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Kickin Key Lime Cake

May 16, 2017
3 min read

I love cake! There is something about a good simple cake that brings a smile to the face of the harshest food critic. I love taking a basic recipe and then adding my own twist to it.

One of my dear friends has a key lime tree in her back yard, and was so sweet to give me a bushel of these cute little citrus cuties.

I was hosting a little meeting with my Jr. League ladies at my house and wanted to make a sweet treat for the meeting. Not wanting to do a plain vanilla cake, I got a wild idea to try adding some key limes to my cake. Turns out cake and key limes are delicious! I figured pies can't have all the fun with Key Limes....cakes could be kickin too.

This recipe is very adaptable and you can add any citrus you have available. I am I will be making an orange version of this cake when I will be hosting my next Sunday dinner.

Thanks for stopping by and let me know how your Kickin Key lime cake turns out. Get ready. Let's start cooking together!

Make today yours!

Love, Sem xoxo

Ingredients

1½ c. sifted cake flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
½ c. unsalted butter
1 c. sugar
2 large eggs
½ tsp. vanilla extract
½ c. whole milk
fresh key lime juice ( I juiced about 9 of them)
Lemon zest from about 1 large lemon

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly coat an 8-inch cake pan with butter and dust with all-purpose flour.

2. Beat in the butter one heaping 1/4 teaspoonful at a time, using an electric mixer set on low speed, until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Then beat in the sugar a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture resembles fine damp sand.

3. Next beat in the eggs one at a time.

4. Now add the vanilla and milk, and beat on medium-high, just until blended. Do not over beat.

5. Next add your dry ingredients (1½ c. sifted cake flour 1½ tsp. baking powder- ¼ tsp. salt). Mix well on medium-high

6. Zest your lemon and finely chop it, then add it to your cake batter and mix well. DON'T chop all of the lemon zest. Set some aside for garnish/decoration for your cake.

7. Take your Key limes and with an electric juicer- JUICE them! Should make about a 1/2 cup of juice.

8. With your fresh juice, add about 4 tablespoons to your cake batter. If you want it more sour add more. I think that around 4 was perfect to my taste. After your cake batter is mixed well, pour into the prepared pan and bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Around 15 to 20 mins.

* I actually doubled this recipe to make it a 4 layer cake. You cake make a two layer cake with just this recipe. For a two layer cake the bake time is roughly around 30 to 35 mins.

9. Cool cake in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Un-mold and cool completely before frosting.

Key Lime Butter Cream Frosting

Frosting Ingredients

3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Pinch fine salt
1 tsp of sour cream
3 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 tablespoons of Fresh Key Lime Juice

Directions

1. While the cakes cool, beat the butter and salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.

Gradually add your powdered sugar

Add the Sour cream

Next the Vanilla Extract

Add your Key Lime Juice

Whipped perfection!

The last step is to assemble your Kickin Key Lime Cake! I decided I did not want to frost the entire cake, so I went for the simple trendy option of doing a 'naked' cake.