Lime Cake

Close up of a cut into cake with lime drizzle and lime icing toppings.

5 from 2 votes

This lime cake is an easy bake to knock together and it tastes amazing. I've made the cake with lime zest & juice and topped it with lime drizzle and a lime-flavoured glace icing. This lime drizzle cake is loaded with lively, zesty flavour.

Prep Time15

Cook Time30

Total Time45

Course: Afternoon tea, Dessert

Cuisine: British, Worldwide

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings:

Calories: 279kcal

Author: Jane Coupland

Equipment

1 x 1lb loaf tin

Ingredients

125 g Baking margarine or butter
125 g Caster sugar
2 Eggs large, free-range
125 g Plain flour (all-purpose)
1 teaspoon Baking powder
¼ teaspoon Salt
4 Limes
60 g Granulated sugar
60 g Icing sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350℉ and grease & line a 1lb loaf tin with baking parchment or place a loaf liner in the tin.
Cream the baking margarine and caster sugar together until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition.
Finely grate the zest of 1 lime then squeeze the juice from it. Mix the juice (30ml) and zest into the cake batter. If your limes are small you can add the zest from a second lime.
Sieve the flour, baking powder & salt over the flour and fold it in using a large metal spoon.
Spoon the batter into then prepared tin and bake for around 30 minutes until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean.
Meanwhile, finely grate the zest of 1 more lime. Squeeze the juice from this lime and one more (if you grated the zest of a second lime earlier, use this lime) to get 60ml of juice.
As soon as the cake comes out of the oven poke holes all over the top of the cake using a cocktail stick. Mix the granulated sugar with the lime juice and zest. Spoon it over the hot cake. Leave the cake in the tin to cool completely.
Optional: grate the zest on the remaining lime. Mix the icing sugar with enough juice from the lime to make icing that is firm enough to be drizzled over the top of the cake without it pouring off. Use a blunt knife to drizzle the icing over the cake then scatter the lime zest over it. Leave for 1 hour for the icing to set.

Notes

Use the correct tin size. In this instance, use a 1lb (500g) loaf tin.
Regardless of whether or not your baking tin is non-stick always grease and line it or use a (paid link) loaf tin liner. Your cake will be easier to remove from it as a result.
The best technique to weigh ingredients accurately is with a set of (paid link) digital kitchen scales and the gram system of measurement.
Using room temperature ingredients helps the cake to bake evenly.
Grate the lime zest finely so it infuses the cake without affecting the texture.
Do not mix the sugar and lime juice for the drizzle topping ahead of time as the sugar will dissolve.
It is imperative to add the drizzle topping whilst the cake is hot to encourage it to soak into the cake.
However, it is also vital not to add the glace icing until the cake is completely cold, otherwise this will run off the cake.

Variations

Bundt – pour the batter into a small bundt tin for a different presentation of this easy lime cake.
Mint – add 10g finely chopped fresh mint to the cake batter and a further 5g to the drizzle topping for a mint and lime loaf cake
Pistachios – these nuts go so well with lime, so fold 60g finely chopped pistachio nuts into the cake batter before baking.
Poppy seeds – often paired with lemon or orange, poppy seeds also work well in this lime loaf cake. Fold 1.5 tablespoons of poppy seeds into the cake batter.
Coconut – regular readers will know all about my soft spot for desiccated coconut. Fold 30g into the batter to turn this into a delightfully tropical coconut and lime cake recipe

Nutrition