Key Lime Cake with Cream Cheese Lime Icing
Talk about a cake with some zing! This Key Lime Cake has all kinds of fresh tangy flavors—it feels like a party in your mouth!
One “key” to this fabulous key lime cake recipe is the taste of fresh key limes. Another is to spread some of the zesty cream cheese lime icing between the layers and on the outside to send it over the top!
This is one of my favorite cake recipes. It’s perfect for birthdays and all kinds of other celebrations. The fresh, fruity flavors make it perfect for serving outdoors.
Birthdays are always a really big deal in our home. We enjoy a week of fun with the birthday girl or boy picking out all the meals. Though we do have two kids with the same birthday (they love it, by the way), a birthday gives us an opportunity to throw a special celebration for one child.
Key Lime Birthday Cake
From the time they could talk, the kids were in charge of how we spent their birthday (within reason). That’s everything from the venue to what we ate, including the cake or dessert. Interestingly enough, the kids have rarely elected to have a huge birthday party. They usually settle for long hikes on our land with family and a nice birthday meal we can all enjoy together. I’ve been very thankful for that.
I like to enjoy their special day as much as they do, so it gives me a chance truly cherish the moment with my birthday child without having to be “in charge” of a production. Of course, we will do the “big” birthday thing every once in a while, but for the most part, we just enjoy each other and great food.
This year, Emelia, my youngest, chose to go out on our land and ride 4-wheelers after a great meal of homemade hamburgers and twice fried fries! If you’re following my Facebook live broadcasts each Sunday, you know we don’t have water at our new property yet, so it was little more difficult, but it actually turned out quite nicely. We ate in the barn on picnic tables and enjoyed each having each other around! After that, we rode the ATVs and ate cake under the Hackberry trees behind the little cabin on the property.
A Cake for Any Occasion
I had never had a lime flavor cake until my mother-in-law brought one over. Wow, was it fabulous! Using a lime jello packet gives this cake its zing, along with the fresh lime juice, of course. It’s a relatively easy cake, and you won’t have leftovers! My mom doesn’t like cake, but she definitely loved this one. It’s tart with just enough sweetness to make this the perfect cake for just about any occasion.
Come to think of it, I think I’ll make it for St. Patrick’s Day next year.
Well, now I’m starting to realize that my kids are growing up way too fast! I’m trying to soak it all in.
What’s the secret to a good key lime flavor?
The secret to a key lime flavor lies in using both the zest and the juice from fresh limes (ideally, actual key limes). Essential oils in the zest add aromatic notes while the juice delivers the tartness. Use freshly squeezed lime juice if at all possible.
Key Lime Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Ingredients
Key Lime Cake
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 3-ounce package lime flavored gelatin
- 5 large eggs slightly beaten
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil such as canola oil
- 3/4 cup orange juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 cup key lime juice (about 2-3 key limes or 4 regular limes)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Lime Icing
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter room temperature
- 1 8-ounce package cream cheese room temperature
- 5 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1 tablespoon key lime juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 drops green food coloring
- 2 tablespoons key lime zest
Instructions
For the Key Lime Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix the sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and gelatin, and mix well.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix the eggs, oil, orange juice, lime juice, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Add the egg mixture to the dry mixture and mix until just incorporated.
- Divide the batter evenly among the 3 pans and bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.
- Cool the layers in the pans for 5 minutes, then turn them out onto cooling racks and allow them to cool completely.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese. Add confectioner's sugar, lime juice, vanilla, and food coloring, and mix until the icing is smooth and easy to spread. Spread dollops of icing between the cake layers and on the top and sides of the cake. Sprinkle the top with the lime zest.
Can you make this cake as a sheet cake
I don’t see why not! It would be amazing.
no milk??
No milk needed Dana. Hope you like the recipe!
Very Moist cake
Thank you so much!! I do love it for that reason.
Hello, could I use butter instead of vegetable oil?
