2 Tb. I fixed it above.

Dawn said...

This looks tasty Sarah. I love citrus-flavored baked goods, especially lime. It's rhubarb season here in Wis. I bet I could sub it for the lemon/lime since it is tart too.

Tara said...

Sarah, do you know of any way to eliminate/replace eggs in coconut flour baked goods? The recipes always look so delicious, but I need to limit my egg intake (basically I'm not eating them). I know they are important for coconut flour recipes, but just wondering if there's a way to substitute and still have it turn out well!

Sarah Smith said...

I've never experimented to see if there is a good substitute for eggs in my baked goods. Sorry, I wish I could offer more help here. I've heard that chia seeds with water can be substituted for eggs (the Healthy Home Economist posted about this), but I recall that when someone tried it with one of my coconut flour recipes, it did not work. Sorry again...

Sarah Smith said...

I searched around a bit and found the following links that might help. Looks like you'd have to really do some experimenting, but maybe it could work. Gelatin sounds promising to me...

(this one has some info about replacing eggs towards the bottom)http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/going-gluten-free

http://chefinyou.com/egg-substitutes-cooking/

Let me know what you try and what works!!

Sarah Smith said...

Try this one too:
http://www.myrealfoodlife.com/part-2-how-to-substitute-eggs-and-binding-agents/

Molly said...

Hi. Is the honey essential or could I make it sugar free with stevia?

Sarah Smith said...

Hi Molly,
I'm not sure as I've not tried making it without the honey. If you try it, let me know how it turns out!

Anonymous said...

Sarah,
I was wondering which cream cheese you use? As far as I know, there is no GAPS legal cream cheese on the market. I'll probably use a commercial one, anyway - I seem to be able to handle it okay. Just wondering...

Sarah Smith said...

Cream cheese is not GAPS-legal, even if you make it yourself. I think this is because it still has lactose present since it is a soft cheese. So this recipe is not GAPS-legal.

I buy cream cheese from the supermarket or occasionally the natural foods co-op (although that cream cheese is local and WAY expensive).

Anonymous said...

This recipe is absolutely delicious. Congrats! I've tried many cheesecake recipes using my homemade goat cheese and few make the grade. This one does. I served it to company tonight and everyone loved it.
This an be Gaps legal by making yogurt cheese from 24 hour home made yogurt.
BTW,I used only a scant 1/2 cup honey and it was plenty sweet. Wouldn't want more sweetness.

Sarah Smith said...

Great! Thanks for letting me know. I'm glad you and your guests enjoyed it!

Russell DiSilvestro said...

Is there a way to substitute the cream cheese for anything else? This looks delicious!

Sarah Smith said...

Not that I know of. I've tried using both sour cream and kefir cheese, and both were way too sour with the already- sour lemon juice. The cream cheese really helps to balance the flavors in this recipe. If you try something else, let me know how it turns out!

Russell DiSilvestro said...

'Kay! Thanks for clarifying :)

Kathy L. said...

This looks awesome!! I have yet to find a good lemon recipe. The only change I have to make to be SCD is to use dripped yogurt cream cheese and yogurt whip cream. I can't wait to make this tomorrow. If I had eggs I would make it tonight lol

Kathy L. said...

I am SCD (which is close to the GAPS diet)and I make my own yogurt cream cheese. The yogurt has no lactose because it is cooks for 24 hours. I use an organic whipping cream and then drip it for 8 hours to get the cream cheese. If you are interested you can google SCD Yogurt : )

Kathy L. said...

Thank you again! I made this today and it is so good. It will be nice to have a good lemon recipe to go to.

Sarah Smith said...

Great, Kathy! I'm glad you like it!

Anonymous said...

Sarah,

When you say zest the lemon and lime do you mean to zest all of the rind into the recipe?

Ginger

Sarah Smith said...

Hi Ginger,
Yes, use all the zest from the lime and the lemon. (Only zest the top layer of the peel, not the white part beneath the outer layer.)

Anonymous said...

This recipe looks wonderful. Really want to try it out on my family. I was just wondering about the lemon and lime zest, how much of that do you zest into the recipe?

Sarah Smith said...

I use all of the zest from one small lime and one large lemon in this recipe.

Mykel said...

This looks delish! I really want to try it, but I don't have almond flour. Can I sub for a gf ap flour?

Sarah Smith said...

I've never tried it that way, but if you're up for an experiment:
-you'll probably need to increase the amount of flour since coconut flour is much more dense than ap flour. I'd try doubling the amount.
-you may need to reduce the number of eggs. Coconut flour soaks up lots more moisture than ap flour.

Unknown said...

Could you cook this in a muffin tin? For how long?

Sarah Smith said...

I bet you could, but I've never tried it so I don't know how long.

Unknown said...

OMG!! This is fantastic! I swapped out the honey for Algarve nectar and it's heaven. To me it tastes like lemon-curd cake and yummm!!

Thanks! :-D

Sarah Smith said...

Glad you liked it!

Anonymous said...

hi Sarah ~ do you think it matters if i use a glass baking dish or a tin/anodized aluminum one in terms of how the recipe is cooked?

Sarah Smith said...

A metal baking dish would heat up faster and may lead to the bottom of the cake cooking faster than in a glass dish. You'll have to watch and see how it does, maybe needing to reduce the heat towards the end if the sides/bottom are cooking too quickly.

Brenda B said...

I truly love this recipe. Even my picky kids do not complain. I sometimes add a sprinkle of high fat cocoa before baking.