Lemongrass Cake with Key Lime Frosting

This lemongrass cake is a tender white cake deliciously infused with aromatic and citrusy lemongrass. It took some thought on how to get the cake to actually taste like lemongrass without getting overpowered by other flavours, since lemongrass has a very subtle flavour. But the result is amazing!

this recipe

This recipe makes a two layer six-inch cake. And I whipped up the tastiest key lime frosting to go with it! This frosting is creamy, just sweet enough, and has perfect tangy citrus flavour. I'm in cake heaven.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• What is lemongrass?
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Instructions
• Equipment
• Tips for success
• Storage
• 📖 Recipe

Ingredients

• Lemongrass stalks
• Lemongrass paste - I use this one by Gourmet Garden. It can typically be found in the produce section next to the fresh herbs. If you use a different brand, make sure that it doesn't contain unwanted ingredients, such as onion or fish sauce. Or, make your own! I've included the instructions below in the substitutions section.
• All purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Granulated sugar
• Unsalted butter
• Milk
• Eggs
• Pure vanilla extract
• Key lime frosting

See the recipe card below for quantities.

What is lemongrass?

Lemongrass is a tropical, aromatic grass that has the subtle flavour of lemon but without the tart bitterness. It grows in Asia, Africa, and Australia. It is a popular ingredient in Asian cuisine, and you'll find its fragrance in many perfumes. It's also used medicinally.

Lemongrass contains Vitamin B9, Vitamin C, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Iron, Zinc, and trace amounts of Vitamin A, Selenium, and other B Vitamins. Umm... excuse me? A delicious, vitamin-infused cake? Yes please! Check out this article if you'd like more information on how lemongrass can benefit your health.

Substitutions

Lemongrass paste - I used store  bought lemongrass paste for this recipe. However, you could make your own by puréeing 2 ½ stalks of lemongrass (peeled, ends discarded & sliced) with 2 tablespoons olive oil and ¼ teaspoon salt in a blender or  food processor. Blend them until you get a fairly smooth texture, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed. This should make about ¼ cup (60 milliliters) of paste.

Variations

I used a delicious and tangy key lime frosting on this lemongrass cake. But you can use whatever kind you prefer. Coconut or vanilla also pair beautifully with lemongrass!

Instructions

Lemongrass milk

Because lemongrass has such a subtle flavour, we are going to infuse the cake with it in two ways: lemongrass milk and lemongrass paste. To make lemongrass milk, start by cutting your lemongrass stalks into ¼" (0.6cm) slices.

Put the lemongrass into a small saucepan with milk. Bring almost to a boil then reduce the heat and let it simmer for 4 minutes. As soon as the milk heats up be sure to stir frequently to prevent the milk from burning.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow it to steep for 10 minutes. Strain the milk into a measuring cup. You want to have ⅔ cup (158ml), so top it up with more milk if needed. Discard the lemongrass pieces.

Cake

Grease two 6" cake pans with butter, cover the bottoms with parchment paper, then flour the sides. Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set it aside for now.

Then you are going to cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. I used my Kitchenaid stand mixer, but you can easily mix this cake by hand. I mixed them on medium-high with a paddle attachment for about 4 minutes.

Reduce the speed and mix in one egg at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.

Next, alternately add the dry ingredients and lemongrass milk in this order - dry, milk, dry, milk, dry. Make sure that everything is fully incorporated between each addition but don't overmix.

Finally, gently mix in the lemongrass paste.

Pour the batter evenly into your two prepared cake pans. I like to use a kitchen scale to easily check if they are even.

Bake the cakes for approximately 35 minutes. Check doneness by inserting a toothpick into the centre. You want it to come out almost clean. Make sure not to over-bake as you would lose the tenderness of this delicious lemongrass cake, as well as some of that subtle lemongrass flavour.

Cool the cakes in their pans for 10 minutes before turning them out on a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way. Cool completely before decorating.

Decorating

If your cakes baked with a rounded top, you can level them off to be flat with a cake leveler or sharp knife. I found that these cakes baked up almost completely flat for me. I used a very sharp, serrated knife to carefully even out the top just slightly.

Coat the top of the first cake with a layer of delicious key lime frosting, or another frosting of your choice. Place the second cake on top and cover the top and sides with the remaining frosting.

If you're interested in the flowers that I made, I made them with a simple buttercream frosting. The icing colours were as follows: green (moss green with a touch of brown), white (just a tiny bit of violet to cancel out the yellows of the butter frosting), and yellow (golden yellow).

I used a Wilton 70 tip for the leaves and a PME 58R petal tip the flowers. The rest was done with just a small hole cut into the tips of icing bags. A curved drying rack gives the flowers some shape as they dry if you don't want them to be flat.

Equipment

To make this lemongrass cake recipe you will need the following:

• Stand mixer or mix by hand
• Rubber spatula
• Parchment paper
• Small sauce pan
• Two 6" cake pans
• Mixing bowls
• Kitchen scale or measuring cup set
• Cooling rack
• Cake leveler or sharp knife

6" cake pans

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stand mixer

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Tips for success

• Weigh to be sure - You should always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar to get the best results. However, if you have to use a measuring cup rather than a kitchen scale, stir the ingredient to create air pockets then gently spoon it into the cup and level off the top. Do not scoop or you will get too much.
• Don't overmix - As soon as you mix flour into any batter or dough it is so important to not overmix. If you do, you will lose the soft and delicate texture and make something that is dense and tough. Only mix until the flour has just been blended into the other ingredients.
• Room temperature - Dairy and egg ingredients should be room temperature for this recipe. Cold ingredients simply won't combine properly, resulting in uneven lumps. Set them out an hour or two before you start.
• Don't overbake - If you overbake this cake it will not only lose tenderness, but also some of the delicate lemongrass flavour.

Storage

Store the lemongrass cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. For the best texture, take out to let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour before serving.

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