Cumber-lime cake is the cooler spring cousin of zucchini bread and carrot cake. It’s pure bouncy, springtime delight in cake form. It’s perfect at a sunny garden party served with iced tea or after a day at the pool with a cool gin cocktail. It’s great as a layer cake with cream cheese frosting or as a sheet cake with a lime glaze.
What, never heard of cucumber lime cake? Well, I guess that’s because it’s just be invented. I started baking with cucumbers because I wanted a treat that would make people smile with delight for both its novelty and the perfect appropriateness of a cake made out of this sweet, flowery, and refreshing spring veggie. I went through cookbooks (and the internet) looking for anything baked with cucumbers, and found nothing. So, this is it! This is the thing that I can contribute to the cake world (or at least to my own library of recipes). A cake that will make cucumber lovers smile.
Notes
Note about Cucumber Varieties
I’ve tried this recipe with English cucumbers, regular grocery store “seedless” mini cucumbers, and farmers’ market cucumbers. Farmers’ market fresh cucumbers were by far the best. Each winter I get used to the weird bitter taste of grocery store cucumbers, then I have a fresh one in the spring and it’s a revelation or sweetness and flavor and I swear off grocery store cucumbers again. So, if you can, I highly recommend getting some fresh cucumbers from your friends, neighbors, or local farmer. That said, you can absolutely make this with grocery store cucumbers.
Note about Frosting vs Icing
I like both… I love that I can layer the cream cheese frosting with slices of cucumber and really create something textually amazing, but I like lime icing best. The lime icing is so easy and stands up to the heat of a warm spring day. The punch of sweet icing and acid lime are perfection. Even better, serve it with a scoop of home made whipped cream for an extra-special treat.
Key Ingredients
cucumbers
lime
eggs
butter (dairy or vegan)
all-purpose flour
Cucumber-Lime Cake – Recipe
The bake time on this cake varies depending on if you’re making a layer cake, sheet cake, or bundt cake (20-40 minutes). It serves 8-12. Prep time is about 30 minutes, plus time for the butter to come to room temperature.
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 and 1/2 cups grated or pureed cucumber (1.5 medium sized cucumbers or 340 grams)
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (vegan or dairy)
- 1 and 1/4 cup white, granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, separated
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- zest of 1/2 lime (you’ll need another lime for the icing)
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Lime Icing
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- zest of 1 lime
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup (optional, for shine)
- For cream cheese frosting click here
Step One
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of a 9 inch cake pan, 2×6 inch cake pans, a loaf pan, or a 6 cup bundt pan (that’s what I use). Line bottom of whatever flat bottomed pans with parchment paper. Flour any areas not covered with parchment paper. Set pans aside.
Step Two
Using a food processor or a box grater, puree or finely grate cucumber. If using a food processor, you’re aiming for a chunky slush, not a liquid. If using a box grater, you want to grate the cucumber not shred it. There will be about 1 and ½ cups. Set aside.
Step Three
Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until they become light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add in egg yolks and mix to combine. Then add in cucumber and again mix to combine. The dough will look chunky but it’s just fine. Add in lime zest, lime juice, salt, then sprinkle baking soda and baking powder over top. Mix to combine. Sprinkle flour over top and mix to combine. Set aside.
Step Four
In a clean bowl whip egg whites into soft peaks. Fold egg whites into batter. Then poor batter into pan. NOTE, batter will rise in the oven. Occasionally (because of the difference in amounts of cucumber or sizes of eggs) I’ve had to remove a couple of tablespoons of batter if my bundt pan appears much more than 3/4 full. This shouldn’t be a problem in a loaf pan, but makes for a hard to remove bundt.
Step Five
Bake for 18-25 minutes if using 2 cake pans. 30-40 minutes for bread pans or bundt pans. Once cake is removed from the oven, allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before removing it from the pan. If making frosting (see recipe here, make that now). The recipe for frosting makes enough for a naked cake, you’ll need to double the frosting to completely cover the cake.
Step Six
While cake cools, make your icing. Zest lime and set zest aside. Combine powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons lime juice, use a fork to mix together. Then add in corn syrup if using. Thin mixture with additional lime juice or water if needed. Remove cake from pan and then pour icing over top. Immediately sprinkle the zest over the cake before the icing starts to set.
If using cream cheese frosting. Remove cake from pans and allow to cool completely before frosting. Consider thinly slicing 1/2 of a cucumber for decorating the cake (see photo above).
Serve cake on it’s own or with freshly whipped cream. Cucumber-Lime cake made with icing will keep for about 3 days covered on the counter or longer in the fridge. Cucumber-lime cake with cream cheese frosting should be stored in the fridge and will last 4-5 days.