- Hey, I'm John Kanell, and today on "Preppy Kitchen",
we're making a zingy delicious key lime cake.
So let's get started.
First off, set your oven to 350,
and into a large bowl, we're gonna add 2 1/2 half cups,
or 300 grams, of all-purpose flour.
I didn't turn the scale on.
Boop, boop, boop.
That's okay.
Turn your scale on. 300 grams.
Perfect.
To puff things up,
I want 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
and 1/2 a teaspoon of baking soda.
You use baking soda when you have an acid
that it could react to.
So in this key lime cake, the acidic key lime juice
will activate the baking soda.
The more you know.
For some contrast,
we're gonna add 1 teaspoon of kosher sea salt.
Sea salt is actually a little bit mellower-tasting
than like iodized table salt.
So be forewarned.
Our scale's done for the moment.
We're gonna give this a whisk
to distribute everything nice and even.
If you've ever had a cake come out
and you see like this divot, it's happened to me too,
and you're like, "Ugh,
what's that random spot where it just didn't rise?"
When you whisked, the baking soda and baking powder
didn't get evenly distributed.
So there was like little space that had no leavening agent.
Set that aside.
And now it's time to get our stand mixer out.
Into my stand mixer,
I'm adding 3/4 of a cup of veggie oil.
And if you're wondering,
"Why aren't you using butter today?"
It's because this is a big layer cake,
and the flavor is gonna be key lime
with some delicious cream cheese frosting to cover it.
The cake itself is gonna be stored in the refrigerator,
I guarantee you, and you don't want to cut into the cake
and have a hard crumbly-like situation.
Butter cakes need to be room temperature,
so they're lovely fresh, like freshly made.
They're lovely like in a loaf cake
where you can leave it on the counter.
But for a big layer cake that you're gonna store,
you wanna use at least some oil
to make it nice and soft when it's cold.
For added richness and a tender crumb,
I'm adding 3/4 of a cup of sour cream.
If you don't have sour cream at the house
or you can't get it, go ahead and use full fat Greek yogurt.
You're gonna get a similar tangy, delicious feeling from it.
And to sweeten things up,
1 1/2 cups or 300 grams of granulated sugar.
So the sugar and the sour cream
do interesting things in a cake.
Sugar makes things sweet, but it also makes the cake soft.
If you've ever decreased sugar in a recipe,
it'll still come out.
Like if you wanna make this with 200 grams or 1 cup,
it's gonna work,
but the cake is not gonna be as soft and tender.
You'll be able to like feel the difference on your tongue.
Sour cream does something similar.
It's a weak acid,
and it's going to inhibit the gluten
from bonding and forming,
and it's gonna give you a more tender crumb.
These two things working together, muah,
chef's kiss of deliciousness.
All right, grab a whisk attachment,
and we're gonna mix this up till it's nice and smooth.
(blender whirring)
About one to two minutes on medium speed.
And I'm gonna scrape the bowl down,
'cause you never know what's lurking underneath.
Looks smooth and delicious.
I just wanna make sure there's no lump of sour cream
or sugar at the very bottom of my bowl.
And if you wanted to, you could definitely make this cake
with a hand mixer and a big bowl.
And if you don't have a hand mixer, a whisk will do too.
You'll just be doing some more work yourself.
This recipe needs three large room temperature eggs.
The eggs are gonna hold things together
and give our cake some structure and some more richness.
So I'm just gonna crack these
into that measuring cup I used earlier.
I'm on shell patrol.
I made an omelet this morning and one egg just shattered.
Like, look at this. See?
It's a little shell fragment right there.
You trickster. How dare you.
All right, one more.
That would've been a disaster in my cake.
You don't want a crunchy cake.
Now I'm gonna add the eggs one at a time
while I'm mixing on medium.
Bloop.
Let the first one incorporate before you go onto the next.
And I realized just now
that there was one bit of prep I forgot
for this key lime cake.
Haven't juiced those key limes yet, have I?
That's okay, you can juice them at any point.
So let's take a little break from the mixer
and do that next.
Okay, three eggs, no shells.
That looks great.
So smooth and nice.
Oh my gosh, the sugar's really dissolved, which is great.
I'm setting this aside for just a moment.
And now let's get those key limes.
So you don't need that many.
And if you can't find key limes, a lime will do.
If you can't find a lime, then,
then you can buy some key lime juice from the grocery store.
It'll be okay.
Or make a different cake. I don't know.
So let's grab a cutting board.
These delicious key limes are very small,
so there's a trade off, look.
Tiny, annoying to juice.
Large, I can find them everywhere.
These guys are a little bit less acidic,
a more floral taste, and that's basically it.
These have seeds, these don't.
Annoying, easy.
So, you can definitely use limes
if you can't get the key limes.
That's all I'm gonna say.
