Key Lime Cake
Weather: 26 degrees, sunny
What I’m listening to: The Cranberries
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I hope you’re wearing your green today like this bright and fresh Key Lime Cake.
There’s quite a story behind this cake. For several years, I have made cupcakes for all three of my kids’ birthdays. We all know that cupcakes have been “in” for a number of years now, but that’s not really why I made them. I made them because they’re easier than decorating a cake. I am not comfortable with my [non-existent] cake decorating skills. Cakes stress me out. Hello, intimidation. I haven’t had a lot of practice with them and the very last thing I ever wanted to do was try to make a cake for one of my children’s birthdays and have it fail miserably. There would be tears… and birthday pictures to prove it. Yikes.
Well, my oldest son turns nine this week and I was planning to make my go-to cupcakes (I had it all planned out down to the design and the flavor). To my surprise and utter dismay, he declared that he was getting bigger and therefore, it was time for a bigger cake. Gasp! It was time to muster up my courage and face my cake-decorating fears.
My son’s favorite color is green and his favorite flavor is lime, so I searched high and low for a Key Lime Cake recipe. I was surprised to find that almost every search result I turned up was a lime cake made with Jello and a boxed cake mix. Finally, I found a very yummy from scratch Key Lime Cupcake recipe that I adapted into a two-layer round cake. The result is a delicious, tender cake with a nice key lime flavor and color, and a cream cheese frosting that makes the whole thing truly taste like the famous key lime pie. The birthday boy is very pleased. And I’ve gotten a little more brave this week thanks to my 9-year-old son.
Key Lime Cake
Ingredients
For Cake:
- 1¾ cups cake flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup butter lightly softened
- 1¼ cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2½ tablespoons key lime juice freshly squeezed
- 1 tablespoon key lime zest plus more for frosting/decorating, if desired
- 1-3 drops green food coloring gel I used Wilton Leaf Green, plus more for frosting/decorating, if desired
- ¾ cup buttermilk
For Frosting:
- ½ cup butter lightly softened
- 8 oz cream cheese lightly softened
- 2½ cups powdered sugar sifted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans.
- Sift the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on low speed until it’s softened a bit. Add the sugar and increase the speed to medium. Beat until fluffy, about four minutes. Add one egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lime juice, zest, and food coloring and beat until mixed. (The mixture will look curdled.)
- Add the flour in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Mix on low until just combined.
- Divide batter evenly between two pans and spread flat with an offset spatula.
- Bake 25 minutes. Cool completely and frost with cream cheese icing.
For Frosting:
- Beat the butter and cream together vigorously until combined and fluffy. Gradually add the powdered sugar on a low speed until the consistency you desire is achieved. If using, fold in zest and food color.
Nutrition
Super cute cake! Those look like some cake decorating skills!
Dana, Thanks so much. Your comment made my day! 🙂
The cake looks great!
this cake looks gorgeous and sensational. love the color and flavors. Wow, 26 degrees and sunny in Alaska, that sounds pretty nice. 🙂
Thanks, Honey What’s Cooking! That is very kind of you. As for the weather, my husband did a polar plunge yesterday… 🙂
Great cake! So pretty…love the frosting. And the flavor sounds fantastic – so much better to do it all natural rather than with Jello!
Came across this post on Tastespotting and I love it! I’m a cake decorator myself and ombre buttercream has always eluded me. Yours looks absolutely beautiful (I don’t suppose there will be a tutorial available? 😀 ) and I’m sure it tasted like heaven. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Chelsea,
Thanks so much! Here are the decorating instructions:
Separate your frosting into 3 parts – white, then light green, then darker green. Frost between the two layers in white, then reserve the rest of the white for the top of the cake.
Beginning at the bottom, frost around the cake with the darkest green. Then switch to the lighter green around the middle of the cake. Switch to white for the top of the cake. Smooth (this will blend the color edges together).
Then, holding an offset spatula horizontally, press the round tip into the frosting beginning at the bottom and turn the cake (I used a turntable), gradually pulling upward until you reach the top edge.
Then, switch to the top of the cake, beginning in the center and working outward, spinning the cake until you reach the edge.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions!
This is so many levels of amazingness!!! Thanks for the how to on the ombre icing also…
Michigan here. Your cake got great reviews from my cousin is Wisconsin, now it’s my turn. I can’t wait. Yummm
Best key lime cake ever!!!! I use the frosting as a filler and than frost the cake with coconut whipped cream and sprinkled with graham cracker crumb. It was delicious!!!!
