Lemon and lime are unusual choices for wedding cakes, but the tart flavors meld together for a delicious tasting dessert! With different cake recipes, you also have a wide variety of frostings that go well with citrus cake flavors.
Creating a Lemon-Lime Wedding Cake
It may be true that lemons and limes don't taste so great on their own, but it's easy to avoid that puckering reaction when you bake them into something sweet.
Recipes
One of the first steps in planning your wedding dessert is to decide on a recipe. You can sample tried-and-true cake recipes from experienced cake decorators, you can present your own suggestions, or you can bake the whole cake yourself.
- One old-fashioned pound cake recipe uses lemon juice and lime soda to flavor the dessert.
- A similar recipe incorporates both lemon and lime zest into the batter.
- Looking for a "light" recipe? A version from Cooking Light magazine's September 2007 issue uses egg substitute and low-fat buttermilk in the cake layers and suggests a topping of low-fat cream cheese frosting.
Frostings
Below are some especially delicious frosting choices for lemon and lime wedding cakes.
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Vanilla buttercream: It's the classic for a reason. Vanilla buttercream pairs so well with nearly any wedding cake flavor, and it's sweet enough to cut the tartness of any citrus zest in the cake. Additionally, buttercream is a cake decorator's dream come true because it frosts so smoothly and makes for a beautiful presentation.
- Cream cheese frosting: Cream cheese icing is nearly as popular as buttercream, and the extra richness of the soft cheese is an ideal complement for citrus flavors. One potential negative of cream cheese frosting is that it doesn't do well for long periods of time without refrigeration, so you'll need to find a way to keep it cool until shortly before the reception.
- Lemon or lime frosting: You might be thinking "too much citrus," but lemon and lime is an excellent pair in cake and frosting if you use only one flavor for each. If you have a lemon cake, for example, use a plain buttercream as your frosting base and mix in lime juice and a small amount of lime zest to add zing to the finished product.
- Fondant: Fondant doesn't have much of a main flavor, so it's a fitting choice for any type of cake, and in terms of appearance, it's just about the most elegant you can get. It is helpful to keep in mind that many people dislike the overly sweet sensation of fondant and its somewhat gummy texture.
- Raspberry: If your goal is to serve a sweet fruit medley for dessert, a whipped raspberry cream frosting is an excellent choice for a lemon-lime cake. Raspberries seem to hold their own while still giving the citrus flavors a chance to shine, and they do it more successfully than strawberries, blackberries, or other fruit options.
Again, remember to taste frostings ahead of time, and make sure they're paired with your chosen cake recipe so that you can make a judgment on the total package.
Presentation
Whether your cake is the traditional 3-tiered model or something smaller, it's natural to want to make it look as gorgeous as possible.
- If you're elevating each tier, you can fill the spaces between tiers with real, fake, or sugar paste lemon and lime slices or whole fruits.
- Place a cascade of fresh yellow or green flowers down the side of a tall cake and garnish with more flowers at the top.
- Decorate each piece of cake with a slice of fresh lemon, lime, or both.
- Frost the cake with pale yellow buttercream and add pale green accents, a filigree pattern, or other decorations.
- Scatter tiny green and yellow fondant flowers throughout the cake.
A Perfect Summer Wedding Cake
The memorable taste and fresh presentation of a lemon and lime cake at a reception is the perfect choice any time of year, but especially for a summer wedding. Add this option to your list of wedding cake ideas.
