Lime Layer Cake with Lime Curd & Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 cup 8 oz. unsalted butter (2 sticks)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs beaten
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- 4 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lime juice
Garnish: 2 limes cut into wedges or slices
Lime Curd:
- 3 large eggs
- 9 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 9 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lime juice
- 1 teaspoon grated lime zest
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Note * If you like to frost the sides of the cake make 1 1/2 recipes of the frosting.
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened to room temp
- 1/2 cup 4 oz. or 1 stick unsalted butter, softened to room temp
- 5-6 cups sifted powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lime juice
Instructions
- Line the bottoms of two 9-inch diameter cake pans with parchment paper. Spray paper and sides with cooking spray.
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Sift flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy with a mixer or hand-held beater. Add the beaten eggs and beat well, until very fluffy. Stir in vanilla.
- Stir flour mixture into batter alternately with milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Then stir in lime juice.
- Divide batter equally between the two prepared pans.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool cakes completely on cake racks and remove the paper from the bottom.
Lime Curd:
- Whisk eggs and sugar in a medium saucepan. Stir in the lime juice. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring all the while until the mixture begins to thicken and the thermometer temperature reaches 165 F. The sauce will be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Remove from the heat and transfer lime curd to a clean bowl and cool. If the curd is lumpy, strain it through a sieve before chilling. Stir in lime zest and butter after you’ve strained the curd. Cool completely. Then cover with plastic wrap directly on top of the curd. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Cream the butter and cream cheese together in a large mixing bowl. Beat until extra-fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar alternately with the lime juice until you reach the desired spreading consistency.
To Assemble the Cake:
- Using a long serrated knife, cut each layer into horizontal halves. Place the bottom half of one of the layers on the cake platter. Spread lime curd over the entire cut side of the cake. Next, spread a layer of cream cheese frosting right over the lime curd. Repeat with the next two layers. For the final layer, simply spread frosting, but no lime curd.
Special Tip
- The cake layers can start to slip a little bit due to all of the delicious fillings between the layers and especially in hot summer weather. If this happens to you, don't worry, just put the cake in the refrigerator and every so often check on it. If it has slipped, just straighten out the layers every so often and once it is chilled, it will hold in place perfectly!