Moist, fluffy mini key lime pie cake baked on a graham cracker crust & topped with a key lime cream cheese frosting.
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key lime pie cake
Key lime pie, in cake form! We’re calling this a key lime pie cake instead of just a key lime cake because we’re baking the cake layers on top of a graham cracker crust, and it’s absolutely loaded with key lime flavor. There’s a bunch of key lime zest in the cake itself, it’s soaked in a key lime syrup, aaaand it’s topped with a key lime cream cheese frosting. It’s moist, fluffy, zesty, and of course, delicious. Oh, and it’s also mini!
why you’ll love this key lime pie cake:
- It’s super light and fluffy: sour cream, milk & egg whites all help to make this cake extra moist and fluffy.
- Key limes: the perfect summery citrus flavor, loaded in to the cake from the zest and the freshly squeezed key lime juice.
- Cream cheese frosting: the slight tanginess from the cream cheese frosting pairs *perfetly* with the citrus from the key limes.
expert baking tips
Weigh your ingredients:
My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.
Be careful when mixing the cake batter:
When you over-mix your batter, you create more gluten in the batter which will make your cake go from light and moist to dense and chewy. When you mix in the wet ingredients, be sure to only mix just until that last streak of flour disappears.
Use room temperature ingredients:
This is super important for allowing the batter to come together smoothly. You’ll want to take your ingredients out of the fridge about an hour before baking to allow them enough time to come to room temperature.
Keep a close eye on the cake while it bakes:
Cakes and cupcakes like to go from under-baked to over-baked super quickly so it is important to keep a close eye on them. I’d recommend that you start checking on the cake around 35 minutes.
freeze the cake while frosting it
After you stack all your cake layers together, I recommend freezing it for 10 minutes and then frosting the outside of the cake. This allows the frosting to firm up and makes it so your cake is less likely to slide around.
A note on oven temperature:
Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and might not always actually be at the temperature they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.
ingredients for key lime pie cake:
graham cracker crust:
- Graham crackers: the base of any good graham cracker crust!
- Unsalted butter: for binding the graham crackers together. You can use salted butter here as well.
key lime CAKE:
- All purpose flour: for structure.
- Baking powder: for helping the cake rise.
- Salt: for balancing and bringing out the sweetness of the batter.
- Unsalted butter: for tenderizing the cake batter. You can substitute in salted butter, just be sure to omit the extra salt in the batter.
- Vegetable oil: for tenderizing the cake. If you don’t have vegetable oil on hand, you can use another neutral oil such as canola.
- Granulated sugar: for adding sweetness and for locking in moisture.
- Key limes: for flavor – we’ll use the zest here.
- Egg whites: for binding the batter together and adding moisture.
- Vanilla: for flavor.
- Whole milk: for moisture.
- Sour cream: for tenderizing the cake, texture, and moisture. I recommend full-fat for the best results, but a non-dairy or low-fat option would work here as well.
syrup:
- Key limes: for flavor – we’ll need the key lime juice here.
- Granulated sugar: for sweetness.
key lime cream cheese frosting:
- Cream cheese & unsalted butter: the base of the frosting.
- Salt: helps balance and bring out the sweetness of the buttercream
- Powdered sugar: sweetens and thickens up the buttercream.
- Key limes: for flavor – we’ll use the zest in the frosting.
how to make key lime pie cake
Here are a few images of the process of making this cake. You can find the full recipe at the end of the blog post.
- Bake the graham cracker crusts.
- Zest the key limes into the sugar, then beat in the remaining dry ingredients and the butter.
- Beat in the remaining wet ingredients just until combined.
- Divide the cake up between three 6-inch cake pans and bake. Once the layers have cooled, top them off with the key lime syrup and key lime cream cheese frosting. Slice, serve, and enjoy!
key lime pie cake recipe q&a
can I turn this into cupcakes?
Sure thing! The full recipe of this would yield 18 cupcakes so you can scale the ingredients down to make 12 cupcakes (*.67) or 6 cupcakes (*.33).
Can I use regular limes instead of key limes?
