Glazed Lime Cake
Written by joythebaker on December 17, 2008 – 12:53 pm -
This cake and I. Ooooh this cake and I.
We had a fight, maybe I should call it a misunderstanding.
I had expectations for this cake. I needed it to be a certain way to make me happy. Mistakes.
I wanted this cake to be dense, but moist, perfectly golden, easy to cut and just downright irresistible. In other words, I wanted this cake to be perfect. Perfect in the ways I wanted it to be perfect. Oh Joy. It’s like I’ve learned absolutely nothing these past twenty something years.
Nothing is perfect. No, correction. Things can be perfect if imagined in your head. Real life… the real stuff is never as perfect as it is in your head. But… (oh the but). Sometimes. Most times. The imperfections are what become the most perfect part of life.
Boom. Knowledge. I just dropped it.
Here’s the deal with this cake.
I wanted it to be the perfectly delicate but perfectly dense glazed cake. I wanted this cake to be Martha Stewart. Like the perfectly manicured, airbrushed and edited version of Martha Stewart.
It turns out this cake is more like… Mom. She might have her nails all done up some days, but you also know that she wakes up with her hair kinda mashed and those pink foam hair rollers are her best friend in the hour before Sunday church service. You know, Mom… imperfect, but SO so so so so perfect.
This Glazed Lime Cake has no pretensions. It’s baked up in an 8-inch square baking pan and adorned with a simple lime glaze. It’s like the delicious cake version of after dinner green Jello dessert, but better. So much better.
No this cake isn’t perfect, but it’s simple, straight-forward, and it just wants you to return her phone calls so she doesn’t have to worry so much.
Glazed Lime Cake
Bon Appetit January 2009
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, divided
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 1/3 cups self-rising flour
- 2 to 3 large limes
- 1/4 cup sugar
Note: This cake has no salt or leavening. That’s because self rising flour has all the stuff you need.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 8-inch square baking pan. Using electric mixer, cream butter and 11/2 cups powdered sugar in large bowl. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in milk, then flour. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.
Meanwhile, finely grate enough lime peel to measure 1 tablespoon. Halve limes; squeeze enough juice to measure 1/4 cup. Mix peel, juice, and 1/4 cup sugar in small bowl. Set lime syrup aside.
Using skewer, poke holes all over baked cake. Spoon half of lime syrup (about 3 tablespoons) over hot cake. Cool.
Whisk 1 cup powdered sugar into remaining lime syrup; drizzle over cake. Let stand 1 hour. Cut cake into squares.
In Related Cakes:
Southern Style Strawberry Cake
and Mocha Rum Cake
Tags: cake, citrus, Fruit, lime, recipe
Posted in Cakes, Fruit, Holiday, Recipes, Thoughts | 52 Comments »
What a lovely cake- it looks delicate and moist. Yum!
oh my…. does this look yummy.
will definitely have to make this one.
The cake looks comforting and delicious. You’re right – imperfections are the best part of life. Thanks for stopping by my site last week – we’re going to have enchiladas for Christmas Eve too!
Phoo-D
you are soo funny Joy.. “Boom. Knowledge. I just dropped it”
i love it =)
I ate this cake–the very piece featured in the photographs actually. On that cold and windy day, perhaps only during that exact moment, this cake was perfect.
The cake looks lovely!
oh, i saw this in bon appetit too! it looked so intriguing (and yours looks way yummier)!
Oh, my. I’m gonna make it right now because I’ve got limes and lemons up the whazoo! And ingredients left over from the Southern Style Strawberry Cake. Joy, you are a joy. Thanx.
I heart you for this post… And the perfect Martha? She’s probably a crazed, neurotic, cold, heartless overacheiver under the surface. It’s always the most flawless things that are worse than anything else. At least that’s what I tell myself
Pretty cake! It looks so fresh and moist…….and I LOVE lime. I saw this recipe as well and made a mental note to give it a try when life is a little more mellow after the holidays!
I must have a piece of this cake… it’s imperfect, yet so perfect!
Oh my word, that glaze is just filled with ooey, gooey goodness. My eyes are starting to glaze over just looking at it…
I’m not a big fan of lime, but that cake looks irresistible!
