It’s not hard to tell that I have been baking a lot of bundt cakes! For me, they are much easier to make than a layer cake, and I don’t have to really decorate them. Drizzling or pouring icing onto a bundt cake and letting the gorgeous design do the rest is my kind of decorating.
This key-lime cake comes courtesy of my good friend Lanett, who is one of the most awesome people I know. She was kind enough to let me in on her buyer’s group for Comic-Con International, so I decided to bake a cake of her choice (and also because I had a major cake craving after talking to her on the phone!). So… yes, this cake is her fault! Not a bad thing though, because I have to admit that this key-lime cake was really, really (yes, really!) yummy. I made a chocolate bundt cake (another blog post) a few days after making this one and the chocolate one just couldn’t hold a candle to this one, and I LOVE chocolate!
I went to two websites before deciding on the recipe I kind of followed. I say kind of followed because I ended up changing a few of the ingredients. This cake is supposed to be a mojito cake, but Josh and I don’t drink alcohol so we didn’t have any rum around to use in it.
The recipe I used is from One Sweet Mess.
The changes I made:
- Left out the coconut or white rum
- used 1/2 tsp of imitation rum extract (I’m not sure if this added anything to the cake; I’ll probably just leave it out next time and use vanilla extract instead)
- 1/2 tsp of mint extract (this might have been slightly too much if you’re not into mint, but I actually liked this amount in the cake itself)
- Left out vanilla extract
- Used 1 cup of regular milk instead of coconut milk
- I cheated and used the bottled lime juice from the grocery store that is usually in the produce section.
- I only had 1 key lime for the zest. I would have used the zest of 3 key limes if I had had them. You want the lime to shine in this cake.
The icing was really simple. I just used 1 -2 cups of powdered sugar and added a teaspoon or two lime juice and heavy cream to it until it was of drizzling consistency. I think the 1 -2 cups of powdered sugar wasn’t enough though so I had to make another cup of icing. The lime juice just added so much to the icing. It was perfect with the cake. I’m sorry I don’t have any exact measurements for this, but I was in a hurry when I was making this cake, so I had to eyeball my measurements!
I’m not sure why… but this kind of cake batter appeals to me a lot more than the pourable kind, which you will see in the future chocolate bundt cake post. This is the Nordic Ware Crown Bundt pan, and from what I’ve read, it is a 10-cup Bundt pan.
I had some crumbling at the edges, but that was my fault. I didn’t grease the pan all the way to the edges because I wasn’t expecting the key-lime cake to rise that high. So the cake edges stuck when I was trying to get the cake out of the pan.
It must be true. Icing makes everything better. This truly was a messy drizzling job I did on this cake, but it didn’t really matter. In fact, all my kids wanted the slices with the great big globs of icing. Maybe I should paint the icing on so that it will spread out more evenly.
This key-lime cake was so good that it was gone by the end of the next day. It was gone so fast that my oldest Corran hardly got to eat any of it and that is why he asked me to make another bundt cake.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I would like the flavors of key lime and mint in one cake since to me, they don’t really go together, but Lanett, my friend, you picked a winner. Thank you for introducing me to a great flavor combination that I am definitely going to try again!
Key Lime-Mint Bundt Cake with Key Lime Icing
Ingredients
The Cake:
- 3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 2 cup white sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 tsp rum or vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp mint extract
- zest of 3 limes
- 1/4 cup key lime juice
- 1 cup milk
The Icing:
- 3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp key lime juice
- 1 tsp heavy cream or milk
Instructions
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 or 12-cup bundt pan.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or using a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. This will take about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, incorporating each before adding the next.
- Add the extracts, key lime zest, and key lime juice. Stir just until combined.
- Beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture, alternating with the 1 cup of milk. Finish with the dry ingredients. Mix until you have a smooth batter and there are no streaks of flour. Make sure you reach the bottom of the bowl.
- Pour or spoon the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Smooth the top of the batter and bake for 60 minutes on the middle rack, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool cake on a wire rack for about 10-15 minutes before removing from the pan. After removing the cake from the pan, allow the cake to cool completely before decorating with the icing.
To make the icing:
- In a small bowl, combine 3 cups of powdered sugar with the 1 teaspoon lime juice and 1 teaspoon heavy cream or milk. Add key lime juice and/or heavy cream a 1/2 teaspoon at a time to powdered sugar until icing reaches your desired consistency. Drizzle or pour onto completely cool bundt cake.
This is gorgeous! I’ve been wanting to make a key lime bundt cake for awhile–it’s so perfect for the season–but I haven’t found a recipe that interested me. This one looks great 🙂
I hope that you are able to make it and that it works out well for you! Thanks so much for stopping by. Eating this cake is like eating a pillow… except it tastes better! 🙂
I like chocolate but sometimes citrus/lemon or lime just calls to you. I wish I could get hold of actual key limes but lime juice with a bit of orange juice is pretty close. I’m guessing the interior of the cake is nice and fluffy based on the peek where the crust tore a bit when taking it out of the pan.
PS: I’m a fan of mojitos so I’d add the rum. 🙂
So true! Sometimes you just want refreshing citrus flavor. I always forget about taking pictures of the slices, so that you can see the crumb. I’ll try to remember for the future! Yes, this cake was just beautifully soft inside. I will definitely make this one again.
That’s why I keep making lemon curd even though I’m not a toast and jam breakfast eater. Somehow, curd on toast is just nicer. I think I’ll have some with my leftover popovers for breakfast Sat or Sun depending on whether I end up going to the city market.
Looks incredible! Very nicely done (:
Thank you! And thank you for stopping by our blog! 🙂
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