It feels like a strange time and yet the perfect time to be baking a cake. All of this time at home really gives us time to sit and reflect, and feel thankful for everything most important - health, family and friends. With that feeling in mind, I decided to bake something cheerful: a lemongrass cake.
This cake is delicious, extra tender, and 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. The result - amazing. And I whipped up the most delicious key lime frosting to pair it with!
The frosting is creamy, just sweet enough, and has perfect tangy citrus flavour. I'm in cake heaven. And with all this time at home, I decided to decorate it with pretty buttercream flowers. This isn't a tutorial for those, but I will share which tips I used and colours I blended.
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 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.
How to make lemongrass cake:
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 quarter inch slices.
Making lemongrass milk
Put the lemongrass into a small saucepan with a cup of milk. Bring the milk and lemongrass just almost to a boil then reduce the heat and let it simmer for four 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 ten minutes. Strain the milk into a measuring cup. You want to have two thirds of a cup, so top it up with more milk if needed. You can discard the lemongrass pieces.
This recipe makes a double layer six-inch cake. Grease the 6" cake pans with butter, cover the bottoms with parchment paper, then flour the sides. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mixing the batter
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. You can mix this cake by hand, but I used my Kitchenaid stand mixer. I mixed them on medium-high with a paddle attachment for about three minutes.
Reduce the speed and mix in one egg at a time, followed by your vanilla extract. Next you are going to alternate additions of the dry ingredients and lemongrass milk in this order - dry, milk, dry, milk, dry. Make sure that everything is well mixed between each addition. Finally, mix in the lemongrass paste. Pour the batter evenly into your two prepared cake pans. I like to use a scale to make sure they are even.
Bake the cakes for approximately thirty-five minutes. Check doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center. 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.
Once the cakes are finished, allow them to cool in their pans for ten minutes before turning them out on a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way. Now to move on to the frosting..
How to make key lime frosting:
Key limes - the adorable, miniature version of the citrus we know and love. These limes are less tart and more aromatic than the Persian lime (standard grocery store variety). This makes them perfect for this frosting.
I have to say, I'm really not a frosting lover. But after making up this frosting I think I have changed my mind. I was licking it off the spoon. It's so good! I can't stand sickeningly sweet icings. This one is just a little bit sweet with the perfect tanginess.
Using your stand mixer (or elbow engines), mix the butter, zest, salt, and vanilla extract together on medium speed until nice and creamy. Add in one third of icing sugar. Mix. Add in one tablespoon of lime juice. Mix. Another third of icing sugar. Mix. Other tablespoon of lime juice. Mix. Final third of icing sugar. Mix, then mix in a tablespoon of milk. You can add more milk to adjust consistency if desired.
This recipe makes just enough frosting to give a thin layer on this cake. If you love thick frosting (and believe me, you will love this one), make extra.
Once the cakes have cooled, you can begin to decorate them. If your cakes baked with a rounded top, you can cut it off with a cake leveler or sharp knife to have a flat top. Using wet cake strips wrapped around your pans while baking can make them bake more level. 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 key lime frosting. Place the second cake on top and cover it with the remaining frosting.
Buttercream Flowers:
If you're interested in the flowers that I did, 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 (pictured below) gives the flowers some shape as they dry if you don't want them to be flat.
Such a pretty and yummy cake! I hope if you make it that it will boost your spirits as it did for mine.
I used these:
Lemongrass Cake with Key Lime Frosting
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 cake 1x
- Category: Cakes
- Cuisine: American
Description
This lemongrass cake is a tender white cake deliciously infused with aromatic and citrusy lemongrass. Paired with a tangy key lime frosting, this cake is divine.
Ingredients
Lemongrass Milk:
1 cup (237 ml) milk
2 stalks lemongrass
Lemongrass Cake:
1 ½ cups (225 g) all purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
⅔ cup (158 ml) lemongrass milk
2 tablespoons lemongrass paste *
Key lime frosting:
1 cup (227g) unsalted butter
2 teaspoons key lime zest
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
⅛ teaspoon salt
3 ½ cups (454g) confectioner's sugar
¼ cup (59ml) key lime juice
2 tablespoons milk
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.
Lemongrass Cake:
Grease two 6" cake pans with butter. Cover the bottom with a cut out circle of parchment paper and 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.
If your cakes baked with a rounded top, you can level them off to be flat with a cake leveler or sharp knife.
Coat the top of the first cake with a layer of frosting. Place the second cake on top and cover the top and sides with the remaining frosting.
Key Lime Frosting:
Zest and juice your key limes.
Using your stand mixer (or elbow engines), mix the butter, zest, salt, and vanilla extract together on medium speed until nice and creamy.
Alternately add and mix in the icing sugar and lime juice in the following order: ⅓ of the confectioner's sugar, ½ of the lime juice, ⅓ confectioner's sugar, ½ lime juice, ⅓ confectioner's sugar. Mix well between each addition.
Finally, mix in the milk. You can add more milk or confectioner's sugar to adjust the consistency if necessary.
Notes
* 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 tbsp olive oil and ¼ tsp 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 of paste.
Buttercream Flowers information:
Colours: green (moss green + touch of brown), white (tiny bit of violet to cancel yellows of butter), yellow (golden yellow).
Tips: PME 58R for flowers. Wilton 70 for leaves.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 453
- Sugar: 43.7 g
- Sodium: 369.8 mg
- Fat: 19.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 59.2 g
- Protein: 4.3 g
- Cholesterol: 86.5 mg
Keywords: lemongrass cake
Linda says
Love the flowers but I'm not that creative. Howeever I did enjoy the combination of lemongrass and lime.
Asha says
Thanks Linda! This cake would be super cute even without the flowers. The lime zest gives the frosting little pops of colour.
Michelle says
Made cupcakes with the recipe. Turned out well.
Asha says
Great idea! If you took a pic, tag it on instagram with #corianderandlace. Would love to see
Beth says
My oven gets too hot so over-baked a bit. Otherwise love the flavour.
Asha says
Oh no, ovens can vary so much. Hope it works out perfectly next time 🙂
Wanda says
Made cupcakes.Turned out perfect with the key lime frosting.
Asha says
That's great, thank you!
Lucy says
Such a beautiful cake. Very moist and tasty.
Asha says
Thank you!
Mandy says
Excellent texture and flavour.
Asha says
Thank you 🙂
Deanne says
Made cupcakes for family picnic. Decorated with a couple of the flowers. Adorable and gobbled up quickly.
Asha says
Lemongrass cupcakes sound adorable!
Jc says
How do you make the lemongrass paste?
Asha says
I used store bought lemongrass paste for this recipe. However, you could make your own by puréeing 2 1/2 stalks of lemongrass (peeled, ends discarded & sliced) with 2 tbsp olive oil and a 1/4 tsp 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 a 1/4 cup of paste.
Meg says
So impressed with how this turned out. Thanks.
Asha says
Thanks for trying it out!
Jason says
This cake recipe turned out well. Great flavor.
Asha says
Thank you 🙂
Rebecca says
Can't wait to make this it sounds delicious! Can I ask what are the measurements of the ingredients for the key lime frosting? I can't seem to find them on the page. Thanks! 🙂
Asha says
Hi Rebecca, sorry about that! You caught me in the middle of updating and moving the frosting to its own new post. I have added back in the measurements and instructions in the meantime. I would double the amount of frosting if you like to have lots on your cake. Enjoy! This lemongrass cake is very yummy ♥