Key Lime Cake (A Doctored Cake Mix Recipe) (2024)

This moist, delicious, and easy Key Lime Cake recipe starts with a cake mix! It has so much flavor and is perfect for spring and summer celebrations.

In this recipe, Key Lime Cake layers are filled with a luscious key lime curd and whipped cream cheese frosting. A few added ingredients have transformed a simple white cake mix into a memorable key lime cake that is guaranteed to become a favorite. We just love light and flavorful cakes with fruit!

Nobody would ever guess that this key lime layer cake begins with a simple cake mix.

How to Make Key Lime Cake from a Cake Mix

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 8 inch round cake pans. (We like to line our pans with parchment paper also). In the bowl of your mixer, add the white cake mix, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and zest of 2 limes.

• Whisk these dry ingredients for 30 seconds to combine. Add the melted butter, egg whites, lime juice, milk and vegetable oil.

• Mix the cake batter for one minute at medium speed, scrape the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl then mix one minute more.

• Divide the batter between three prepared 8 inch round pans. Bake for approximately 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center can be removed with just a few crumbs attached. Allow the key lime cake layers to cool 5 to 10 minutes then turn out of pans.

Can This Cake be Frozen?

Freezing cake layers is an optional step but one that I like to do whenever time allows. It doesn't matter if I'm making scratch cake layers or cake layers from a cake mix- We find that wrapping and freezing the cake layers while they are still warm adds a boost of moisture to cakes (and this key lime cake is already moist on it's own)!

Another benefit of freezing is that it means that you can bake your cake layers well in advance- yay! In fact, cake layers that are tightly wrapped and frozen stay fresh for up to three months.

Finally, some bakers and cake decorators prefer to work with partially frozen cake layers when assembling their cakes because they are less fragile and can be easily handled.

Notes on Wrapping and Freezing Cake Layers

For best results, freeze your cake layers individually and wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and then foil while they are still warm.

We allow the freshly baked cake layers to cool on a cooling rack still in their pans for about 10 minutes before flipping them out and wrapping. I like to place each layer on a foil-wrapped cake board before wrapping the and freezing for additional support. (Wrapping the cake boards in foil means that the boards can be unwrapped and re-used).

To thaw the cake layers, simply place on the kitchen counter still wrapped until condensation droplets form on the foil. Then, unwrap and continue to thaw.

Key Lime Curd and Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

The Key Lime cake layers have a nice, light lime flavor. We wanted to bring in additional lime flavor with the filling, and lime curd is a great choice!

We've made lime curd in the past for other cakes, and for today's recipe, we used Nellie & Joe's Key West Lime Juice as a substitute for freshly squeezed lime juice. It worked great and is delicious! However, you could also use freshly squeezed lime juice in the recipe as well!

In addition to the lime curd filling, we also added a wonderful, easy whipped cream cheese frosting between the cake layers and frosted the cake around the sides with it as well.

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting is a combination of cream cheese frosting (a cream cheese and powdered sugar combination) with freshly whipped cream folded into it.

The consistency of the whipped cream cheese frosting is much like whipped cream although a bit more stable.

After spreading the top of the cake with the final layer of key lime curd, I frosted around the sides of the cake with whipped cream cheese frosting and added a rosette border around the top and shell border around the base using a 2D piping tip.

**This frosting is very soft- if you need to do much traveling with the cake, or if you are in a very hot climate, I would opt for a frosting that gets nice and firm when chilled so that it is easier to travel with.

Other favorite Lime Cakes

If you love lime desserts, we have more cakes for you to try! We have a delicious homemade Key Lime Pound Cake, a Lime Cake from Scratch, Coconut Lime Cake, Margarita Cupcakes, and more.

Also, don't miss our full roundup of the BEST Cakes for Spring and Summer! We have so many light and fruity cake recipes to share with you!