This vegan key lime cake is light, fluffy and moist with so much delicious lime flavor. Ideal for a birthday or any special occasion.
This vegan key lime cake was heaps of fun to make. I made it for my sisters birthday. And everyone loved it.
The thing with being a food blogger is if someone is having a birthday you don’t just go making something you’ve made before, it has to be a new thing!
So when my sisters birthday was coming around I went looking for new cake ideas and landed on the idea of a key lime cake.
It makes an ideal birthday cake or special occasion cake. It’s light, fluffy, moist, flavorful and all those lovely things.
You’ll also love our vegan key lime cupcakes and vegan key lime pie.
Ingredients You’ll Need For The Cake:
Ingredients You’ll Need For The Frosting:
Ingredient Notes
- Lime juice and lime zest – both regular limes and key limes will work great here, so just use whatever is easiest.
- Canola oil – can be replaced with vegetable oil.
- White vinegar – distilled white vinegar reacts with the baking soda creating the rise for this cake. You can also use apple cider vinegar.
- Soy milk – can be replaced with a different non-dairy milk.
- Vegan butter – if your vegan butter comes in a tub then there is no need to soften it first. If it’s a very firm stick-style vegan butter then let it soften out the fridge first OR simply beat it in your stand mixer for a couple of minutes to soften before adding the other ingredients for the frosting.
How To Make Vegan Key Lime Cake
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add white granulated sugar, baking soda and salt and whisk together.
- Add soy milk, canola oil, vinegar, lime juice and lime zest and mix into a batter. Don’t overmix.
- Divide the batter evenly between two 8-inch round cake pans (sprayed with non-stick spray and lined with circles of parchment paper on the bottom).
- Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool for a few minutes and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Add softened vegan butter, powdered sugar and lime juice to the bowl of your stand mixer and beat together until smooth and fluffy.
- When your cake layers have cooled completely then spread on the frosting.
- Slice the cake and serve.
Baker’s Tips
Spoon and level or weigh the flour. If you don’t have a food scale then spoon and level the flour. Spoon it into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop the flour and don’t pack it into the cup. If you do have a food scale then the easiest thing is just to weigh it out on your food scale.
Don’t overmix the batter. Mix it until just mixed. If you over-mix it, it can affect the rise and texture.
Make cupcakes. This recipe will make 18-24 cupcakes. Bake time will be around 20 minutes. Alternatively take a look at our vegan key lime cupcakes for a perfect 12 cupcakes.
Baking pan sizes. You can also bake this cake in two 9-inch cake pans. The layers will just be a little thinner. Baking time can reduce by 5 minutes (to 25 minutes).
Make it gluten free. If you’d like to make this cake gluten free then try a gluten free all purpose baking blend in the same quantity as the regular flour. We have not tested it with this recipe but that is usually what works.
Storing and Freezing
Keep it stored at room temperature for 2-3 days (covered) or in the fridge (covered) for up to a week. Let it come to room temperature before serving.
It’s also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. Let it thaw overnight in the fridge and then come to room temperature on the counter before serving.
More Delicious Vegan Cakes
- Vegan Lemon Cake
- Vegan Strawberry Cake
- Vegan Red Velvet Cake
- Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Biscoff Cake
- Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Key Lime Cake
Ingredients
Key Lime Cake:
- 2 ⅔ cups All Purpose Flour (330g)
- 1 ½ cups White Granulated Sugar (300g)
- 1 ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
- ¾ teaspoon Salt
- 1 ½ cups Soy Milk (360ml) or other non-dairy milk
- ½ cup Canola Oil (120ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 1 Tablespoon Distilled White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 Tablespoon Lime Juice Freshly Squeezed
- 2 Tablespoons Lime Zest
Key Lime Frosting:
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar (480g)
- 3 ½ Tablespoons Lime Juice Freshly Squeezed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line two 8-inch round cake pans with non-stick spray.
- Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add white granulated sugar, baking soda and salt and whisk together.
- Add soy milk canola oil, vinegar, lime juice and lime zest and mix into a batter. Don't overmix.
- Divide the batter evenly between two 8-inch round cake pans (sprayed with non-stick spray and lined with circles of parchment paper on the bottom).
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool for a few minutes and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Add softened vegan butter, powdered sugar and lime juice to the bowl of your stand mixer and beat together until smooth and fluffy.
- When your cake layers have cooled completely then spread on the frosting.
- Slice and serve.
Notes
- Spoon and level or weigh the flour. If you don’t have a food scale then spoon and level the flour. Spoon it into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop the flour and don’t pack it into the cup. If you do have a food scale then the easiest thing is just to weigh it out on your food scale.
