I really wanted to use Key limes in this cake. But have you ever juiced a bunch of Key limes by hand? Did it take you 2 hours? 3? It takes a lot of tiny lime squeezing to make a cake. And honestly, I can’t taste a big difference in the flavor between Key limes and Persian limes. I mostly just wanted to use those little limes so I could call it Key Lime Loaf Cake. But practicality won.
Regular (Persian) limes are also seedless. Bonus points for juicing practicality! And it’s not because they are some genetically modified fruity freakazoid. They have been selectively bred to be able to reproduce without seeds through something called grafting, which creates seedless lime clones. Clones just because they are genetically identical, don’t worry it all happens outside on a tree not inside on a petri dish. I really don’t understand how all that works, but I do know that seedless lime clones make for yummy desserts.
The glaze. The glaze is the icing on the cake. Well technically it’s the glaze on the cake, but close enough. It makes it even sweeter. Even moister. Even more sweet to tang balanced. It takes it to the next lime level.
And the icing on the icing on the cake is that it’s all super easy to make! The cake is just a blend, mix, and bake away. 5 minutes of prep time. 50 minutes of waiting. Slice, bite, bliss. And the glaze is even easier. All it requires is homemade blender-blitzed powdered sugar, a squeeze of lime juice, and a little water to get it to that pourable point.
The cake without glaze: yummy. The cake with glaze: AMAZING!
Vegan Lime Loaf Cake
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 70 minutes
Ingredients
- CAKE
- 2 1/4 cups oat flour
- 1 cup non-dairy milk
- 2 small ripe bananas (or 1 1/2 large)
- 2/3 cup organic cane sugar (*see note)
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 tsp lime zest
- 1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
- GLAZE
- 3/4 cup organic cane sugar
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1/2 – 1 tbsp water
Instructions
- FOR THE CAKE: Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Blend the banana, non-dairy milk, sugar, lime juice, and lime zest in a blender.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.
- Add the wet to the dry and mix.
- Pour into a 9×5″ loaf pan lined with parchment paper or lightly oiled. Fill it 3/4 of the way.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes at 350F until the edges are starting to brown and the center bounces back when touched.
- Remove from the oven. Let it cool completely.
- FOR THE GLAZE: In a dry blender, blend the sugar on high to create homemade powdered sugar. Here’s a great tutorial.
- In a bowl, whisk the powdered sugar and the lime juice together. Add the water 1 teaspoon at a time to achieve desired thickness.
- Once the cake is cool, pour on the glaze, top with lime zest, slice, and share! Or if you want the glaze to harden, refrigerate before slicing.
Have you ever made something with those little key limes?
Yumness! I actually have all the ingrediants and will give this ago tonight! I’ve never worked with Key Limes, just the regular ones. Now I’m curious to buy one just to see what it’s like! 🙂
Yippee for not having to go to the store! I hope you enjoy it! Key limes are adorable, but so much more work. I have heard people say to use a garlic press to juice them, but I don’t have one so Persian limes it is 🙂 Thanks Heidi!
Can I take a bath in that glaze? Yea? Okay, I will 😉
Limey goodness! Did you use a citrus juicer??????????????????
Lol no I forgot my juicer at my apartment!!!!! boo 🙁 But it’s okay I got a hand workout 😉
This looks delicious!
Can you please make a banana bread? Ive been craving it for about a week now and all the vegan recipes I see call for lots of nuts and almonds and I’ll like to make a fat free one. ?
Nut-free fat-free vegan banana bread, got it! I can do that 🙂 Thank Michelle!
I have figured out the banana bread recipe and it is delicious! You are going to love it! I probably won’t post it till next week since I gotta edit pics and all, but if you really need banana bread pronto I would be happy to email it to you 🙂
Wowzers, this looks super yummy and oh my that glaze looks incredible. Loving the limey goodness! Too bad I’m out of oats/ oat flour 🙁 Need to get some asap!
Whoa I don’t know what I would do if I was out of oats/oat flour, it’s like the basis of my life! haha Or at least my recipes 😉
Natalie!!!!! This looks incredible!!!! I’ve been on a lime kick all summer and this looks perfect…especially that glaze. Wow! Haha!! I can’t get over how tiny key limes are – I once tried using them in a tart, but got tired of juicing them. I thought I was the only one who didn’t notice a big difference in taste between the two. I heard that we’re expecting cooler weather this weekend and next week…I know what I’m making! ❤️
Thank you Mandy!!! I wish I had started on a lime kick earlier in the summer because this totally reminded me how much I love lime things! Key limes are SO tiny, like the size of kumquats! And there’s a reason nobody juices kumquats! Or do they? 😀 haha idk But yeah, I’ve had real key lime pie since we live in FL and all, and it really tasted the same as one made with the Persian limes to me! Maybe I have an insensitive palate…or it doesn’t really matter 😉 And woohoo for more baking, that’s one of the things I do actually look forward to with the cooler weather! Can’t wait to see what you make 🙂
Wow! This looks so incredibly good, Natalie! You always come up with such amazing recipes!! <3
You’re so sweet Sina! Thank you <3
With every new recipe, you surprise me, Natalie! This sounds so refreshing – if a cake can be refreshing 😀 I’ve never put lime into a cake, but I think this has to change now 🙂
Thank you Kat! I think cake can definitely be refreshing! Especially if eaten chilled from the fridge after a savory meal. Then a slice (or 3) of sweet cake is the epitome of refreshing imo 🙂 You should definitely try some lime baking!
