Key Lime Pound Cake Recipe is the recipe that Lucia makes every Florida-inspired summer gathering and every most refreshing individual citrus celebration when she wants to create the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely tropical individual pound cake that delivers the most vibrantly tart and the most properly complex individual key lime character through the most brilliantly generous individual use of both the most freshly squeezed individual key lime juice AND the most finely grated individual key lime zest — the most distinctly aromatic and the most properly fragrant rind that contains the most concentrated individual key lime essential oils that produce the most proper and the most genuinely extraordinary individual key lime character distinct from every more mild ordinary Persian lime.
The addition of sour cream rather than plain milk as the most primary liquid individual element produces the most beautifully dense and the most properly moist individual pound cake crumb with the most subtle additional tang that perfectly amplifies the most essential individual key lime tart character throughout every individual bite — a most completely different and the most genuinely superior individual approach to the most classically beloved key lime pound cake.
Key Lime Pound Cake Recipe is the most easy and deeply extraordinary 1-hour 20-minute moist key lime sour cream Bundt or loaf pound cake made by creaming butter and sugar adding eggs sour cream key lime zest and juice alternating with flour baking at 350°F for 55 to 65 minutes and drizzling with key lime powdered sugar glaze. Come follow us on Pinterest where we share beautiful cake recipes and easy citrus favorites from our kitchen every single week.
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Key Lime Pound Cake Recipe

This Key Lime Pound Cake Recipe is the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely vibrant individual tropical citrus pound cake that delivers the most properly tart and the most beautifully complex individual key lime character through the most brilliantly effective double-key-lime approach of both freshly squeezed juice and freshly grated zest — the most completely irreplaceable combination that no single-element individual key lime approach can replicate with the same most authentically tropical key lime individual character.
The sour cream is the most completely transformative individual ingredient substitution in this version over more conventional milk-based individual pound cakes. Sour cream provides the most essential additional fat and individual tang at a significantly higher individual fat content than buttermilk or plain milk — producing the most properly dense and the most beautifully rich individual pound cake crumb that simultaneously amplifies the most essential tart individual key lime character and moistens the most extraordinary individual crumb. Our Key Lime Pound Cake makes a beautifully equally key lime and equally loaf-format companion for a complete and wonderful key lime citrus collection.
Ingredients Needed for This Key Lime Pound Cake Recipe
For the Key Lime Sour Cream Pound Cake:
- 2½ cups All-Purpose Flour
- ½ tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter, softened
- 2 cups Granulated Sugar
- 4 large Eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup Sour Cream, room temperature
- ⅓ cup Fresh Key Lime Juice
- 2 tbsp Fresh Key Lime Zest (approximately 8 to 10 key limes)
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
For the Key Lime Glaze:
- 1½ cups Powdered Sugar, sifted
- 3 to 4 tbsp Fresh Key Lime Juice
- Optional: additional key lime zest for garnish
How to Make This Key Lime Pound Cake Recipe
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a Bundt pan the most thoroughly with butter and flour, or grease a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the softened butter on medium-high for 2 minutes until the most creamy. Add the sugar and beat for a full 3 minutes until the most light and the most beautifully pale and fluffy. Add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, beating the most thoroughly after each addition, cara mia.
In a small bowl, whisk together the room-temperature sour cream, fresh key lime juice, key lime zest, and vanilla extract until the most smoothly combined.
With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture in three additions with the sour cream key lime mixture in two additions, beginning and ending with the flour, mixing only until just combined between each.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the top. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes for a Bundt pan or 60 to 70 minutes for a loaf pan, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes then invert or lift onto a wire rack to cool completely.
For the glaze, whisk the sifted powdered sugar and fresh key lime juice until the most smooth and drizzle-able. Pour over the completely cooled individual cake and allow to set before slicing.