I'm gonna zest my key limes with my rasp.
If you have limes laying around the house
or you wanna just cheat, go ahead and use lime zest.
That'll be the same.
Citrus zest has so much flavorful oil in it,
that it is like, it's a flavor bomb.
So we're gonna add this to the cake
with just a little bit of the juice.
You're gonna be amazed
by how zingy and light and wonderful it is.
I love this cake.
When you zest something,
it's easier to hold it still and use the rasp to move.
So one hand is still,
and one hand is tracing the edge of the fruit,
which is very difficult on a tiny little fruit like this.
But still, it'll work.
And I'm saying 1 tablespoon is three key limes.
That's my informal measurement.
Grab a sharp knife and carefully cut your key limes in half.
Now daintily squeeze them into a measuring cup.
I want 2 tablespoons,
so it'll be several key limes or one to two regular limes.
This cake, I think, comes from our key lime capital,
the Florida Keys.
And if you love key limes,
I have a key lime pie on the channel.
So click up here for that.
Switching hands. There we go, fresh fingers.
This is a great cake to make
if you don't have any paper cuts, I don't.
Hm. This measuring cup looks so empty,
but I've done so many limes.
Okay, I think that's two tablespoons.
Let's see.
Back to our mixer, we're adding this in.
Fingers crossed for two tablespoons, one, and two.
Every last drop.
That's just two tablespoons.
It smells so good.
Mm.
I'm also adding my tablespoon of key lime zest.
Look how pretty that color is by the way.
And to round out my flavors, one teaspoon of vanilla.
You know, a little secret.
I like to make my vanilla with some dark rum,
so not just vodka, a little dark rum.
And it adds so much flavor, especially for a cake like this.
It's giving like very tropical cocktail vibes.
We're gonna mix this up until it's nice and combined.
(mixer whirring)
Just a few seconds is all you need.
One thing I'll tell you though,
make sure to get all the lime zest off of your beater.
(whisk tapping)
That's where the flavor's at.
It's time to combine.
And I'm gonna do this step by hand.
I don't wanna overmix the batter.
When you overmix cake batter, you're activating the gluten.
It's gonna be a little bit tougher,
but that's where you get that gummy dense cake.
Fluffy light cake is just folded together.
Let's be careful.
I'm gonna use a spatula for this part.
Grab three eight inch cake pans and we're gonna prep these
just with some baking spray and parchment rounds.
But if you want, you can butter and flour them instead.
This is not a sticky cake, it's gonna be fine.
But I like using parchment rounds for all my cakes.
It's just like the foolproof insurance
that your cake is not gonna get stuck in the pan or crack.
A parchment paper round and call it a day.
Now we're gonna combine,
but before I do that,
you have to take a look at this mixture.
Look at that color and all the flecks of zest in there.
Pour this in and just work it together with your spatula.
(soft upbeat music)
And you're just trying to get it just combined.
So as soon as the flour streaks disappear, you're done.
And as I do this, I'm scraping the bottom of the bowl down
so I know there's no hidden surprises at the end.
Okay, this is all folded together.
I'm gonna distribute the batter evenly
between my three pans.
And in case you're using a scale,
I'll let you know how many grams that is per pan.
And I'm gonna eyeball this first and then adjust as needed.
My guess is like 300 grams-ish per pan.
Hmm, 400,
399,
345, so maybe like 380 grams per pan.
Spread the batter out in the pan
before you pop it into the oven.
And now as an optional step,
I'm going to pop some cake strips onto my pans.
These are just wet fabric strips,
and they help the cake rise evenly,
which is great for a layer cake you're gonna decorate.
Not necessary though, but it's nice to have.
My cake layers are ready to go into the oven.
350 for 15 to 20 minutes
or until the centers are springy to the touch
and a skewer comes out clean.
In the meantime,
we're gonna make our delicious cream cheese frosting.
Let your cakes cool in the pan for about 10 minutes,
then invert them onto a wire rack.
Remove the paper and let them cool completely.
And these guys are so pillowy soft and tender.
Oh my gosh.
While those cool, I'm gonna make this amazing creamy,
scintillating delicious cream cheese frosting.
So grab 1 1/2 cups of nice room temperature,
unsalted butter, and 14 ounces of cream cheese.
Not a full two packages, 14 ounces.
Add the butter and cream cheese
into the bowl of your stand mixer
fitted with a paddle attachment.
Your life's gonna be much easier
if your cream cheese is soft.
Not room temperature normal butter soft,
but like softened cream cheese.
So it should be like that, like very spreadable.
From one package,
two ounces gets reserved for something later.
Full package, that's 14 ounces.
We're gonna cream this together for about a minute
just so it's nice and smooth.
You know what my favorite childhood snack was
when I was left to my own devices?
One was toast with butter
and then peanut butter on top of that.
And then the other one was a tortilla on the flame.