WOW! This looks amazing!!! What a delicious recipe!! …and I LOVE your blog!! I love feasting on fruit as well! Being gluten free, dairy free, and soy free, fruit is basically my bestie when it comes to food!! 🙂
You sound just like me when it comes to food! Eating sweet juicy goodness all day, yes please!! Thank you Cailee for you sweet words, and I’m so glad you like the blog 🙂
Loving everything about this! I absolutely LOVE lime and this bread looks divine! Must try!
Thanks Jenn! I love lemon cake too, but the lime was delicious <3
This honestly looks SO darn delicious!! I love limes and this cake has me DROOLING! And that glaze on top – YUMMMMM!!!! So loving this loaf!!
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Thank you Ceara! The glaze totally made it! I want to glaze every muffin and loaf and cookie now 😀
Wow Natalie!!! This is such an amazing creation!!!! I love making loaf cakes at home, and the lime flavours in this sound so delicious and refreshing too! The glaze looks incredible. I wish I could grab a slice of this out of my computer screen right now!
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Loaf cakes and muffins, those are the two things I make most often because they are just so easy and customizable! I though of doing lime pie, but loaf cake is more unexpected ya know! The glaze is my fave, I wish I could electronically send you a slice too 🙂
OH MY! Love, love, love it! That’s totally the cake for me. Is it weird that I was wondering the same about seedless limes just a few days ago? I wanted to plant one but .. well. no seeds. 😀 I love just putting seeds into the soil, forgetting about it and then wondering what the new plant was that’s growing. My boyfriend always does his judgy face when I put seeds into the soil..because that’s how I ended up with 10 avocado “trees”. Hahaha. how did I get to this topic.. I just wanted to say I love the cake and the glaze looks delicious! 😀 Beautiful photos, Natalie!
10 avocado “trees”!?! Did you just plant avocado pits? That is awesome…well a little much, but still awesome 😀 I always mean to plant seeds randomly, but forget. I do have a date palm sprouting and it’s doing pretty well…well it has one big leaf anyways. But yeah limes would be kinda impossible unless you buy the seeds…or buy key limes which do have seeds, but I’m not sure if you can get them there. What other things have you had success with?
Yeah my avocado “trees” are about half as tall as me and are about 3 years old now. (I think it takes them about 7 years to even have the possibility of producing fruits – so still a way to go.. 😀 ). I don’t have containers large enough for them (I have them on the balcony and during the winter in the apartment) so they have now reached a growing stop. I simply put the avocado pits in the soil.. that’s all! I tried the water-toothpick method as well but I haven’t seen any faster growing so I simply put them in the soil. I hate it when I have to throw out avocado pits because I don’t have the space anymore to plant them 😀
A date palm is pretty cool as well! I love it when it sprouts 🙂 I think key limes are the only ones we have around here, if I’m not mistaken. I have them around pretty much constantly for drinks or summery meals with cilantro (I love the lime & cilantro combo). But the seeds are so small, I wouldn’t have thought that these are real, working ones. I will definitely try planting them – nothing is lost when I try.
I do have a mango plant (which I’m very proud of, however it’s not really big and haven’t produced anything more than a single or two leaves). On a less exotic note I’ve had sprouting pumpkins and melon plants however never fruits – but I love to try at least. The problem is that we have cold, rainy weather most of year and it’s really hard to plant anything exotic because winter is here faster than I can look and then I have to put the plants in the apartment and that’s usually where they die. But the avocado trees have survived 2 winters already and the mango plant 1 or two 😀
Any plant that makes it to 3 years from seed is doing really well in my opinion! I can just imagine your apartment in the winter full of little mini trees 😀 haha Makes me wish I lived on a lot of land and I could just plant those pits all over the place and see what happens. I may have to take advantage of my parent’s backyard while I’m home for a bit and plant a bunch of stuff 😉 The key lime seeds are super tiny, but it’s worth a shot! Although I’m not sure how anything citrus will do with your weather :/ But if you have a mango plant that has survived then that could be a good sign since they are usually tropical too! Apartment life makes it tough, keeping things alive in pots is always harder than just letting nature and rain take over. But then I suppose animals steal all your fruits like what keeps happening with my blueberry plants. But oh well, I can buy blueberries, the squirrels can’t 🙂 Pumpkins and melons would be awesome! Plus they have so many seeds per fruit that that has to increase my chances of success right 😉 lol Thanks for sharing, you have me totally inspired to start planting every seed I come across!