I made this cake for my boyfriend’s birthday, he absolutely loves key lime pie, and adored this cake. The flavors were so rich and delicious and the cake was wonderfully moist. I’ll definitely be making this again!
The frosting on your cake is gorgeous and delicious as well 🙂
Just one comment “Yummy”
I made this for my garden club and it was wonderful! I did two sheet cakes instead of stacked rounds, but still played with designs in the ombre frosting on top. 🙂
What a great choice for a garden club! I love it. I’m so glad you enjoyed it (and I’m happy to hear it works well as sheet cakes). Thanks for letting me know. 🙂
Did you change your baking time and temp for your altitude?
All my recipes are standard instructions; I don’t live at altitude. Hope this helps!
Made this cake, very moist. should layers be small. Looks as if another layer is needed,
@toni payne Happy to hear that the cake is moist! I don’t specifically recall the layers being small, but I do think the cake would be marvelous with another layer or two. Great idea. Just be sure to increase the frosting, too. 🙂
My husband and friends love this cake. I put toasted pecans in frosting.My problem with layers being small may come from not being sure how much flour I used, did you use cake flour and is it 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder?
@toni payne Yes, I used cake flour (1-3/4c). 1/2 teaspoon baking powder is correct along with 1/2 teaspoon baking soda as well. The toasted pecans sound like a lovely touch. 🙂
This cake sounds amazing and I plan on making it for my boyfriend’s birthday. My question is whether or not the cake is tart? and if not, what I could do to increase the tartness. Thank you 🙂
@AmandaNolan If you want to increase the tartness level, you could amp up the key lime zest and juice in the cake and the frosting. My best advice would be to taste it as you go and increase the amounts as needed to reach your desired tartness. Hope this helps! 🙂 Enjoy!
Love this cake, it was delicious. I made two, one for my husband and one to take to work. They loved it. That cake was gone in 15 min at my job. Thanks for posting your recipies. You do a fantastic job!
@tphil I’m thrilled you enjoyed this cake so much (and made two!). Thanks for coming back to let me know!
Thanks so much for post a ‘from scratch’ recipe for this cake. My son turns 12 on Saturday, and while he usually requests a key lime pie for his birthday, this year he has requested a key lime cake. Like you mentioned, all the recipes I have seen call for a box mix and green jello. I look forward to making this cake on friday!
Elizabethmce Wonderful! So glad you found this recipe. I really hope you love it. Happy Birthday to your son! 🙂
Do you think I could do cupcakes with this recipe? I wonder how long I would need to cook them? I can’t wait to make this recipe, my son will be so excited!
Love this recipe, and can’t wait to try it today! My son loves Key Lime pie, and his birthday is tomorrow. I used to use box mixes, but have taken to liking the taste of fresh food! Thanks again!
First, I think it’s funny that you say you have non-existent decorating skills, because your cake came out beautiful! I have to say, I searched all over to find a true “from scratch” key lime recipe and I am so happy I found yours! It tastes amazing – just like Key lime pie, but only cake! I made one for my husband who begged for one after watching me make one for a friend’s birthday. However, my layers came out a bit on the small side (this may have to do with us living at 6200ft) so I was thinking of maybe increasing the recipe by 1/2 and making a third layer. All that aside, I will definitely make this cake recipe a regular in our household! love it!!!
Anyone have an idea how many cupcakes this would make?
I’m wondering if I’ll need to to make a “double batch” to get the number I require.
@Coley About 12 cupcakes.
Hi
I’m planning on making this cake but if I can’t find the key limes do you know if the cake would taste good using the key lime juice from the bottle?
Hi, This Toni , I have made your cake many times. I want to make cupcakes, what temperature and how long, Thanks
Hi,
Looking forward to making these but not sure of the units of measure… Is c a cup, t a teaspoon & T table spoon? Would really appreciate a version of the recipe in grams for us in the UK!!!
Thanks, Danielle
Oh also…. Cake flour… Presumably you mean plain, or is it self raising??!!!
Would really appreciate clarification!
So I made this almost exactly as written. The only difference was I used the regular limes, thinned out sour cream for buttermilk, and McCormick food coloring. I used about three drops for the cake (only wanted a very light green), and different amounts in the frosting for the ombre effect. I did not measure out enough plain white frosting, so the top of my cake was a little bare looking. I topped it off with toasted coconut, which made it look 100% better and added texture.
I also baked this in 8 inch pans. Worked fine, no overflow.
I found the lime taste to be really light. Next time I will add more lime juice. It was a little too SWEET and a little dry for my taste. Maybe that was my fault by using the sour cream as a substitute for the buttermilk. My mother and husband really liked it. It was for my husband’s birthday.