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Key Lime Cake

User Rating 3.5 Star Rating (9 Reviews) write a review

By , About.com Guide

Add this cake to your collection of Key Lime Recipes.

Enjoy this refreshing Key Lime Cake.

Photo © 2008 Carroll Pellegrinelli, licensed to About.com, Inc.
Enjoy this delectable three layer, from-scratch cake to add to your collection of Key Lime Recipes.

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 2-1/3 cups flour
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • ---
  • 1 cup butter
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • juice and zest from 4 key limes
  • 1/2 teaspoon green food coloring, optional*
  • ---
  • 1 cup buttermilk**
  • ---
  • cream cheese frosting***
  • 3/4 cup chopped pecans, lightly toasted

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 8 x 1-1/2-inch or two 9 x 1-1/2-inch round cake pans.

In a medium bowl, with a wire whisk combine flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar with stand or electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Mixing well after each addition. Mix in key lime juice. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk. Mix on low after each addition until just combined. Hand stir in key lime zest. Pour into prepared pans.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans. Allow cakes to completely cool on wire racks.

Frost with cream cheese frosting. Use toasted pecans to decorate sides of cake.

Notes in the Margin

*Although, the Key Lime Cake in the photo has the green food coloring added, most Key Lime purists will tell you that key limes are not green, they are yellow. It’s up to you.

**Buttermilk can be substituted with 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar plus enough milk to make 1 cup.

***Recipe for Cream Cheese Frosting

User Reviews

 4 out of 5
Awesome cake (with a couple of adjustments), Member QuitoCalgary

I don't make a lot of cakes and that is why I'm commenting. This recipe got mixed reviews but it was one of the only recipes I found that didn't use a lemon cake mix and lime Jell-O (yuck!). In western Canada, the following adjustments worked perfectly. I skipped the green food colouring (because that's just gross!) and I used: the juice of 4 reg. size limes & zest from three of those limes (instead of 4 key limes), 4 jumbo sized eggs (instead of regular sized eggs), all purpose white flour (instead of cake flour) & baked in two 9-inch round cake pans on the middle rack for 30 minutes (instead of 25 minutes) in my gas oven at recipe temp. (minus 15 degrees to compensate for the convection setting). Toothpick came out clean and the tops were a lightly mottled brown. The cake was full of lime flavour and very moist (but NOT doughy). Instead of a heavy cream cheese frosting, I used a jiffy snowy frosting (egg whites & corn syrup). I think it enhanced the lime flavour. I will definitely make this cake again. It reminds me of the texture of a chiffon cake (a bit sponge-like). THIS recipe a winner.

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