Pineapple Lime Cake with Lime Glaze

Today was my son's 5th birthday. He spent the day being a spoiled little beast. Well, not the entire day. But there were moments where I wanted to return all of his birthday presents. But I didn't. He did get some pretty cool toys, the coolest being the remote control helicopter from his Grandma Sue. As I am typing this, I can hear Ethan playing with it downstairs. And Jack is asleep. Boy toys know no age boundaries. I fear that Ethan is going to break the thing while trying to chop down the birthday streamers hanging from the ceiling.

While I am of course wowed by the fact that I have a 5 year old, I am completely fine with it. Last month, I registered him for kindergarten and it didn't rock me to the core like I thought it would. The child is ready for school and I am excited to watch him to continue to grow and learn.

This cake wasn't his birthday cake, it was a snack cake I whipped up a little while ago. When I made this, it was sitting on the counter when my in-laws came through town on their way home to California. My mother in-law saw the plastic covered plate on the counter and she said, "You know, Dad would love that cake." And I happily packed up a big hunk of it and a plastic fork. Around 10:00pm that night, I received a text from my mother in-law. "We just took bites of that cake. It is fabulous! Thank you!" Take my mother in-law's word for it. It is moist, dense, tart from the lime and sweet from the pineapple.

There is something so sexy about glaze dripping down a cake. Like lace on lingerie.


For the cake:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 limes, zested and juiced
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 20 oz pineapple chunks, drained

Set oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x5 inch loaf pan with non-stick spray and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Whisk well to combine. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, add butter, sugar and lime zest and cream until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix until just combined. With a rubber scraper, fold in pineapple.

Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Cool in pan for 20 minutes. Invert onto cooling rack and cool completely. Place cooling rack over the sink or in a baking sheet. Evenly pour glaze over the top of the cake. Let glaze set for 15 minutes before slicing.

Yields 1 loaf cake, about 6 servings.

For the glaze:
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp lime juice

In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and lime juice until smooth. Pour over cooled cake.