Having real avocado plants with growing fruits on them is like my biggest life goal ever 😀 Oh how I wish I’d have some plantable land too 🙂 I’ve been spending 2 weeks in the summer at my parents’ house (cat-sitting) and now my mom has an avocado pit in the water that is soon sprouting (hopefully). I’m just terrible in throwing seeds and pits out. Oh I totally forgot I planted a lemon seed about 2 years ago, it sprouted and grew a few inches high – then it died. But I’ll definitely give it another try with the limes. A little lime tree would be amazing! Gardening on the 4th floor definitely has its disadvantages but you’re totally right about the animals! I hear from people all the time that the snails ate all their salads – at least I don’t have to worry about that. Hahaha that’s so cute that squirrels are stealing your blueberries – I imagine them being super sneaky about it. I’m saving most of the seeds from bell peppers, tomatoes and chilis as well. They are very easy to grow – I’m actually growing tomatoes and chilis right now from the seeds that I’ve saved over the last years. But those are not so exotic 😀 Definitely try to plant something! The world needs more plants 🙂
Hi, thanks for the lovely recipe. Could you please tell me how many cups of sugar is required as the amount is not clear on my computer. Thanks!
Hmm that’s weird, sorry about that Carol! It is two-thirds cup of cane sugar.
Thanks Natalie, can’t wait to make it ?
You just totally had me rolling on juicing those key limes! 😀 I hear ya… I love throwing them whole into a blender for smoothies, but juicing them is a practice in patience 😉
This loaf looks amazing by the way. Most especially that saucy glaze — it looks soooooo good! 😛
Patience! That’s what I’m missing 😉 haha I love just skipping the juicing thing altogether and blending the whole thing! I do that with lemons too, although sometimes a seed slips in and then it’s like the terrible date-pit-in-the-blender scenario again :p Thanks Audrey 🙂
YUM! I haven’t made a citrusy bread in ages; t’s about time I give a go again 🙂 looks epic as always! Thanks so much fr linking to my healthy powdered sugar post! <3 <3 <3
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Thanks Lucie! I’m so glad you created that post, it’s an easy way to show people how to make their own powdered sugar without having to write it all out 🙂
That looks incredibly delicious! Does the cake taste like banana? Or is the lime so strong that it overpowers it? Even though I absolutely love eating bananas I don’t really enjoy eating banana cakes/muffins/pies/bread. Thanks a lot! xx
It doesn’t taste at all like banana to me, but I’m pretty used to banana in baked goods so I’m probably not the best judge of that. The lime flavor is quite strong, especially if you make the glaze, but if you really dislike bananas in baked goods then you might still be able to sense it.
Just made this and it’s super delicious!
Definitely gonna make this again 🙂
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Yay!! Perfect time of year–something lime-y sounds very good right now 🙂 I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
Hi,
did anybody try this with lemon juice? We do not have limes at the moment. 🙁
Thanks,
Sabine
Lemon will work just fine! Sounds delicious to me 🙂
Great. I will give it a try. 🙂
Hi! Just wondering can I use dates instead of sugar? And I love all your recipes btw <3
Hi Georgina! I think in this recipe adding dates when it already has bananas would make it too moist and therefore not cook through completely. You could try swapping out the bananas for about 1 cup date paste and leaving out the sugar, but as I haven’t tried it I cannot make any guarantees. Good luck!
Thank you so much! I’ll give it a try 🙂
I used unrefined sugar and the cake was wet inside. I will try the original recipe for the light texture that’s in your pictures
Hi Jan! Oh I’m so sorry it didn’t turn out well. It could be the sugar difference although not likely. It was probably just a disparity in oven temps, they are rarely accurate and can vary quite a lot. You can try baking it a lower temp (like 325) for longer to allow the middle time to cook through, and test it before you take it out be pressing in the center and if it feels at all mushy leave it for another 5 minutes or so until it bounces back. I hope that helps!
I made this with lemon instead and between 4 of us there was no more cake by the end of the night!! YUMM
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Ha love it!! That is the sign of a recipe success for sure, thanks for the feedback Aradia 🙂
Hi there, looks like a great recipe! Will ground oats work as oat flour? and do you think this cake freezes ok?
thanks, Elle
Hi Elle! Yes ground oats will work. And I haven’t tried freezing this one, it should be fine but may be a bit drier after defrosting as most bake goods are especially oil free ones. Hope it goes well
Hi Natalie. In the recipe, you side (*see note) for the cane sugar, but there wasn’t any note on the bottom of the recipe?
Oh my bad! I’ve switched recipe plugins so many times since this one it must’ve gotten lost somewhere along the way. All it said was you can sub with coconut sugar but the color will be much darker and less light/citrusy 🙂
I made this today to bring for Easter. I used Key Limes. It took about 12 to get all the lime juice needed for both cake & glaze. For the glaze, I used all lime juice, no water! I must say with the dense texture not so much cake like, this recipe would be great as muffins!
Hope everyone enjoys this Vegan Lime Loaf Cake tomorrow, or more for me..what a shame lol
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I am so happy you tried it Jodi, I bet the key lime flavor made it extra yummy. Appreciate your feedback and happy (belated) easter!
What is the note about the sugar? In the ingredient list there is an asterisk and “see note” but I don’t see a note.
This recipe is from 7+ years ago and idk when that note got lost so I’m not positive, but I’m guessing it probably said you can use coconut sugar but the cake will come out darker in color!