- Lime juice and lime zest – both regular limes and key limes will work great here, so just use whatever is easiest.
- Vegan butter – if your vegan butter comes in a tub then there is no need to soften it first. If it’s a very firm stick-style vegan butter then let it soften out the fridge first OR simply beat it in your stand mixer for a couple of minutes to soften before adding the other ingredients for the frosting.
- Make cupcakes. This recipe will make 18-24 cupcakes. Bake time will be around 20 minutes. Alternatively take a look at our vegan key lime cupcakes for a perfect 12 cupcakes.
- Baking pan sizes. You can also bake this cake in two 9-inch round cake pans. The layers will just be a little thinner. Baking time can reduce by 5 minutes (to 25 minutes).
- Make it gluten free. If you’d like to make this cake gluten free then try a gluten free all purpose baking blend in the same quantity as the regular flour. We have not tested it with this recipe but that is usually what works.
- Storing: Keep it stored at room temperature for 2-3 days (covered) or in the fridge (covered) for up to a week. Let it come to room temperature before serving.
- Freezing: It’s also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. Let it thaw overnight in the fridge and then come to room temperature on the counter before serving.
Hi, I live in the UK .. could I use just lime juice for key lime juice, or does this give a slightly different flavour?
Can you help with this query
😊 Christine
Lime juice is fine.
Thank you
I made this today for my birthday! Not sure if my food colouring is different to what you use, but I added the recommended amount, the batter was super green, but the baked cake wasn’t green at all, just a normal plain sponge colour!
Every cake I bake ends up sinking a bit in the middle, any idea what I’m doing wrong? This tasted super nice, just the inverse to a normal cake shape lol.
I really liked the lime flavour, would deffo recommend this cake!
So glad the flavor was good! Usually the main reasons for the cake sinking is if the oven door is opened before the cake has properly set up, OR if the batter sits too long before baking. Once it’s mixed it should bake right away. When it comes to the color, some brands of food coloring just work better than others, some work well for frostings but don’t bake well.
Hi Alison,
I made this cake sans frosting and baked it in the Nordic Ware heart pan so it’s not super tall. 35 minutes did it. Cooled and then hit with powdered sugar as per your suggestion. WOW! It was terrific. My husband went crazy on the limey flavor and texture was perfect. This is a keeper recipe. Easy, flavorful…only negative point….it didn’t last more than 3 days with the two of us…ha! Actually, in my college days I could have eaten the whole thing throughout the day. I know you don’t think it’s a good idea, but I may double it and try a different bundt pan. Will keep you posted.
Wonderful to hear it was such a success! Thanks so much for sharing Deb!
One more question. Sorry to bother. Can I also bake this cake in a bundt pan and if so, how long should it take at the same oven temp you said to bake it. Thanks again. Love your blog already!
Hi Deb, I haven’t made this in a bundt pan but I think you could, it would need a longer bake time though, probably in the region of 50 minutes or longer.
Hi Alison!
Is this cake good without the frosting? And what size pan should I use if I want this to be a sheet cake?
Just snagged a bunch of limes from a neighbor. Want to use them! Your cake looks terrific.
Hi Deb, yes you can leave off the frosting! Maybe just add a sprinkle of powdered sugar on top for looks purposes. For a 9×13 cake, bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. For a 9×9 square cake, bake for 20 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.
Can I use this as a cupcakes recipe?
Hi Eden, check out our key lime cupcakes! 🙂
Hi there! I was wondering what 7″ pans you were using because when I search there’s 7x 3 or 7 x 4..so I’m not sure which ones to get. Also do you think these will hold up nicely under fondant??
Even a 7 x 2 would work fine. You can also use three 6-inch cake pans if that will work better for you.
Hi Alison, thanks so much for sharing the recipe. I’ve made this couple of time for friends an family. Some time I did not use the food coloring but I did play around with the frosting decor and it turned out to be a white beautiful cake. All my friends and family love this cake very much.
Questions ; can I use Gluten Free Flour for this cake?
So glad you like the cake! I think gluten free would work, but it has to be a gluten-free all purpose blend.
I followed the recipe but my cake didn’t rise… I haven’t tried it yet but it smells yummy.
Hi Emily, sorry to hear that! Hope it still tasted good. There are a few reasons cakes don’t rise, sometimes the leavening agent (baking powder/baking soda) may be expired, but other reasons can be overmixing the batter or leaving the batter too long before baking. Hope this helps!