Today I sat on the couch and said “we have to use those limes before we go home for the holidays, I’m going to find a recipe.” I had already clicked on your icon in my bookmarks…the page was loading and, like a miracle from the heavens, the perfect recipe appeared before me! haha, I just whipped this up and it was great, a nice break from all the regular holiday flavors. There are never enough citrus recipes in the winter, puts us all at risk for scurvy I say. Thanks for reminding us all to get our vitamin c this holiday season!
Next time I’ll try it as cupcakes.
You are too funny. I could use some Martha Stewart airbrushing right about now.
I’ve been craving lime as of late (though I think I need a key lime pie) but I might end up making a version of this.
The lime glaze looks so delicious. Perfection is boring — at least, I try to keep telling myself that!
I’d be hoping for the MS version, too, but if it has character, who cares?!
Happy holidays to you and yours, Joy.
All of the drizzling glaze makes it look perfect to me
I love lime! This cake looks delicious!
You really do understand life – “Sometimes. Most times. The imperfections are what become the most perfect part of life.” You hit the nail on the head! Thanks for sharing your wisdom!
This cake looks so yummy I would probably eat at least 2 slices right now!
As a bride-to-be ever since my fiance proposed to me with a gorgeous diamond engagement ring from http://www.idonowidont.com we have been looking for a new unique dessert cake for our wedding guests.
I think they would just go crazy for this glazed lime cake, so thanks for the recipe, they will love it!
A cake with no pretensions — sounds like something I would want to make on a regular basis just because.
The pic brings up that eternal zester question for me. Do you put it face up on the cutting board, and move the lime across it, or hold the lime in your hand, and use the other hand to zest the lime. Both seem hard and awkward to do with a rounded zester like you’ve shown Joy. How to do best?
Lizzy- Rest assured that I think your in comment link is totally and completely lame.Totally. Lame.
Iceni- Good question. I think I might do a combination of both. Let’s see. I start with the zester face up. Sometimes I tilt it down so I’m holding the handle and resting the other end gently on the counter. I then take the lime and run it over the zester blade rotating it as I zest. I think I move the fruit more than the zester. Go with what is most comfortable for you. As long as you get the zest, I suppose it doesn’t matter how you do it!
Joy, I love your website. My Laulau turned me on to it. I was imagining the taste and texture of this cake-to-be, almost catching that lovely citrus fragrance created while zesting…. until I reached the comment by Lizzy with the wedding rings link. I thought “whatever in the world possesses some people???” (Not that I’m incapable of same to be sure.) I mean, how can one make such a transition from the heights to the depths? Before I could take that thought any farther, I came upon your comment, and I also can rest assured that there indeed remains a measure of sanity in this world.
I made this cake a for our one month married anniversary. Lame, yes. Reason to bake, of course! I saw it in BA and had to make it but alas, I had no limes and wasn’t making a special trip to the store for them. I did have two lemons and decided, well why not! It was fabulous! I will make it with lime next time!
Had to write back to say that this glazed lime cake was just as easy and certainly as luscious as the southern style strawberry cake. I had shredded coconut left over from the strawberry cake, roasted it and topped it on half of the lime cake. Delish!
Ha ha, I must say I love lime almost as much as I love my mother, so the comparison is well taken! It looks divine!
what an uplifting post… couldn’t help but smile while reading it
I love this cake–so much more personality than her Donna Reed counterpart.
Your analogy is great, and the cake sounds even better. Citrus desserts are my favourite, and I’m sure I’d eat this all!
I love citrus in my cakes, cookies, drinks, most things… This cake sounds great, I’ll have to look through my new issue of Bon Appetit again.
Your food analogies seriously rock my world. Even if I didn’t want to cook everything you post and wasn’t entertained by the food itself, I’d still love your blog. Your writing is just lovely.
My mother makes a similar cake every year for my brother’s birthday utilizing Lime Jello mix. The cake is bright green and the lime glaze sinks right in. Delicious.
Love ur take on perfection – simply exciting! The cake looks sooooo irresistible.
Joy: I first came to this post looking to know how the BA recipe turned out but your writing is just so wonderful that even though my teapot was whistling, I read the whole thing. (Just had to tell you that.) And I love a cake that waits patiently by the phone for my calls.
you have a wonderful sweet stuff.
