Key Lime Pound Cake
The sweet, tart hit of citrus in this Key Lime Pound Cake makes it a perfect after-dinner treat! Dense and delicious, it’s impossible to resist! My friends kept slicing off more and more samples while doling out compliments!
Cakes baked in a tube pan or Bundt pan are the perfect way to feed dessert to a crowd. One pan, no layers, and a refreshing drizzle of icing make them ideal for both the baker and the taste testers!
Why You Must Make
When St. Patrick’s Day was approaching, I wanted to bake up a green-ish dessert. Since I adore Key Lime Pie, the bag of Key limes at the market brought my thoughts to a Key lime dessert, a Key lime pound cake to be precise.
- It’s a killer dessert when Key limes are in season and for St. Patrick’s Day!
- Regular limes can be substituted so you can enjoy this scrumptious lime pound cake any time of year.
- With some lime zest in the cake batter, Key lime juice in the batter, and icing, this tight crumbed, this citrus-laden cake is a heavenly, very pale green (if you use your imagination!) dessert.
Reader Endorsement:
From Kristin via Pinterest: This is by far the best pound cake I’ve ever made. It was so moist. Don’t skip the icing, it perfectly balances out the flavors.
Expert Tips
The name itself, Pound Cake, gives the first clue this is no light and airy dessert. But the name itself goes back to the inception of this dessert, when a pound of butter, a pound of sugar, a pound of eggs, and a pound of flour were the main ingredients in a pound cake.
- There are numerous variations on this basic formula. For example, in this Key lime pound cake, half the butter was swapped out for shortening, and lime zest and juice were added for flavor.
- PRO-Tip: If you want a picture-perfect pound cake, you must prep your tube or Bundt cake properly. Grease with shortening, then dust with flour. Tap out any excess flour into the sink or garbage can.
- Read through the instructions before you start. Make sure you have all the ingredients on hand and get out the butter and eggs to allow them to come to room temperature.
- Use a stand mixer, if you have one, to beat the butter (and shortening in this recipe) until creamy. Be patient.
- Use brand-name ingredients for the best results. Off-brand butter, for example, often has more water than name brands. And measure accurately.
- PRO-Tip: Add eggs one at a time, waiting until each egg is mixed in before adding the next. But be careful not to overbeat. Once the last egg is incorporated, move on to the next step.
- Bake in the middle of the oven. Check to see if the cake is done by inserting a toothpick into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, your cake is done.
- Let the cake cool for 15 minutes on a rack, then carefully invert and remove from the baking pan. Allow to cool to room temperature on the rack, then drizzle with icing before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
The first difference is obvious, as Persian limes are much larger than Key limes. That’s why this recipe doesn’t call for the zest of Key limes, just the juice. Those suckers would be hard to zest!
Persian limes are tarter due to higher acidity, though they have fewer seeds.
PRO-Tip: In a pinch, you can substitute Persian lime juice for Key lime juice, but avoid bottled lime juice. Bottled juice cannot replace the taste of freshly squeezed lime juice.
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- Cranberry Orange Pound Cake from Belly Full
- Sour Cream Pound Cake
- Best Pound Cake
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- Plus more of my Best Homemade Cake Recipes
Key Lime Pound Cake
A perfectly dense, fine crumb pound cake flavored with lime zest and Key lime juice
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 cup butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 3 cups sugar
- 6 eggs, at room temperature
- 3 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lime zest
- 1/4 cup fresh Key lime juice
Frosting:
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh Key lime juice
- 1 1/2 tablespoons water
- 2 teaspoons melted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325°. Beat butter and shortening at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla, lime zest, and lime juice. Pour batter into a greased and floured 10-inch solid tube pan.
Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack.
Whisk together powdered sugar, Key lime juice, water, melted butter and vanilla until smooth.
Scrape the frosting into a quart Ziploc bag, seal, and snip the tip off one corner. Drizzle back and forth over the top of the cake.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Southern Living.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
16Serving Size:
1 sliceAmount Per Serving: Calories: 471Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 106mgSodium: 162mgCarbohydrates: 67gFiber: 1gSugar: 48gProtein: 5g
33 Comments on “Key Lime Pound Cake”
I want to post a picture of the result. It’s awesome, beautiful and easy
I’m so glad it was a success, Darnell. Please share a photo on Pinterest. I’d love to see it!
Good morning can I use all butter instead of the shortening?
Hi, Andrea,
Shortening adds extra tenderness to this cake. I do think it would work with all butter, but you will lose some of the nice texture (while gaining flavor). Let me know if you make it with all butter and how it works if you do!
Hi,
Can you use Crisco Butter Flavor for the shortening? Also can you use buttermilk instead of whole milk? Thank you. I want to bake this now.
Hi, Tammi,
Yes, you can definitely use Butter Flavored Crisco. It will work fine. Unfortunately, the buttermilk has some acid in it which will mess with the leavening. I wouldn’t advise you to try it with buttermilk, just in case you don’t get the proper rise from this cake. Hope you enjoy!
What would the measurements be 1 cup butter 1/2 cup Crisco EQUALS how much butter crisco
Hi, Barbara,
If you want to replace the butter and Crisco with butter Crisco, you could try an even swap of 1 1/2 cups Butter Crisco. Weightwise, Crisco has fewer ounces per cup, so without testing, I’m not sure if your results will be as tasty as when using the combination of butter and regular Crisco. Hope that helps!
Tried this recipe for a reunion here in South Florida. Pound cake seemed the best way to go with high heat and humidity.
It came out excellent and was a huge hit ! I followed the directions to the T. This is not a add water, eggs and oil thing. This is a relax take your time and create kinda thing. Unfortunately I was in a rush and never got a photo but will say I had bought the key limes by the bag and had some leftover so I filled the center of the cake with them adding some clean cut citrus leaves from my yard. It was lovely and everyone knew what kind of cake it was.
I will be foregoing my obligatory key lime pie hence forth for this lovely light and refreshing pound cake. Thanks so much for the recipe as well as guidelines !????????????
Oh, I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Kelly! And how lucky you are to have fresh citrus leaves to garnish. Thanks for your lovely comment!!
Hi Liz. I have made this cake two or three times and each one was perfect. Don’t know how to post a picture.
Hi, Sandra!!! I’m so glad you love this pound cake as much as I do!! Thanks for letting me know 🙂