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Make a Divine Sweet and Tangy Key Lime Pound Cake

Last Updated on September 23, 2022

If you love the tangy taste of key limes matched with the sweetness of cake, try this Authentic Florida Key Lime Pound Cake that will satisfy any sweet tooth craving. And just wait until you pour the key lime glaze on top!

Sweet and Tangy Key Lime Pound Cake

Photo of a Key Lime poundcake
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)
  • ½ cup shortening (Crisco)
  • 3 cups of sugar
  • 1 cup milk
  • 6 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon lime zest (zest before you juice the limes!)
  • ¼ cup of key lime juice (I used 6-10 key limes, if fresh)
  • 3 cups of all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt 

Cake Glaze Ingredients

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 4 tablespoons of fresh key lime juice (8 key limes if fresh, more if older)
  • 1  teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Begin by preheating the oven to 325 degrees. 
  2. Grease and flour 2- 9″ X 5″ loaf pans.
  3. Place two sticks of unsalted butter in a bowl to get to room temperature.
  4. In a heavy electric mixer at medium speed, beat 1 cup of room temperature butter and ½ cup of shortening until creamy
  5. Gradually add 3 cups of sugar, beating at medium speed until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes
  6. Add 6 large eggs, one at a time, beating until just blended 
  7. Zest (which means grating the outside of the key limes to get shavings from the lime skin) using a rasp for 1 teaspoon lime zest (zest before you juice the limes!)
  8. Cut the limes in ½ and squeeze, with a hand squeezer, ¼ cup of key lime juice (I used 6-10 key limes, depending on if fresh)
  9. Add ½ teaspoon vanilla
  10. Assemble zest, key lime juice, and vanilla in a small bowl
  11. Assemble dry ingredients (3 cups of all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking powder, 1/8 teaspoon salt) in a separate bowl, set aside.
  12. Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.
  13. In the large bowl of the butter mixture/eggs mixture, add a little flour mixture a bit at a time, alternating with the milk – beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat at low speed.
  14. Next slowly stir in the lime zest, lime juice, and vanilla.
  15. Pour batter into the two greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If still wet from the batter, keep in the oven until done. The top will be slightly golden.
  16. Place cake on a wire rack to let cool.
  17. When the cake has cooled to room temperature, remove it from the pans, place it on a plate, and pour the Key Lime Glaze over the top. 
  18. For the glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, fresh key lime juice, and vanilla until lumps have dissolved and the mixture is smooth.
  19. Spread the glaze over the cooled cake. (If the glaze is too thick to pour over, add a little more lime juice, and alternately, if the glaze is too thin, add more powdered sugar.)
  20. If you want to dust the individual pieces with powdered sugar, it makes for a nice finish.

    If you don’t have access to Florida key limes, we recommend substituting regular limes. Consider bottled key lime juice as a final choice. In our book, fresh is still better than bottled. Also, we use a lemon hand press for squeezing the limes, as it works better than a juicer due to the small size of the limes.

    Photo of the ingredients of a pound cake
    Assemble the Key Lime Pound Cake ingredients before you start
    Photo of lime zest and juice
    Key limes are tart and ideal for this recipe but limes will work

    The team at Authentic Florida loves Key Lime! Check out these other articles featuring Key Lime:

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