Nice and cooked
with a big log of cream cheese in the middle.
You roll it up and it's a cream cheese burrito.
Try it.
That's the perfect amount for a cream cheese burrito.
To this delicious mixture,
I'm adding eight to nine cups of powdered sugar.
You can add a cup or two in.
And now we're gonna mix on low.
Mix on low until it's combined.
Then add more powdered sugar, a cup at a time.
And alternate with a little bit more key lime juice.
I juiced some more key limes,
and I have about two tablespoons, maybe three here.
Little bit of lime juice, little bit of powdered sugar.
Repeat, repeat, repeat.
Cream cheese frosting
is like one of the most delicious things ever.
The only problem is cream cheese frosting is very slack.
It's a delicate balancing act
between adding enough powdered sugar
that it'll hold its shape, especially for a layer cake,
and making it too sweet, you don't wanna do that.
The lime juice is really gonna give you that acidic kick,
which just makes it feel so balanced.
Pardon the appearance of my mixer.
I know it's getting crazy-looking,
but we'll wipe it off later.
Last little bit of lime juice.
And by the way, I didn't cheat.
Off camera, I was juicing tiny little key limes.
So I really used the key lime juice.
(measuring cup tapping)
For a little extra flavor,
I'm adding 1 teaspoon of vanilla.
I'm gonna let this mix up.
Scrape the bowl down.
Actually, I didn't do that once.
Scrape the bowl down.
You never know what's lurking beneath.
All right, I'm gonna let this mix
for just a couple more minutes,
so I know everything is nice and smooth.
Then it's time to assemble the cake.
So grab your favorite cake plate and let's get to work.
I just gave it a taste while it was finishing its mix.
And I'm gonna add just another half key lime in there
for some more acidity.
And if you really want to go to town,
you could add some lime zest in here as well.
Lime zest, key lime juice.
It'll look really pretty.
(soft upbeat music)
That's nice.
I'm gonna grab about a cup of frosting
and plop that into a piping bag fitted with a star tip
that is like a medium closed star tip,
which is one of my favorites for dollops.
(bag crinkling)
I think that's right.
Set that aside.
And now we're going to build the cake.
Place your first layer down.
And your cake needs to be completely cooled.
I'm gonna add about a cup of frosting on
and then smooth that out.
Yesterday I was making a cake and I tried to rush it,
so I popped the cake layers into the fridge,
which is normally fine,
and they felt cooled to the touch, so I brought them out.
I assembled the cake,
and that heat from the inside of the cake layer
started radiating out and melting everything.
And it was not the most fun
cake decorating experience I've had.
It worked out, but it wasn't fun.
And making a cake should be fun.
That looks nice.
Add the next layer on.
One.
(whimsical upbeat music)
Add the last layer on.
This is important.
At this stage, take a careful look at your cake.
My cake is slanting a bit,
because I didn't add enough frosting right here.
I'm just gonna add some right now.
Just like you're fixing somebody's concrete sidewalk.
We're gonna inject into the cake.
Right here is where I should have added some more frosting.
Just like that.
That lifted it up, and now it's more level.
Good job.
Top your cake with more frosting.
And now at this point,
it's gonna be easier if you have a cake turntable.
This makes things so easy.
This was super cheap.
This is your life saver if you're decorating a cake.
Lift it up, plop it on,
and now you can rotate it and it makes smoothing so easy.
And we're gonna coat the side.
This is almost a crumb coat.
I just wanted to make sure my layers were nice and straight
and everything was covered.
Now I'm gonna add the final bit of frosting
and smooth it out.
Work that frosting down.
And now go for a complete coverage.
I will say, don't go crazy on cream cheese frosting.
It is what it is. It's delicious.
The cake's gonna be beautiful.
Don't worry about it being perfectly smooth.
It's not like an American or Swiss buttercream.
Normally I'd use a bench scraper,
but this cakes stand goes up,
so it's beautiful, I'm gonna use it,
but it's not practical for decorating on the kickstand.
Pull the edge in so it's nice and neat.
And one final, semi smooth for the top.
Don't let the Virgo feelings take over at this point.
Know when to walk away.
I'm talking to myself, not you.
Finish the cake off with a crown of dollops.
(soft upbeat music)
Perfect. Yay!
A final flourish is gonna be some lime zest.
This time, I'm using a regular lime.
Do this part right before you serve,
because the lime zest will dry out.
Just a light sprinkle.
And just for looks, slice of lime on the top.
Give your cake a slice and you're ready to enjoy.
This cake is soft as a cloud. Oh my gosh.
I could cry.
Perfectly kissed with key lime flavor.
So soft,
and that luscious tangy cream cheese frosting
is bringing it all together.
I hope you get a chance to make this recipe.
And if you liked this video, check out my cake playlist.
(soft upbeat music)