Lime Velvet Cake
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This lime velvet cake is the latest in our series of successful variations on this recipe and packs plenty of citrus flavour punch in the cake and frosting.
This Lime Velvet cake is the latest in a series of variations of what may be the best cake recipe I ever developed. The White Velvet Cake and Lemon Velvet Cake versions of this recipe have been particularly popular on Pinterest.
Incredibly, have racked up about 1 million views on Rock Recipes between them to date. (Updated February, 2020)
The secret to success.
The success of this recipe comes from the moist, tender crumbed texture that this cake is known for.
The texture is achieved from the technique of emulsifying of the eggs into the oil mixture as part of the recipe base. In addition, using combination of two flours makes a significant difference.
The all purpose flour provides good structure and the softer cake flour provides a balancing tender crumb to the cake.
The cake worked so well in both the lemon and orange versions that a lime version couldn't be far behind. With my neighbours George and Elisabeth getting married this week, I sent it along to their house to enjoy with their out of town guests.
Call it a little pre-wedding cake.
Love amazing homemade scratch cake recipes? Be sure to check out the other flavours in our entire collection of Velvet Cake Recipes!
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Lime Velvet Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups sifted all purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups sifted cake flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ⅔ cup vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup vegetable shortening at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon good quality vanilla extract
- zest of 2 small limes, grated and finely minced
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk
FOR THE FROSTING
- 8 cups icing sugar, powdered sugar
- 2 cups unsalted butter
- 2 to 3 tablespoon lime juice
- Zest of one small lime, finely minced
- few teaspoon milk
Instructions
- Grease and flour 2 nine inch round cake pans and line the bottom with 2 circles of parchment paper. Sift together both flours, baking soda. baking powder, salt and sugar, Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the vegetable oil, shortening and vanilla extract. Beat well at high speed with whisk attachment until light and fluffy
- Beat the eggs in one at a time.
- Fold in the lime zest.
- Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk.
- I always add dry ingredients in three divisions and liquid ingredients in 2 divisions. It is very important to begin and end the additions with the dry ingredients. Do not over mix the batter. As soon as it has no lumps in the batter, pour into the two prepared 9 inch cake pans.
- Bake at 325 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.
- FOR THE FROSTING: mix together the icing sugar, lime zest and butter until it becomes sort of crumbly.
- Add the lime juice and a little of the milk.
- Beat until smooth and fluffy, adding only enough milk to bring the frosting to a creamy spreadable consistency.
- Fill and frost the cake. Garnish with candied llime zest if desired.
- To make candied lime zest, remove the zest with a sharp vegetable peeler in long strips, avoiding as much of the white pith as possible.
- Bring one cup of water and one cup of sugar to a slow boil.
- Add the pieces of lime zest and boil for about 15 minutes. Drain the lime zest on a wire rack.
- When cool, cut them in strips and roll in fine sugar.
Nutrition Information
Yield
16Serving Size
16 servingsAmount Per Serving Calories 721Total Fat 38gSaturated Fat 17gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 19gCholesterol 99mgSodium 280mgCarbohydrates 102gFiber 1gSugar 81gProtein 4g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
I know just from the name of this amazing cake that it would become a favorite of mine, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!
I live at high altitude...is there a way to adapt this recipe for altitude and preserve the texture?
The ocean is at my back door. I have no experience at all in high altitude baking I’m afraid.
As I cannot get hold of cake flour, would self raising flour be a good alternative?
No. Cake flour is softer flour. Self raising already has the leavening agent in it too. You could try using all purpose flour instead but the texture will not be quite as soft.
I would really like to make this cake. But in South Africa finding all-purpose flour is a nightmare . Can I substitute it with cake flour? I would like to make a 40cm/16" bottom tier cake. Won't it be too soft?
Really? Perhaps you call all purpose flour something else there, like plain flour? what do you use for everyday baking there? The structure of the cake may be too soft using all cake flour. Almost any stronger flour, even bread flour would probably work in place of all purpose flour.
I followed the recipe exactly but it did not rise very much. Each cake was no more than 1 inch high.
Odd. How old was your baking soda and powder?
This sounds like a great cake. I'm wondering if there's a Way to add some tequila or rum to the cake and icing to give it a margarita flair? I'm looking for a great rum cake recipe also, do you have any in your stash that would work?
Love your site and all the recipes! Keep it up!
You can replace some for the milk in the frosting with tequila. Interesting idea. Search Rum cake on the website. There is one there.
Hi,
This is the first time I am visiting your website and excited to try Lemon Velvet cake. I have two query.
1. We don't get cake flour. So Can I add all purpose flour.
2. We don't get vegetable shortening. So can I use butter or more oil Or Should I use Dalda (Its a kind of vegetable oil) we use in India.
Your response will help me to make cake this weekend.
The cake flour is needed for the texture. Butter will also not yield the same texture as shortening.
HELP: I made this yesterday but mine came out dry, any reason or fixes that you can suggest. Followed the recipe exactly so can't figure what i did wrong.
Most like;y too long for your oven. Reduce the temp and check it earlier. You may have an oven that's a few degrees off.
What changes need to be made to bake these Velvet cakes as pound cakes?
I'm afraid I don't understand your question. This is not a pound cake recipe.
Hi barry, i came across ur blog by accident and i think thts the best thing tht has happened to me lately! I tried your white velvet cake first and it made me speechless for a while. So next time i wanted to make a red velvet cake i decided to try ur recipe instead of the one ive been using for a long time. Again i was showered with compliments. My sister even declared it to be the best cake in the world! All thanks to u! 😀 Now i cant wait to try the lemon cake. Mostly i will b baking it tmro. But i happened to see lemon cake and lime cake..just curious whats the difference? Which one do u think i should try?
THAnks, Just depends on whether you prefer lemon or lime really. The lemon is incredibly popular.
How would this recipe work as cupcakes?
Should be fine.
I had a cake called GRAND MARNIER CAKE with pineapple cream cheese icing that was so awesome that now I'm trying to duplicate the cake.
can i substitute orange zest for the lime or lemon zest?
There already is an orange velvet version of this recipe here on Rock Recipes.