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Key Lime Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Moist key lime cake with sweet cream cheese frosting. A light and fluffy citrus lime cake with the perfect lime buttercream frosting!
I work long and hard to perfect my cake recipes. I take baking cakes pretty seriously and want to pass on these tried and true recipes to my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren…so they better be perfect!
I have been baking since the time I could climb up on a stool and help my Mom in the kitchen. Baking cakes and cookies for my friends and family have always been my favorite thing to bake! I shared how my kids get to choose the flavor of their birthday cake every year and they get pretty creative! Since my daughter, Sadie, is obsessed with anything lime flavored, I knew this had to be her special birthday cake.
This is literally one of my husband’s favorite cakes I have ever made. It is seriously the best lime cake!
We just returned home from a Caribbean cruise with the family and had the best time! It was so nice to be away from cellphones and laptops and reconnects as a family. My kids felt like Kings and Queens with access to unlimited food and drinks! Our favorite virgin non-alcoholic drink was definitely the mojito — made with fresh lime juice and mint. This drink was definitely the inspiration for this fresh key lime cake!
This Key Lime Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting can be made as a layered cake with two 9-inch cake pans or three 8-inch cake pans or in a 9 x 13 pan.
How to make the Best Key Lime Cake (the best tips and tricks):
- Whip oil, eggs, whole milk, lime juice, and lemon zest for about 2-3 minutes. I would highly suggest using FRESH lime juice for this cake. It makes such a difference in the flavor. Also, zest the limes first before juicing since it is much easier to zest while the limes are hard and round.
- Fold in dry ingredients. Pour into greased cake pans. It is so important to grease the cake pans well so the cakes easily come out of the pans. You can choose to use two 9-inch cake pans or three 8-inch cake pans, depending on preference. If you use three 8-inch pans, the layers will be thinner and will need less baking time. This can also be made in a 9 x 13 pan.
- After cakes have baked, set aside to cool. Make frosting by whipping softened cream cheese and butter for 4 minutes until light and fluffy. This makes the frosting extra light. Add powdered sugar and whip for 1 minute. If you want a stiffer frosting, add more powdered sugar. Fold in lime juice and lime zest.
- Remove cakes from pan. Spread frosting on top of one cooled cake layer. Place the other cooled cake layer on top and spread frosting all over. I use this angled spatula to spread frosting all over the cake layers. Garnish with freshly sliced limes.
If you love cakes, here are some of the most popular cake recipes:
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Key Lime Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Key Lime Cake:
- 1 cup Canola or Olive Oil
- 3 large Eggs
- 1 1/3 cup Whole Milk
- 2 Tablespoons Fresh Lime Zest
- 1 Tablespoon Fresh Lime Juice
- 2 cups Sugar
- 2 cups Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Salt
Lime Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1/2 cup Butter (softened)
- 8 ounce Cream Cheese (softened)
- 4 - 4 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Fresh Lime Juice
- 1/2 teaspoon Fresh Lime Zest
- Fresh Limes (sliced for garnish)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, add oil, eggs, whole milk, lime zest, and lime juice. Cream for 2 minutes.
- In a large bowl, add sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into egg mixture and fold.
- Spray two 9-inch or three 8-inch cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. Place batter into baking pans. If using three 8-inch pans, bake for 20-26 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. If using two 9-inch pans, bake for 30-36 minutes. Cool.
To make Lime Cream Cheese Frosting:
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping sides of bowl often. Add powdered sugar, lime juice, lime zest, and cream together. Chill.
- Remove cakes from pan. Spread frosting on top of one cooled cake layer. Place the other cooled cake layer on top and spread frosting all over. Garnish with fresh lime slices.
Video
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can cake flour be used and buttermilk?
I made this today. I used the bottled Key Lime juice instead of fresh lime juice. I altered the frosting to my personal preference: only used 3 C. powdered sugar, and used 4 T. of the key lime juice. Delicious!
Why is this called key lime cake when it uses regular limes? Key limes are so much different.
I just made this cake and used bottled Key Lime Juice. As my cake is presently in the oven, I’m concerned that the instructions didn’t call for the pans to be floured, it just called for the pans to be sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
Lovely cake a bit too much sugar for my taste so I reduced it by half cup . Really moist
What kind of flour do you use
I love Key Lime cake….especially when someone else bakes it. Ha! I have only baked this type of cake once before and that recipe called for a box of lemon cake mix and lime gelatin. It was easier and it tasted decent. I was a little intimidated by this recipe and honestly, if I had any gelatin in the Pantry, I would have probably used that same recipe. I mean, I had never zested any thing in my life. 😳
🥴 Let me tell you, though. This is the BEST Keylime Cake that I have ever eaten in my life, and I made it! 😁
Kudos for a GREAT recipe!
Oh Shannon, you just made my day! That is so awesome!! I laughed out loud that this is your first time zesting. I feel honored. I am so happy you loved the key lime cake recipe!
I was wondering the same thing. Also wondering if there is anywhere in the Philly area that sells fresh key limes (which I grew up eating, my mom being from Key West).
Does this recipe freeze well after its baked?
Hi I live in the Uk and was wondering what the weight are as I don’t use cups? Can’t wait to make this thank you
Louise,
1 Cup = 8 fluid ounces or 240 ml. 1 Tablespoon = 15 ml. 1 teaspoon = 5 ml. 1 Cup all purpose flour weighs 155 gm. 1 Cup Sugar weighs 260 gm. I hope this helps!
JULIE (Pharmacy Background)
Julie, 1 cup flour 120 gms, 1 cup sugar 200 gms. Your measurements are way off.. sorry.
I was about to ask the same question!
Louise, if you live in the UK then just Google the conversion chart. It’s super easy. That’s what I do. I live in the USA but only bake by weight also so that it’s more accurate & comes out perfect every time. Hope this helps!
Fabulous moist cake, super easy to make, and needs no substitutions, deletions, or additions
Thank you so much, Becky, for taking the time to comment and for trying out my lime cake recipe. So happy you loved it!
Really good! I only had 1 lime but that’s all I needed. I’d probably use half a cup less sugar next time , just cuz this is so sticky and the edges got crispy from the sugar melting (which I like but can be a bit much.) I halved the frosting and just covered the middle and top, used some lime concentrate for that and didnt measure the sugar, just added it till the consistency+taste was right, Delicious! Will try again in the future
Thank you so much for trying out my key lime cake recipe! I am glad you will make it again in the future. I appreciate it!
I used 1 1/2 cups of plain gluten free flour and 1/4 cup of besan flour and it turned out amazing! So happy…..not a dry gluten free cake , like many are.
Hi Belinda! I love that you make it into a gluten-free key lime cake and turned out amazing. I love to hear that and thank you so much for sharing and taking the time to comment.
This recipe is really good. I did add a bit of vanilla powder/paste and some lime green food gel to it. Lime cake needs to be green. 😉
I did change up the frosting for my key lime pie ‘cake filling’, which is a more liquidy ‘filling’ but not nearly as sweet as frosting.
That’s a great idea to add some green food coloring to give it that extra green color. Thank you so much for sharing that tip and for trying my lime cake recipe!
Thank you, Modern Honey, for this recipe, it’s delicious 😋 my husband loves it! I added just a drop of green food coloring to the batter and the frosting, beautiful!