Key Lime Pie Cake
Light, fluffy, and moist key lime cake with a key lime cream cheese frosting.
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
Tools (Affiliate Links): Kitchen Scale (my favorite) | Kitchen scale (great starter option) | Oven Thermometer | 6-Inch Cake Pans
*Do not let the cakes cool completely in the pan, or you'll risk the graham cracker crust sticking to the bottom of the pan. If you'd like an even bigger safety net to ensure no sticking, stick a circle of parchment paper at the bottom of the cake pan after coating it with butter.
**If the limes are hard, you may need a few more to get the right amount of key lime juice. You could also sub in some bottled key lime juice.
Store extra cake in an airtight container in the fridge.
Nutrition
Serving: 1sliceCalories: 1.058kcalCarbohydrates: 134gProtein: 8gFat: 56gSaturated Fat: 28gPolyunsaturated Fat: 9gMonounsaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 116mgSodium: 550mgPotassium: 177mgFiber: 2gSugar: 98gVitamin A: 1.39IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 170mgIron: 2mg