How to Serve This Key Lime Pound Cake Recipe
Serve at room temperature after the most completely set key lime glaze for the most properly firm and the most beautifully glossy individual glaze finish. Garnish with additional fresh key lime zest scattered over the most completely set individual glaze surface and optional edible flowers for the most completely gorgeous and the most naturally tropical individual presentation.
Alongside a cold glass of key lime agua fresca or a cup of chamomile tea, this individual pound cake creates the most completely refreshing and the most genuinely tropical individual afternoon dessert pairing. Our Strawberry Lemon Blondies make a beautifully equally citrus-tart and equally individually vibrant companion for a complete and wonderful citrus dessert collection.
How to Store This Key Lime Pound Cake Recipe
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Refrigerate for up to one week — the sour cream in the batter keeps the individual crumb the most beautifully moist throughout. The glazed individual cake actually develops the most extraordinary individual flavor on day two as the key lime deepens throughout the crumb. Freeze the unglazed individual cake wrapped tightly for up to 3 months — glaze on the day of serving.
Tips to Make This Key Lime Pound Cake Recipe

Grease the Bundt pan the most meticulously and the most completely — including every individual groove and the most detailed individual center tube — using softened butter applied with a pastry brush, then dust most thoroughly with flour, tapping to remove all excess. Any individual ungreased spot produces the most devastating sticking when the hot individual cake is inverted.
Do not use bottled key lime juice for this recipe — fresh key lime juice pressed from the most individual genuine key limes provides the most authentic and the most vibrantly tart individual key lime character that defines the most genuine Florida-style individual key lime pound cake experience.
Helpful Notes for This Key Lime Pound Cake Recipe
Key limes are smaller than Persian limes and require the most significant individual squeezing effort — approximately 8 to 10 individual key limes for the most one-third cup of juice specified in this recipe. Key lime juice available in small bottles at most specialty grocery stores substitutes when fresh individual key limes are unavailable, though the individual flavor is the most noticeably less bright and the most less vibrantly aromatic than the most freshly squeezed individual result.
This individual pound cake is the most perfectly make-ahead dessert for any gathering — bake and glaze two days before serving and store most tightly covered at room temperature for the most completely developed key lime flavor and the most beautifully set individual glaze.
Variation of This Key Lime Pound Cake Recipe
Maria made a version folding one cup of sweetened shredded coconut through the batter for the most completely extraordinary and the most tropically vibrant individual key lime coconut pound cake. Teresa tried a cream cheese glaze — beaten cream cheese with powdered sugar and key lime juice — in place of the simple powdered sugar glaze for the most completely extraordinary and the most deeply tangy individual key lime cream cheese glazed pound cake.
For a blueberry key lime version, fold one cup of fresh blueberries tossed in one tablespoon of flour through the batter for the most completely extraordinary and the most vibrantly colorful individual blueberry key lime sour cream pound cake. Our Strawberry Lemon Blondies make a beautifully equally citrus-tart and equally spring-vibrant companion for a complete and wonderful citrus dessert collection.
FAQs About This Key Lime Pound Cake Recipe
What is the difference between key limes and regular limes?
Key limes — also known as Mexican or West Indian limes — are significantly smaller than conventional Persian limes, the most yellow rather than the most vibrant green, and contain the most distinctly more aromatic and the most more properly tart individual juice with a unique floral individual note that Persian limes completely lack. This most specific individual key lime character — both the most tart and the most properly aromatic — is the defining and the most irreplaceable individual characteristic of any authentic key lime dessert.
Can I use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream?
Full-fat Greek yogurt substitutes for sour cream in the same quantity most effectively — the individual fat content and individual tang of full-fat Greek yogurt most closely approximates sour cream for the most similarly moist and the most properly textured individual pound cake result. Non-fat or low-fat Greek yogurt lacks the most essential individual fat content for the most beautifully dense and the most properly moist individual pound cake crumb.
Why might the pound cake crack on top?