Definitely! If key limes aren’t in season or you’re not able to find them near you, you can easily sub in regular limes. You’ll only need about 2-3 limes (depending on their size and how much zest you like) for the zest in the cake, and 1 lime for the frosting.
how to store this cake
Because the frosting has cream cheese in it, you’ll need to store this cake in the fridge. It will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days, but will dry out faster than a cake that can sit at room temperature.
tools and ingredients:
You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!
other recipes you might enjoy:
did you make this recipe?
I’d love to see and know your thoughts! please leave a comment and review below, and tag me on instagram @freshbeanbakery. #freshbeanbakery
Key Lime Pie Cake
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 72 g graham crackers (5 sheets)
- 28 g unsalted butter (2 tbsp.)
Key Lime Cake
- 300 g granulated sugar (1 ½ c.)
- 10 key limes
- 300 g all purpose flour (2 ½ c.)
- 2 ¼ tsp. baking powder
- ¾ tsp. salt
- 113 g unsalted butter cubed, room temperature (8 tbsp.)
- 100 g vegetable oil (½ c.)
- 3 egg whites room temperature
- 1 tbsp. vanilla
- 120 g sour cream room temperature (½ c.)
- 165 g whole milk room temperature (¾ c.)
Key Lime Syrup
- 85 g key lime juice (¼ c. + 2 tbsp.)
- 50 g granulated sugar (¼ c.)
Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting
- 170 g cream cheese room temperature (¾ c.)
- 170 g unsalted butter room temperature (¾ c.)
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 6 key limes
- 400 g powdered sugar (3 ⅓ c.)
Instructions
Graham Cracker Crust
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Generously butter three 6-inch cake pans and coat them with sugar.
- Crush the graham crackers or pulse them in a food processor until they are finely crushed.
- Melt the butter, then mix the butter into the crushed graham crackers. Divide the mixture evenly between the three cake pans and press it down.
- Bake the crusts for 10 minutes. In the meantime, make the cake batter.
Key Lime Cake
- Zest the key limes into a medium sized mixing bowl. Add the sugar into the bowl, then use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar.
- Add in the flour, baking powder, salt, and cubed butter. Use a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to beat the mixture together until the butter has completely combined with the dry ingredients and no lumps remain.
- Add in the oil, egg whites, vanilla, sour cream and milk. Whisk the ingredients together just until a cohesive batter has formed.
- Distribute the batter evenly between the three cake pans. Bake for 28-33 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out with only a few moist crumbs.
- Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for at least 20 minutes, then flip them out on to a wire rack to finish cooling to room temperature.*
Key Lime Syrup
- Juice ~8-10 of the key limes that were zested to get 85g of juice**. Add the sugar into the key lime juice, stir it, then set it aside until you’re ready to assemble the cake.
- Once the cake layers have cooled to room temperature, make the key lime frosting.
Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting
- Add the butter, cream cheese, salt, and zest of 5 key limes to a medium sized mixing bowl. Use a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to beat the ingredients together for 3-4 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Slowly beat in the powdered sugar until all of it has been used.
- Frost the cake: if the cakes are not flat on top, level them with a serrated knife. Use a pastry brush to brush some of the key lime syrup on to all three of the cake layers.
- Place a small amount of frosting down on a cake platter, then place a layer of cake on top of it. Top the layer with ~½ c. of frosting and spread it to the edges. Add on another cake layer, then top it with another ½ c. of frosting. Then, add on the last cake layer.
- If your frosting is soft and the cake seems to be wobbly, stick the cake in the freezer for at least 10 minutes, or until it firms up.
- Frost the tops and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. Decorate the cake with key lime slices and graham crackers, then slice, serve, and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that the nutrition facts are only an estimate and may vary based on different brands of ingredients and any substitutions made.
Hii! I was wondering if I wanted to make this into a normal sized cake what would I do? How much of each ingredient? Thanks
Hi! If you wanted to turn this into a 3-tier 8″ cake I would recommend multiplying the ingredients by 1.5x (for slightly thinner layers) – 1.67x (for roughly the same thickness).