❤ Key Lime Pound Cake With Key Lime Cream Cheese Icing

INGREDIENTS:

🔸4 sticks butter, that’s 1 pound, room temperature

🔸3 cups sugar

🔸6 large eggs plus 2 yolks, room temperature

🔸3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

🔸1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh key lime juice. If Key limes are not available conventional limes are perfectly fine. Stay away from the bottled Key lime juice unless you like a distinct metallic taste.

🔸1/4 cup evaporated milk, (I always keep a good number of those small, 5 ounce cans in my pantry.)

🔸1/4 cup grated Key lime zest

🔸1 teaspoon vanilla

◼Key Lime Cream Cheese Icing:

🔸8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

🔸3-4 tablespoons butter, room temperature

🔸4 cups confectioner’s sugar

🔸2 tablespoons freshly squeezed Key lime juice

🔸2-3 teaspoons grated key lime zest

🔸1 teaspoon vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS:

🔹Preheat oven to 325°. Cover inside of 10 inch tube pan with non-stick spray. My pan is 10 1/2″ and it’s just fine. Set aside.

🔹Using a stand-up mixer or electric hand-held, beat the butter well until light in color and fluffy scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

🔹Add sugar and again beat well for at least 5 minutes. I use a stand up mixer and beat the mixture 5-10 minutes. I don’t like a “grainy” cake.

🔹One at a time add the eggs and beat only until the yellow disappears.

🔹Add lime zest to batter and mix to combine.

🔹Stir juice, milk and vanilla together.

🔹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 just enough to incorporate all ingredients. You don’t want a tough pound cake!

🔹Pour evenly into the tube pan and tap pan on the counter to loosen any air bubbles.

🔹Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until cake tester comes out with a few moist crumbs but not wet.

🔹Cool on a cooling rack for 10-15 minutes in the pan then transfer from pan to cooling rack and allow to cool another hour or until completely cool.