Regards
olga.
This cake….. oh my goodness… this cake fulfulls my lime fantasies. I am a limeaholic. I am definetly making this cake! I also want to tell you that I absoluetly LOVE your site. I scour it daily, thanks for making it so interesting, and yummy.
Just found your website today – fabulous! As I perused the recipes, I stumbled upon this, exactly THE ONE I have ripped out of my copy of BA. I was so ready to make it and then realized, dang, no self-rising flour. I already have too many flour bags in my freezer. Any idea on how to adjust the recipe if using unbleached all purpose? Thank you!!
I made this cake and my kids went nuts. I had to hide the last piece so my husband could have a sample. It was reminiscent of limeade, summer, my husbands’ small hometown, it was heaven on a fork! Thanks!
OOO! Love limes, and LOVE cake! This is a winner!
Can’t wait to try!!! Your site is fabulous! Check us out.
Thanks so much!
Funny story…I had to share.
My 7 year old really wanted to make this cake, so we decided to make it this morning before school. We were in a bit of a rush, so I was multi-tasking, and left him the ingredients to put into the stand mixer. I noticed that the consistency seemed a little ‘off’, but everything was done correctly. I’m ready to put it in the pan, and hadn’t greased it yet and asked for the other half of stick of butter that I had left on the counter, to which he replied, “I put it in the cake mix”. Yes, we had an extra 1/4 cup butter in the batch…yikes! That is approximately 1/3 more butter, so to try and salvage the cake, we added approx 1/3 more of all of the other ingredients to try and compensate, and crossed our fingers.
Would you believe it, but it turned out great! It is very moist, as you would imagine, and it crumbles a bit easy, but it is delicious!
Just had to share!
I found your website last Friday while searching for strawberry cake recipes and have already made that, the mustard-gruyere-proscuitto thingies, and this. You are my new favorite person.
I baked this for a birthday cake, so I wanted it to look a little spiffier. I doubled the recipe, baked the cake in two 9″ round pans, slathered raspberry preserves between the layers, then drizzled the lime glaze over the top. It was delicious and gorgeous. Really easy cake with nice consistency.
Hi, Joy! I saw this recipe in Bon Appetit, thought it looked good, but didn’t really keep it in my brain. Then, way back in December, I read your thoughts on it and the lighthearted comparison between the cake and a good mom just stayed with me. I kept thinking, “I want to make that!”, but, the chocolate demons can be very demanding in my house! Today, however, was the day. No limes, (darn,) but, loads of lemons on the counter and the Father-in-law coming for dinner. This cake is everything you suggested it would be. It was buttery, zingy-lemony, moist, tender….mm-mm! The Father-in-law, the weans, and I all thank you most sincerely!
Made this little guy last night….so tasty! But mine was sans-lime zest, no grater/zester in my kitchen. But all the same, so delicious!
Oh my golly… you have some good lookin’ stuff on here! I am excited to try some of these recipes. Not good for the figure though. Dang it.
I made this cake last night. Besides the fact that my whole family is in LOVE with anything and everything lime, this was such a hit. I loved it, the cake was so simple and did not let overpower the glaze, which let’s face it, is the star of this cake. Absolutely love it. Yummy yummy!!
made this cake for iza’s xx happy birthday! it was yummy!
I enjoyed your story about this cake:-)
I am late in finding this particular blog, but I’ve been testing out citrus cakes lately, hoping to find the “perfect” one. No such luck. [sigh] I guess I will try this one too and keep my expectations just below earth-shattering.
made this last night – super! made half because its just me and my plus one, and it baked up nicely in a bread pan. loved the lime, but the cake is so versatile that i am also going to try lemon and maybe even raspberries. thanks for the great cake!
made this for a dinner party tonight. it’s 95 degrees here in newport beach calif and i wanted to make something tropical with citrus twist. my husband asked for something ‘cake like’ rather than chocolate and i found this fab recipe! i’m putting a little twist to it. serving it with a small scoop of mango&raspberry sorbet and topping it off with toasted coconut that i made. i’m sure it will be a hit tonight! thanks for your great recipes!
blessings