Deconstructed Lime Meringue Pie Cake

Confused by the title?

Lemme break it down for you.

What we have here is:

Vanilla Cake.

Lime Curd.

Graham Crumb.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

Essentially, what we have is pie… but in cake form. 

Let’s forget the resolutions for a day and eat this cake shall we?

Deconstructed Lime Meringue Pie Cake

Ingredients

Vanilla Cake

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour (1 cup self-rising flour = 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour + 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder + 1/2 teaspoon salt)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated/castor sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

Lime Curd

2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
2 tsp finely grated lime zest
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter

Graham Crumb (totally just played around with proportions until I liked it. I encourage you to experiment too!)

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup milk powder
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (used separately from 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs)
4 ounces white chocolate, melted

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

5 large egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
2 cups unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

How To

Vanilla Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cake pan of choice.

2. In a small bowl, combine the flours and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Add the dry ingredients in parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla extract, end with adding flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, taking care not to overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the mixing bowl to make sure all the ingredients are well blended.

5. Carefully pour the batter into greased cake pan. Slap the bottom of the pan against a counter/floor to get rid of air bubbles. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan completely before handling.

Lime Curd:

1. Whisk sugar, lime juice, lime zest, and eggs together in a metal pot.

2. Place pot on medium low heat and gently whisk until mixture thickens.

3. Remove pot from heat and pour the curd through a sieve into a bowl to remove zest/chunks of egg.

4. Cover with saran wrap, making sure saran wrap touches surface of curd, and place in fridge until needed for cake assembly.

Graham Crumb:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F

2. Combine 1/2 graham crumbs, milk powder, cornstarch, sugar and salt in a bowl. Whisk to combine. 

3. Pour melted butter into bowl and use spatula to toss until evenly coated.

4. Spread the mixture on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake for 20 mins. Now you have clusters of crumbs.

5. Put the crumbs back into the bowl and toss with another 1/4 of graham cracker crumbs.

6. Pour melted white chocolate over the clusters and toss until evenly coated.

7. Place bowl in fridge, but toss the crumbs every 5 minutes. You are done when the white chocolate is hardened and no longer sticky.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

1. Combine egg whites, sugar and salt in a metal bowl of a standmixer over a pot of simmering water. Whisk constantly by hand until the liquid looks frothy and all the granulated sugar is dissolved.

2. Place bowl on standmixer and use wire whisk to whip the mixture on medium speed until you reach soft peaks. Then increase to high speed to reach stiff peaks. Mixture should be glossssssy.

3. Add butter in small chunks and continue whipping until all butter is dispersed and melded into the mixture. At some point your buttercream will look like it’s curdling – DON’T PANIC. It’s totally normal.

4. Switch over to paddle attachment and beat the buttercream to remove air bubbles.