Easy Lime Cake with Whipped Coconut Cream
At some point over the past couple weeks, this winter went from beautiful/sparkly/easy to joke about the frigid cold to good god I gotta get out of here. Like furreal. Like now.
It’s around this time every year that I (and probably most other Minnesotans) begin to lose it. Sure, we’re nice, and we joke about the weather, and tend to avoid complaining out loud, but that’s quite enough now, you know?
Lately I’ve been staring at our 2 patio chairs, angled on our outdoor table like 2 friends huddled around a fire. Except instead of a fire it’s a mix of thick ice and fresh, heavy snow. During the spring/summer/fall we eat dinner, play card games, drink chilled wine, and start our mornings sitting in pajamas and sipping oversized coffee mugs at that patio table. I’m ready for those patio moments again.
Beyond the wretched weather, this winter has been a somewhat turbulent one. I won’t bore you with the details, but I’m ready for that feeling that comes with spring – the one that brings a shift in the day-to-day monotony of grey winter. The one that makes you feel refreshed and ready to make the most of every day. I suppose the ability to walk outside without feeling like you’re getting kicked in the face would be okay, too.
Unfortunately, in Minnesota you just don’t know when spring will spring. Or when it will spring, and then hit you with a blizzard in May. It’s a roll of the dice, really.
While waiting, I’ll pass the time by eating tropical cake. A lazy gal’s tropical cake that’s as no-fuss as possible (cause who wants to do ANYTHING in this weather, amiright?). You’re just a few steps to cake happiness: mix, throw in a 9-inch cake pan, beat coconut cream, then use a spoon to blop it on top of the cake. blop? sure.
The resulting cake is soft, moist, and perfectly sweet with a light lime flavor. It also happens to be vegan, because it’s based off of my birthday cake, and that cake rocked my world.
This was my first experience with coconut whipped cream, and I just might be a changed woman. Smooth, rich, just lightly coconutty, and the perfect complement to the lime cake.
Give yourself a tropical food hug, y’all. You deserve it.
Easy Lime Cake with Whipped Coconut Cream
Super moist lime cake topped with fluffy whipped coconut cream. Easy, pretty, and great for beating the winter blues!
Yield: 1 cake (12 servings)
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
Easy Lime Cake
- 1 1/2 cup unbleached cake flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cups granulated sugar (or raw sugar, processed until fine)
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoon lime zest
- 1 cup coconut milk (light or full fat)
Whipped Coconut Cream
- 1 (15-ounce) can coconut cream, chilled
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (or raw sugar, processed until fine)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the sugar and lime zest. Use your fingers to rub the lime zest into the sugar. Add the coconut oil and lime juice and beat until combined.
- Alternate adding the flour and the coconut milk to the batter, starting with the flour. Before adding the last splash of coconut milk, mix the batter enough to eliminate any lumps. Add the remaining milk, mixing until just combined.
- Grease one 9-inch pan and line with parchment paper. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Let sit in the pan for at least 10 minutes before carefully flipping onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in the fridge until you’re ready to frost.
- Scoop the coconut cream into a large bowl, which has been chilled in the fridge for 10 minutes. Beat it on high until soft peaks form. Beat in the vanilla and sugar.
- Use a spoon to decoratively frost the top of the cake with coconut cream. Lick the spoon and the bowl after you're done (that part's important).
this looks amazing!
This looks so delicious. I love key lime pie but its sooo rich.
I made this cake this weekend for my sister’s birthday (with a coconut and vanilla icing instead of the whipped cream because I couldn’t find coconut cream where I live in France) ; everybody loved it ! It’s very refreshing, thank you ;)
my whipped coconut cream turned out quite watery, even after extensive beating. have i maybe overbeaten or should i just keep beating until i get the right consistency?
Oh no! Are you sure you used coconut cream and not coconut milk? Did you chill it first?
I’m sure I used coconut cream.. I don’t think it was cold enough.. but after I spread it on the cake and left it in the fridge for a while, it turned out great and became deliciously fluffy!! Brilliant recipe, thanks so much!
what’s coconut cream? like normal cream but from coconuts? or more like peanut butter a purée from coconuts?
(I have to look if we have something like this in germany)
It’s like coconut milk but has less water. If you can’t find it, you can use a can of full fat coconut milk, flip the can upside down, refrigerate it overnight, then when you open the can pour out the liquid on top and use the cream at the bottom of the can. Hope that helps!
Is it possible top make this with gluten free flour? I have a celiac friend but this looks amazing.
I haven’t tried making this cake with gluten free flour, so I couldn’t say. Let me know if you try it!
I ended up making it using cake flour. I followed the recipe and measurements and it is super thin and moist. Is this correct? It seems as though it is not cooked long enough on the bottom however any longer and the edges would have been really brown. Could this be made in a smaller silicone tin to perhaps make it look a little higher? Or would that effect the baking time?
I’m sorry it turned out thin for you! Lots of factors can influence the height of a cake, including your oven, climate, or the slightest discrepancy in flour amounts. It’s definitely a moist cake, but it shouldn’t be thinner than in the pictures. You could try a smaller pan, but I believe you would need to adjust the baking time.
can you make two and make it a layer cake.
Yes you can! This is actually adapted from an earlier layer-cake recipe of mine, so you should just be able to double everything and it’ll be good to go.
Hello,
this is maybe just me being dense, but step 2 mentions spices, but there aren’t any spices on the ingredients list? I’m going to make this at the weekend as it looks amazing :-D
For the cake: Do you have to use coconut milk, like in a can or a refrigerated variety in a container? Thanks!
Coconut milk from the can! Another type of milk may work, but the fat content and flavor of coconut milk works best.
I made this cake 3 or 4 times now, and it’s been getting rave reviews every time! Last weekend I sold it at a mini-festival, making many people happy with it. Just wanted to share and say thank you!
Also, have you or has anyone here tried to make this cake with honey or maple syrup (or maybe palm or coconut sugar)? I normally eat sugar free and was wondering if it would be possible to adapt the recipe (but I haven’t dared to try it myself yet, as it is so good the way it is ;))
Have recently found your website and recipes. We have begun to feature them on our site so our readers can find them and your awesome website. http://veryveganrecipes.com/vegan-lime-cake-with-whipped-cream/
Thank you so much!
My cake came out really greasy, what did I do??! Did I add too much coconut milk?