Hi Cathy. You can use butter instead of oil but your cake may not be as moist. I do think it will work though. Let me know!
delicious! I had tried this cake once before at my cousins house. Her mother in law had made it and dropped it by. That was around 20 years ago! I had never forgot the perfect citrus taste on a hot summer day! I had periodically searched for the recipe and had tried many, but when I ran across THIS recipe I knew I certainly had the right one finally!!! Thank you! my cake turned out well although I dropped the temp to 325 for dark nonstick cake pans that I have, I noticed they were browning too quickly at 350, otherwise perfect!
This will be my first time making a Key Lime cake from scratch. My question is will that 1/2 cup of lime juice make it to tart.
It will. It gives it that Keylime taste. I think you will really like it!!
Saw the picture of this cake & read the article on it, Stacy mentioned she was going to make it for St Patrick’s Day. Being Irish, I decided to make it too! So, glad I did, my kids and I loved it! (It had a little tartness to it which was very tasty!) made no changes to the recipe… cake and icing were delicious! Definitely will make again!!
I am so HAPPY!! This cake is one of my families favorites. It has always been moist, and to me,the icing is out of this world. I’m so glad you tried it and it passed the taste test with your family!
Hello, do the eggs need to be room temperature? I am dying to make this cake.
Thank you
It’s always best if they are room temperature but in an emergency cold eggs will still work. As a rule of thumb it’s best for all ingredients to be room temp. Can’t wait to hear how it turns out!
My daughter made this cake for me for Mother’s Day and I absolutely LOVED it. Now I’ve asked her to make one for our July 4th cookout. It has now become my new favorite cake. I’ve saved this one for the books.
Happy Birthday!!! I’m so happy to hear this!!! Thanks for letting me know.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!
So glad you liked it!!!
I would not normally ask but my kitchen is being renovated and well would be nearly impossible to make a from scratch any suggestions on how I could use a great quality box cake to make this for someone I think the world of? Thanks so much
I’m not sure if they have boxed Keylime cake, but if they do, you could make the icing from this cake and use that with maybe extra lime jello in the cake mix?? Not sure, but may be worth a try.
I was wondering what i could do to incorporate graham cracker crust or something with graham crackers in this recipe?
You could sprinkle toasted graham crackers in the top and sides of the cake.
Can the frosting be made with lowfat cream cheese?
I probably wouldn’t use low-fat cream cheese because it is more likely to be runny and the consistency will be off. I’d try it sometime as long as I wasn’t having company the first time I tried it. If you do try it and it works, let me know!
My cake did not rise too high, is this normal
Seems moist
I am serving at picnic and wonder if I should redo
If it seems moist and looks good (pleasant to look at), I would go with it. It will be delicious. Wonder if the cake pan was a 9-inch and it spread out over more area and seem more thin. I have done that before. It will taste just fine.
will the cream cheese icing be firm enough to use a decorator tip or is it softer?
You will see a shape with the piping but it won’t be as stiff as buttercream. I would probably make buttercream for the piping, but I do think it will look “ok” with cream cheese. I would still use cream cheese though for most of the icing even if you use buttercream for the piping.
Made it today!!! It was delicious!!! Thank you!!!
Glad you liked it Susan!
Delicious!!!
Worked like a charm.
So happy! Glad it worked for you!
cake was delicious, my family fell in love with it. easy to make. because the icing is cream cheese, do I need to refrigerate.
I’m so glad you liked it and it was a hit with your family. We don’t keep it in the fridge and it has never been a problem. Thanks for commenting!
I have made this cake several times! The cake is delicious! I get asked for the recipe all the time! I did want to ask if this recipe can be modified to be gluten free??
I’ve never made it gluten free. I don’t think it would be nearly as good, but you could give it a try. Let me know what you think if you try it.
Where can I find lime flavored gelatin? None of stores here have it. Can I substitute lime jello?
I can’t locate lime flavored gelatin. Can I use lime jello? Or is there a substitute?
Absolutely you can. That’s what I use. One of my kids just asked for this cake for their birthday so I made it this weekend! It is so good! No way to mess it up.
If doing as a sheet cake. What size pan would you suggest. Will 9x 13 be big enough?
A 9 x 13 will work fine I believe. I hope you love the cake.