A crack down the center top of a pound cake — whether in a loaf or Bundt format — is the most completely normal and the most expected individual result of proper pound cake baking. The most natural crack forms as steam escapes through the most developing crust during the most dramatic initial individual rise phase of baking. The most beautifully cracked top is the most authentic and the most universally recognized hallmark of the most properly baked and the most genuinely homemade individual pound cake.
Conclusion
This Key Lime Pound Cake Recipe is the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely tropical moist sour cream key lime pound cake that makes every summer gathering and every citrus-celebration feel genuinely and completely magnificent through the most vibrantly fresh key lime juice and zest and the most beautifully dense sour cream crumb and the most gorgeous glossy key lime glaze in every single perfectly sliced and completely irresistible key lime pound cake recipe slice.
We hope it brings the same deeply joyful Florida-inspired key lime tropical pound cake brightness and the same completely delighted table to your kitchen that it has always brought to ours. Make it, share it, and come back to tell us all about it. With all our love, Maria, Lucia, and Teresa
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Key Lime Pound Cake Recipe The Most Easy Moist Bundt Sour Cream Butter Fresh Key Lime Juice Zest Key Lime Glaze Drizzle Loaf
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes including cooling
- Yield: 10 to 12 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
The most extraordinary moist Key Lime Pound Cake Recipe made by preheating oven to 350°F greasing and flouring Bundt pan or lining 9×5 loaf pan whisking 2 1/2 cups flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt beating 1 cup softened butter medium-high 2 minutes adding 2 cups sugar beating 3 minutes light pale and fluffy adding 4 room temperature eggs one at a time beating thoroughly whisking 1 cup room temperature sour cream 1/3 cup fresh key lime juice 2 tbsp key lime zest and 1 tsp vanilla on low alternating flour in 3 additions with sour cream mixture in 2 additions beginning and ending with flour mixing just combined pouring into pan smoothing baking Bundt 55 to 65 minutes loaf 60 to 70 minutes until toothpick clean cooling 15 minutes inverting on rack cooling completely whisking 1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar with 3 to 4 tbsp key lime juice to smooth drizzle pouring over cooled cake allowing to set. A completely perfect moist sour cream key lime Bundt loaf glaze pound cake recipe.
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Unsalted Butter softened
2 cups Granulated Sugar
4 large Eggs room temperature
1 cup Sour Cream room temperature
1/3 cup Fresh Key Lime Juice approximately 8 to 10 key limes
2 tbsp Fresh Key Lime Zest
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar sifted for glaze
3 to 4 tbsp Fresh Key Lime Juice for glaze
Additional key lime zest for garnish optional
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F 175°C. Grease and flour Bundt pan most meticulously or line 9×5 loaf pan.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Beat softened butter medium-high 2 minutes until creamy. Add sugar. Beat 3 minutes light pale and fluffy.
4. Add eggs one at a time. Beat thoroughly after each.
5. Whisk room temperature sour cream, key lime juice, zest, and vanilla in small bowl.
6. On low alternate flour in 3 additions with sour cream mixture in 2 additions beginning and ending with flour. Mix just combined.
7. Pour into pan. Smooth top.
8. Bake Bundt 55 to 65 minutes or loaf 60 to 70 minutes until toothpick clean.
9. Cool 15 minutes in pan. Invert or lift onto wire rack. Cool completely.
10. Whisk powdered sugar and key lime juice to smooth drizzle-able glaze.
11. Pour over completely cooled cake. Allow to set before slicing.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 65 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Cake, Pound Cake, Summer, Citrus
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American, Florida
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 420
- Sugar: 42g
- Sodium: 220mg
- Fat: 20g
- Saturated Fat: 12g
- Unsaturated Fat: 7g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 57g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 5g
- Cholesterol: 120mg
Keywords: key lime pound cake recipe, easy moist key lime pound cake recipe sour cream Bundt fresh key lime juice zest glaze, best key lime sour cream pound cake Bundt loaf glaze, fresh key lime sour cream dense moist pound cake
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