Maggie Monday: Key Lime Pound Cake with Key Lime Cream Cheese Icing

Another new post from Maggie. Take a look at another great dessert that Maggie has for us…

This recipe caught my eye. Anything with Key Lime tends to do that. Catch my eye. I had the recipe sitting in my “To Make” stack for a couple of weeks. I decided to make it for Easter as I was having the whole gang (5 kids, 3 girlfriends, and the two of us) Doesn’t leave room for left overs!

This cake took about 15 minutes longer to bake in my electric oven, so keep an eye on it. I altered the recipe by adding sour cream to the batter. Pound cake can tend to be on the dry side, and I find I like the texture better when sour cream or cream cheese is added to the batter.

When using a tube or Bundt pan, I always worry about the cake sticking. I grease and flour the HECK out of mine. I fine that Baker’s Secret ­– the cooking spray that includes flour – works every time. For this cake I even added a dusting of flour as pound cake is so dense, and can tend to stick. It did not stick and came out easily. Whew!

It takes forever for a pound cake to cool. But you have to wait, or your icing will melt. This one took more than two hours to cool enough to ice. And it was worth the wait. This cake was firm, citrusy perfection. The icing is really the bomb. We ate about half of the cake (10 of us!) and I took the rest to work for my colleagues to enjoy. This thing feeds a lot of people!

This one is a keeper! I’ll make it again.

Key Lime Pound Cake with Key Lime Cream Cheese Icing

Thanks for the recipe from the Irreverent Kitchen (https://theirreverentkitchen.com/2015/03/12/key-lime-poundcake-with-key-lime-cream-cheese-icing-omg/). Check out the yummy recipes on that blog.

•  4 sticks butter, that’s 1 pound, room temperature
• ½ cup sour cream
• 3 cups sugar
• 6 large eggs, room temperature
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup fresh key lime juice (about 20 small one)
• 1/4 cup evaporated milk, (I always keep a good number of those small, 5 ounce cans in my pantry.)
• 4 teaspoons key lime zest, minced
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 300°.  Cover inside of 10 inch tube pan with non-stick spray and flour.  My pan is 10  1/2″ and it’s just fine.  Set aside.
2. Using a fine plane zester, zest all of the limes, then roll each one on a cutting board using the heel of your hand to soften them for easy juicing. Cut each lime, and juice it. I like using a small hand held citrus press.
3. Using a stand-up mixer or electric hand-held, beat the butter well until light in color and fluffy.  Add the sugar and again beat well for at least 5 minutes.  I use a stand up mixer and beat the mixture 10-15 minutes.  This will keep the cake from being on the grainy side.
4. One at a time add the eggs and beat only until the yellow disappears.
5. Add the sour cream.
6. Stir juice, milk, zest and vanilla together.
7. Now mixing by hand, gradually flour to the butter-egg mixture alternating with the key lime juice and milk mixture.  Begin and end with flour.  Mix well but just enough to incorporate all ingredients.  You don’t want a tough pound cake!
8. Pour evenly into the tube pan and tap pan on the counter to loosen any air bubbles.
9. Bake for 1 hour and 45 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.
10. Cool on a cooling rack for 15-20 minutes in the pan then transfer from pan to cooling rack and allow to cool another hour or until completely cool.

The cake is far better the following day or 2 days later.

Key Lime Cream Cheese Icing

• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 3-4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 4 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed key lime juice
• 2-3 teaspoons key lime zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Using a hand mixer beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until well mixed.
2. Add confectioner’s sugar and beat well until completely smooth and fluffy.
3. Add key lime juice, zest and vanilla and mix until all ingredients are incorporated.
4. Ice cake.

This makes quite a bit of icing.  After icing the entire pound cake I fill the middle hole with the excess icing.  When the cake is served icing can be taken from the middle and dolloped along the side the slice of cake.