Key Lime Cake with Key Lime Cream Cheese Icing

I love dessert.  It's my favorite part of a meal, which I guess is kind of like when kids say that recess is their favorite part of school.  I like for my desserts to involve lots of chocolate, butter, and sugar.  NOT fruit.  If something has fruit in it, I consider it part of my meal.  Lemon bars?  What a fabulous side dish!  Apple pie?  Goes nicely with my entree, thanks.  That way, I get a serving of fruit with my meal, and I can still have dessert afterward.  It all balances out, right?

That being said, this cake is rich enough for me to count it as a dessert even though it involves fruit. My mom had a bunch of key limes left over from making key lime pie (another fabulous side dish), so I combined a few different things from several different cake recipes and came up with this.  The frosting is so good, I could eat it straight out of the bowl.  Actually, I did.  But only a few spoonfuls.

I’ve made this as both a layer cake and a bundt cake.  If you make it as a layer cake, you’ll just need to add a little more powdered sugar to the icing so it will have a better spreading consistency.  Also, I like lots and lots of icing, but you don't have to put as much as I did. It would probably be prettier and lighter looking with less.

Key Lime Cake with Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting


Source: adapted from several recipe on allrecipes.com

Cake

-2 1/3 cups flour
-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

-1/4 tsp. salt

-2 cups sugar

-4 eggs

-1 cup butter

-juice and zest from 4 key limes

-1 cup buttermilk

Grease 2 round cake pans or 1 bundt pan.  Combine the dry ingredients and set aside.  Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time and mix well after each one.  Mix in the key lime juice.  Add the flour  alternately with the buttermilk and mix on low after each addition.  Stir in the key lime zest and pour into prepared pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes (bundt cake may take a little longer).  Cake is ready when you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.

Icing

-1/2 cup butter

-1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese

-3 Tbsp. key lime juice

-4 cups confectioners' sugar (if you're frosting a layer cake, add more until it reaches spreading consistency)
-key lime zest for garnish

Beat the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.  Add the key lime juice and confectioners' sugar and mix well.  Pour over bundt cake to glaze, or frost a 2-layer cake.  Sprinkle some extra zest on top for garnish.

This cake is a delicious end to your meal.  Or, feel free to use it as a fruity side dish. :)