Description
Fresh, easy and delicious key lime cake! Summer in a bite!
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
Juice and zest of 4 limes
Lime Curd Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
Juice and zest of 3 limes
4 egg yolks
6 tablespoons butter
Lime Buttercream Ingredients:
2 cups butter, softened
5-6 cups powdered sugar
Juice and zest of two limes
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line the bottoms of three 6″ cake pans with parchment paper. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, flour through salt.
In your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated, and scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed. Add the vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low until just incorporated, being careful not to overmix. Add the sour cream, lime juice and zest, mixing until all ingredients come together.
Pour batter into the three prepared cake pans, and bake in the preheated oven for 22-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs.
Allow the cakes to cool in their pans for about 5-10 minutes, and then turn them out on a wire cooling rack to cool the rest of the way. I like to turn my cakes upside down to help them flattten. When the cakes are room temp, I freeze them for 30 minutes to make frosting them easier.
Lime Curd Directions: Combine all lime curd ingredients except the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Be sure to whisk constantly so the mixture doesn’t burn. Cook about 10 minutes, or until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Remember that the curd will continue to thicken as it cools! Remove the curd from the heat, and melt in the butter. Store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Lime Buttercream Directions: In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until light and fluffy. Add 5 cups powdered sugar one cup at a time, starting your mixer on low and increasing to high with each addition. Add the lime zest, juice and vanilla extract, mixing on high speed for about 3-4 minutes. Add the additional cup of powdered sugar if necessary. Taste! If you’d like the frosting to taste even more like lime, add additional zest!
Notes
The lime juice can sometimes make the cakes stick a little to the cake pans. Make sure to:
- Grease each cake pan well, and line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper
- When the cakes come out of the oven, allow them to cool completely
- Use a standard utensil knife, and run it along the edge of each cake pan to help release the cake
Assembly tips:
- Cut the top of each cake so that they’re flat. This will make frosting easier! I like to do this with frozen cakes and a sharp bread knife.
- Cover the first layer of cake with the lime buttercream. Pipe a border of frosting around the circumference of the cake. Spoon lime curd into the well you’ve created. Top with the second layer of cake, and repeat steps. Then top with the third layer of cake, and frost the cake with remaining frosting!
- If you want to decorate with graham cracker crumbs, this is what I do. I carefully transfer the cake to a rimmed baking sheet. Then I empty a generous amount of graham cracker crumbs into the sheet, and press them against the cake. Carefully brush/lightly blow away extra crumbs!
Gretchen | 5th Sep 20
This cake was perfect!! Not too sweet with just the right amount of tart and tangy lime. My son said “this is probably the best cake I’ve ever had!” It was a little time consuming, but 100% worth it.
I usually make 8 inch cakes and split them so I have 4 layers. I initially made a double recipe to ensure I had enough batter ( unfortunately my baking powder was pretty out of date, and I skipped the parchment paper, so it didn’t turn out well.) I remade a single batch with fresh ingredients, and it was enough batter with one batch.
I skipped the graham crackers, because, like my baking powder, they were old also. Lesson learned to double check all ingredients before starting!
Anyway, 3 teenage boys, and 3 adults give this 5 stars!!
Susan | 23rd Sep 20
Sadly, this cake was a disaster for me. I made it for my daughter’s 24th birthday. The batter was DE-licious and so light and fluffy, I was excited to see how it would turn out. After the minimum amount of cook time I looked at the cakes and they were completely sunk, except around the edges. Left them in for 5 more minutes, and no change. Eventually took them out as they weren’t changing at all. I looked online and it looks like the culprit was too much rising agent – I had thought that a Tablespoon of baking powder was a lot, and I should’ve listened to my instinct. The only reason I can give it any stars because the lime curd is delicious.
Jessie | 14th Nov 20
Would you double this recipe for 3 8inch cakes?
Cherie | 2nd Dec 20
Should it be 1 teaspoon baking powder instead of 1 tablespoon?
Michelle | 21st May 21
Is is supposed to a Tablespoon of baking powder? Thanks.
Melodie L Valentine | 1st Aug 21
I only used 1 teaspoon of baking powder and my cake turned out perfectly. This is a delicious bright cake for a summer party!
Vicki Hiller | 21st Mar 24
I would like to use this recipe for my sons’ wedding cake. Seems to be a discrepancy in the comments section about the baking powder. It says 1T but the people that followed that had issues. The one that used 1tsp hers worked. Can you tell me the correct amount please. Thank you