Lime Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
I tested this recipe 10 different times, with different ratios, temperatures, with and without cake bands and when I tell you this is THE cake I mean it. It is quite possible the most moist cake I have ever eaten without a simple syrup soaker. It is decadent and yet light and perfect for when you want cake but don’t want the effort of a layer cake.
Notes on Sour Cream
Sour cream in baked goods is an absolute genius ingredient and it does a lot of heavy lifting in this recipe. The fat content helps the cake stay tender and moist, the acidity helps boost the effectiveness of the baking soda and baking powder, and the tang adds a complexity to the flavour.
Keys to Success
The two biggest factors in how this recipe will turn out are the temperature of your ingredients and how you measure them.
Your ingredients need (and I don’t use that lightly) to be room temperature. Not slightly less cold than straight from the fridge, they need to be true room temperature. If they aren’t your cake will not mix as evenly and will dome in the oven and your icing will have lumps of butter and cream cheese.
Rubbing your lime zest in with your sugar will bring out the oils that hold all of that delicious flavour! It’s truly amazing how such a small step can make a big difference in the end result!
If using an 8″ round pan it needs to have sides that reach at least 3″, If it doesn’t the cake will overflow the pan. If you are worried about overflowing batter, setting your cake pan on a baking sheet in the oven is a great way to prevent spills from becoming nightmarish messes.
Prep (Optional)
This cake holds up very well, even after two days in the fridge it was real treat! Before icing the cake it can be baked and wrapped tightly for up to four days, but once the cake is iced it will need to be refrigerated.
The brown butter can be made up to two weeks in advance of making the frosting, just bring to room temperature before beating with the cream cheese.
Equipment
- Mixing Bowls
- Whisk
- Spatula
- Kitchen Scale
- Measuring Spoons
- 8″x3″ Cake Pan
- Parchment Paper
- Pot
- Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer
Lime Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
Course: Dessert8-10
servingsA super moist sour cream based cake with rich and tangy brown butter cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
- Sour Cream Lime Cake
300g White Sugar
3 Limes, Zested and Juiced (1/3 Cup Lime Juice)
3 Eggs (Room Temperature)
250g Full Fat Sour Cream (Room Temperature)
2/3 Cup Milk (Room Temperature)
160g Vegetable Oil
330g Cake Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
0.5 tsp Baking Soda
0.5 tsp Kosher Salt (I prefer Diamond Crystal)
- Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
170g Unsalted Butter
250g Cream Cheese (Room Temperature)
180g Icing Sugar
1 Lime, Zested and Juiced
- Garnish (Optional)
1/2 Batch Pistachio Brittle
Directions
- Brown Butter
- If you plan on frosting your cake the same day you bake it you will want to make the brown butter before you do anything else. Cut your butter into 0.5″ cubes and place in a small pot over medium heat.
- Once the butter has melted stir constantly. The first stage in the browning process will be foaming, as the butter heats it will become a thick and opaque foam (think tiny little micro bubbles) but you wont see any brown bits yet, just keep stirring! As the butter continues to cook the foam will disappear and it will just look like melted butter again. In the third stage the butter will start to froth, the bubbles will be a lot larger and you will notice the colour changing.
- Continue cooking the butter until the froth has disappeared and the the milk solids are a deep amber.
- Remove from the heat and cool slightly before moving to the fridge. Once the butter is in the fridge stir every 10 minutes. We want to cool down the butter so that it is solid yet still soft for the frosting.
- Sour Cream Lime Cake
- Preheat your oven to 325F and then grease and line a 8″x3″ cake pan with parchment.
- In a small bowl mix together your milk and lime juice.
- Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a large bowl rub the lime zest in with the sugar for approximately 20 seconds until they are thoroughly combined and the oils have been expressed.
- To the bowl with the sugar add your eggs and whisk together until the sugar is starting to dissolve and the mixture is starting to fluff up. Add your sour cream, oil and milk then whisk to combine.
- You will add your flour in 3 parts. After each addition you will whisk until it is almost combined but there is still some dry flour. This will prevent over mixing. After the final addition of flour mix until there is no dry flour left and then transfer to your prepared pan. Place your pan on top of a baking sheet and transfer to the oven for 60-75 minutes or until a cake tester comes out dry, and the cake is starting to pull away from the side of the pan.
- Cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then transfer the cake to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a stand mixer (or a large bowl with a hand mixer) at medium speed fully mix your room temperature brown butter and cream cheese. This will take approximately one minute.
- Scrape the sides of your bowl and then sift in half of your icing sugar, turn your mixer to low and mix until fully combined and then add the remaining icing sugar and continue to mix on low until combined.
- Scrape down the bottom and sides again, add the juice and zest from your lime and then slowly increase the speed on your mixer to medium high and mix for an additional 30 seconds – 1 minute until light and fluffy.
- Frost your cake and serve!
Notes
- If you make the brown butter ahead of time bring it out of the fridge one hour before you plan to use it.
- This recipe uses cake flour which has a low protein content and is quite clumpy straight from the package. For this reason it is important that the flour is sifted before adding to the wet ingredients or else you will end up with pockets of dry flour.
