Lime Pound Cake

What do you do when you’re gifted a gallon bag of limes that need to be used immediately?!? Juice them all, zest what you can and make this extraordinary Lime Pound Cake. I’d been playing with a lemon pound cake for a while but once I had a bag of limes I decided why not just go ahead and try making a lime cake.

Lime Cake

YES, that was a good decision! Seriously this pound cake is based on Ina Garten’s so you know it’s good. Worth the time and effort, which are actually minimal, and unusual enough for people to be tempted into trying a bite. Or 4. I even took this to Palmer Food Swap for the April swap, it was well received.

Palmer Food Swap

I run a small group on Facebook called Palmer Food Swap. It is specifically set up to talk about all things Palmer Food Swap but as a group we chat about all kinds of stuff. We share our cooking and baking accomplishments, photos, challenges and the like.

One of my swappers had a gallon bag of limes that were at the use it or lose it stage in their life and she didn’t have time to use them. She offered them to the group and I snapped them up. I wasn’t sure what I would use them for but I knew I’d put them to good use.

Lime Stuff

As I found out lots of people said juice and zest, which I did that night. But then what to make?? Margaritas, lime curd, lime aid were all mentioned and definite contenders! But then I remembered the Lemon Pound Cake I’d been working and Lime Pound Cake was on.

Do Not Double

I made a double batch of this recipe for Palmer Food Swap. It makes 10 mini loaves if you double the recipe. BUT on that note I wouldn’t double the recipe because my 6 quart mixer struggled to incorporate everything really well. It wasn’t BAD but I had a few loaves that didn’t turn out quite right when I doubled it. I’m assuming the butter and eggs portion didn’t mix well with the flour and buttermilk additions. It only affected a few loaves and I kept those for us. So if you want 10 loaves make the recipe twice and save yourself a hassle.

Lime Pound Cake

Yield: 2 loaves

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

What do you do when you're gifted a gallon bag of limes that need to be used immediately?!? Juice them all, zest what you can and make this extraordinary Lime Pound Cake.

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Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups Sugar
• 3 limes
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup buttermilk, or 1 TBSP vinegar plus enough milk to equal 3/4 cups
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

1. preheat oven to 350˚
2. generously grease two loaf pans
3. in the bowl of a stand mixer beat butter and sugar for 5 minutes or until it's light and fluffy
4. while it's beating zest the limes and then juice them
5. add the lime zest to the sugar mixture
6. add eggs mixing well after each addition
7. stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl, make sure to scraped off the beater as well, the lime zest has a tendency to get hung up on it
8. mix the flour with the baking soda and baking powder
9. mix the milk with a 1/4 cup of the lime juice, reserve the rest of the lime juice for the icing
10. add 1/4 of the flour mix to the mixing bowl, follow it with 1/3 of the liquid, repeat beginning and ending with the flour, pulse between addition
11. scraped down the bowl and mix by hand a few times to make sure everything is well combined
12. divide the batter between the greased loaf pans
13. bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
14. cool for 15 minutes, then remove from the pans and cool completely
15. once cooled mix the two cups of powdered sugar with 2-3 Tablespoons of the leftover lime juice for a glaze, start with the smallest amount adding small amounts until the glaze is thin enough to drizzle and thick enough to cling