Lime Cake from Scratch
You are going to love this bright and flavorful Lime Cake from Scratch! I love all sorts of cakes year round, but when summer arrives, I'm in the mood for something a little fruity!
Bring me strawberry cake, lemon cake, coconut cake, Piña Colada Cake, and now, lime cake! (By the way, don't miss our post of 100+ Cakes with Fruit!!)
In the past week, we have tried at least six versions of lime cake, along with various combinations of frostings and fillings. This was the clear winner!
Table of Contents
Lime Extract vs. Lime Simple Syrup
One thing that we discovered in our experimenting is that it is difficult to achieve a strong lime flavored cake from lime juice and zest alone.
We found the same for our favorite lemon cake recipe but we had lemon extract to bump up the flavor.
However, lime extracts are a bit more difficult to find at the grocery store.
In the end, brushing our lime cake layers with lime syrup and lime curd was the key to giving us a delicious lime cake!
**This recipe would taste great with buttercream also, but we decided to use cream cheese frosting which was divine ;0)
Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing
** This recipe calls for the Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing. This refers to the order that the ingredients are mixed, and the result is a cake with a tighter crumb and velvety texture.
If you have never made a cake with the Reverse Creaming Method, you may want to watch our free video tutorial: Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing-Video Tutorial.
We frosted our cake with a delicious Cream Cheese Frosting. Find the recipe here!: Cream Cheese Frosting
Enjoy these other cakes with Lime
We've made lots of lime cakes over the years! Here are just a few of our favorites:
- Lime Cupcakes with Coconut Frosting
- Coconut Lime Layer Cake
- Margarita Cake From Scratch
- Margarita Cake from Cake Mix
- Key Lime Cake- Doctored Cake Mix
Lime Cake from Scratch
Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE
- 2 ½ cups cake flour (285g)
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar (300g)
- ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder (12g)
- 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened (169g) unsalted butter, softened slightly, still cold to the touch (do not soften in the microwave) you can cut into ½ inch slices onto waxed paper to soften more quickly.
- 4 large eggs, room temperature (If in a hurry, place eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.)
- 1 cup milk (242g)
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil (18g)
- ¼ cup lime juice (We used Nellie & Joe's bottled Key Lime Juice.) (59g)
- zest of 2 limes - best done with a microplane (just the green layer of the peel)
FOR THE LIME SIMPLE SYRUP:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 2 Tablespoons lime juice
FOR THE LIME CURD:
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150g)
- ¼ cup cornstarch (30g)
- 1 cup water (236g)
- 2 egg yolks slightly beaten
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter (28g)
- 1 Tablespoon grated lime zest
- 4 Tablespoons lime juice (55g)
Instructions
FOR THE CAKE:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8 x 2 inch round pans. I split the layers for four layers to assemble the cake, your could also bake in three 8 x 2 pans. This will give you more lime curd per slice. I used the reverse creaming method for this recipe.
- In the bowl of your mixer combine the cake flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and lime zest.
- In a separate bowl combine eggs, milk, vegetable oil, and lime juice. Blend with a fork.
- Whisk the dry ingredients for 30 seconds to combine. Begin with your mixer on low speed, gradually increasing to medium speed as you add the slices of butter a few pieces at a time. Beat until the dry ingredients are crumbly and moistened by the butter. The look & texture will be similar to coarse sand. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to make sure there is no dry flour.
- Slowly add approximately ½ of the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and beat at medium speed for 1 ½ minutes, the batter will become thick and fluffy. Scrape the bowl and add the remaining egg mixture in 2 additions, beating for 20 seconds after each addition.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes (25 to 30 minutes if you bake in 3 pans) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cakes cool 10 minutes then turn out. Makes 6 ½ cups of batter, works well for cupcakes.
For the Lime Simple Syrup
- In a saucepan over medium heat bring the water and sugar to a boil. Turn the heat to low and stir constantly until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear.
- Remove from heat and stir in the lime juice. Cool. If you want the mixture to be a thicker consistency, cook longer over low heat.
- Brush a small amount of the syrup onto your cake layers before you begin assembling your cake. Apply sparingly so that the cake does not become soggy. We apply while the cakes are still warm but you could also do this at room temp just before assembling. We prefer to use a pastry brush. With lime juice added to the mixture it will last 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator.
For the Lime Curd
- Combine sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan, pour in water. Over medium heat, stir the mixture constantly until it thickens and comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, remove the pan from the heat.
- Spoon about ½ cup of the hot mixture into a small bowl containing the egg yolks and stir quickly until combined.
- Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan. Return pan to medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, approximately 1 min. The mixture will thicken slightly.
- Remove from heat and stir in the butter, lime juice and lime zest. Cool before using.
To Assemble the Cake
- After lightly brushing our layers with lime syrup, we filled with the lime curd, and then crumb coated and frosted the cake with our Cream Cheese Frosting recipe (linked above the recipe).
Bebe, hi
Thank you for the recipe, it is delicious!
I made this for Mother's Day, but with reverse creaming method it came out very dense, I thought that maybe I put to much syrup. But reading the comments I saw that I am not the only one, I just finish baking it again with your recommendation of traditional creaming method and came out great!! I have some left over curd and a coconut buttercream (from another baking project) so I will be trying it again.
My question would be, what could I have done wrong with the reverse method? To be honest I rarely use this method, so I am not very knowledgeable of it kinks.
I loved this cake! My family wasn't too excited about the curd but I did only 2 layers so there was a lot of curd between them. But the quality of the cake itself was what I would imagine mousse would be like if it were baked: tender and soft, not dense. The buttercream frosting was a huge amount and seemed too loose. I had no problem with the reverse creaming method. I will make this cake again!
Hi Sue, Thank you so much for posting your thoughts on the recipe. Did you use full fat cream cheese for the frosting? It will be too soft if you use reduced fat. It can also become too soft if it is mixed for too long. Refrigerating it for a short while will firm it to a good spreading consistency .
Do you use key limes or regular limes for the juice and zest in this recipe?
Hi Darla, We used Nellie and Joe's bottled Key Lime Juice and for the lime zest we did not use key limes, just regular limes. It would be fine to use key lime zest, we did not have any available to us at the time we were making the cake. I hope you will enjoy the recipe.
Hi. I would like to use buttermilk instead of milk. Would I need to make any other changes to the recipe (ie baking powder and baking soda). Thank you!
Hi Sam, Using buttermilk.....change the leavening to 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda.
I normally do not post, but this cake was excellent. I made a celebratory meal for my 8th grader because he was not able to participate in any of the 8th-grade transition activities. I am not a baker, so I had a little trouble. I added a small amount of lime gelatin to the mixture to give it a green flavor. I sprinkled the top with coconuts. For people new to baking when trying to complete the layers put it in the freezer, it will help with frosting the cake. (All of you experts don't laugh!:)
Hi Leslie, Thanks so much for your nice comment on the recipe, so happy you enjoyed it! It looks great in the picture! Your comment on chilling the cake layers before frosting is helpful advice to new bakers. Thank you for taking the time to post.
I fallowed the directions very carefully and not only did I get 5 cups of batter instead of 6 1/2 but the cakes came out like pancakes and pale.
Hi Claudia, I am sorry your cake was a failure, that is always disappointing. If you only had 5 cups batter, then definitely something was under measured. We all have these mistakes happen every now and then, don't be discouraged.
Can you please tell me what tip you used for the buttercream decoration?