Nicole Rucker’s life-affirming lime pie
Bittersweet. Sweet sour. It’s a given that some of the darkest
moments are flecked with something extra good. And in the last
two years, this lime pie was the extra-good life raft that kept my
hope afloat.

This recipe belongs to LA-based Nicole Rucker. Her paean to

plums (and other fruit) Dappled is a bakebook that every pastry

chef should consume with relish like a juicy, tree-ripened pear.

Nicole is also articulate, brave, really funny, warm and has
unim-peach-able integrity to her bakecraft –100 per cent fat
+ flour goodness. Nicole called this ‘The Lime Pie That Saved
Us’ when it helped her then-fledgling restaurant, Fiona. It also
became the lime pie that saved ME. I put this on the cakelist
every weekend for the pandemic years – my end-of-day slice was
a sweet and tangy salve to the extra stress and uncertainty of
that time.

I initially downsized this recipe from our larger shop slice size.

Who was I kidding? Go large, share the leftovers because any
bake that keeps the little oven light in our soul aglow is never
too much.

Heat the oven to 130°C (265°F) and spray a 27 cm (10¾ in) round ×
4 cm deep (1½ in) glass pie dish with cooking oil. In a food processor,
whiz the baked Crisp rye streusel to a fine flossy consistency. Heat
the crumb (I like to zap it in the microwave) until quite warm to release
the butter – this will make compacting easier. Pile all the crumb
into the pie dish, then lightly press the base down, simultaneously
covering the base evenly and pushing crumb up the sides. Then, go
back over the crumb with a teacup or cup measure and really press
it down. Push the side crumb upwards to sit a few millimetres taller
than the sides of the dish. Take a sharp knife and trim the taller edge
to be pleasing-to-the-eye even and squared off. Press any excess
crumb that falls back into the sides and base.

continued …

Makes A 24 cm × 5 cm (9½ in × 2 in)

Keeps Up to 4 days chilled.

deep pie. I guarantee not a crumb of
this pie will be wasted.

Takes Just over an hour for the crumb

to bake and cool (or make the day
before). An hour to make and bake
the filling. Chill for at least 3 hours
or best overnight.
cooking oil spray
2 × batches Crisp rye streusel
(page 274) (you’ll use around
400 g/14 oz, but keep the extra)
Filling
8–12 limes, depending how
much juice they’ll give up
160 g (5½ oz) egg yolk
(from approx. 8 eggs)
800 g (1 lb 12 oz) sweetened
condensed milk
1 g (1⁄32 oz/¼ teaspoon) sea salt
flakes
Topping
300 g/ml (10½ oz) thick cream
(35–45% milkfat)
300 g (10½ oz) crème fraîche
grated zest of 1 lime
15 g (½ oz) good white chocolate
(optional), finely chopped or
whizzed into lentil-sized rubble