This easy Lime and Pistachio Loaf Cake has flavours of zesty lime, nutty pistachio and buttery vanilla sponge. It’s topped with tangy cream cheese frosting and decorated with crunchy chopped pistachios for a vibrant pop of colour! This recipe is perfect for beginner bakers, a speedy weekend bake, or an afternoon pick-me-up treat.

Recipe Overview
- FLAVOUR: Lime and pistachio is a wonderful flavour combination, especially when baked into a buttery and sweet sponge cake. The sponge is flavoured with lime zest, studded with earthy pistachios and infused with a tart lime drizzle. Tangy cream cheese frosting brings everything together and tastes delicious with this cake!
- TEXTURE: This loaf cake brings together three textures – soft sponge, crunchy pistachio nuts and smooth cream cheese frosting. Each bite is a textural delight!
- SERVES: This recipe will fill a 2lb loaf tin and can be sliced into 10 chunky slices.

Ingredients To Make This Lime and Pistachio Loaf Cake
- Unsalted butter – Gives the sponge a soft and tender crumb and adds structure. For an even fluffier texture, use margarine spread instead! Unsalted butter is also used to make the cream cheese frosting.
- Caster sugar – Sweetens the sponge and adds moisture to this lime and pistachio cake.
- Vanilla extract – Adds a delicate sweet flavour to soften the tartness of the limes.
- Eggs – Eggs provide structure and richness to the cake. Make sure they’re at room temperature so they can be easily mixed.
- Self-raising flour – the added raising agent in self-raising flour gives the cake a lovely rise and fluffy texture. You can use all-purpose plain flour instead, just remember to add 2 teaspoons of baking powder.
- Limes – For this recipe, you will need 3 limes in total for the sponge mixture, lime drizzle and decoration. Perfectly ripe limes are bright green, slightly soft and have a fresh zesty scent.
- Pistachios – Chopped pistachios are folded into the sponge and scattered on top of the cake for decoration. Remember to use unsalted pistachios!
- Icing sugar – Blended with unsalted butter to make the frosting. Remember to sift the icing sugar to remove any lumps.
- Cream cheese – Used to make the cream cheese frosting. To make a thick and spreadable texture, use full-fat cream cheese like Philadelphia Original.

Recipe Success Tips
- Use a 2lb loaf tin: This recipe makes enough mixture to fill a 2lb loaf tin. Using a smaller or bigger tin will affect the baking time and the end result of your loaf cake.
- Avoid opening the oven door during baking: Opening the oven door too early causes the temperature to fluctuate too quickly, resulting in a sunken loaf cake. Only check on the cake during the last five minutes of the baking time.
- For the frosting, use cold cream cheese: Essential for making a thick and sturdy frosting to spread on your lime and pistachio cake!
- To make the recipe gluten-free: Swap the self-raising flour for 300g gluten-free flour, plus 1.5 teaspoons of xanthan gum (this will improve the texture of the cake) and 2 teaspoons baking powder.
- How to store the loaf cake: Keep the cake stored in a baking tin, in the fridge, for up to 4 days.


Lime and Pistachio Loaf Cake
This easy Lime and Pistachio Loaf Cake has flavours of zesty lime, nutty pistachio and buttery vanilla sponge. It's topped with tangy cream cheese frosting and decorated with crunchy chopped pistachios for a vibrant pop of colour! This recipe is perfect for beginner bakers, a speedy weekend bake, or an afternoon pick-me-up treat.
Equipment
Ingredients
Lime and pistachio loaf cake
- 300 grams unsalted butter or margarine room temperature
- 300 grams Caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 3 large Eggs room temperature
- 300 grams Self-raising flour
- 1 Lime zest and juice
- 75 grams Unsalted pistachios roughly chopped
Lime drizzle
- 0.5 Lime juice only
- 50 grams Caster sugar
Cream cheese frosting
- 75 grams Unsalted butter room temperature
- 150 grams Icing sugar
- 75 grams Full-fat cream cheese keep in the fridge
Decoration
- 25 grams Unsalted pistachios
- 1 Lime zest only
Instructions
Start by making the lime and pistachio cake
- Preheat the oven to 180°C fan / 200°C conventional. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter, caster sugar and vanilla extract together until light and fluffy.300 grams unsalted butter or margarine, 300 grams Caster sugar, 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- Beat in the eggs one at a time until combined.3 large Eggs
- Fold in the flour until just combined.300 grams Self-raising flour
- Add the lime zest, lime juice and chopped pistachios. Fold until mixed through.1 Lime, 75 grams Unsalted pistachios
- Spread the mixture out into the loaf tin. Bake for 60-65 minutes until risen and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Meanwhile make the lime drizzle
- In a small bowl, stir the lime juice and sugar together.0.5 Lime, 50 grams Caster sugar
- As soon as the cake is out of the oven, use a toothpick to prick the top all over and then spoon over the lime drizzle.
- Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then lift out and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
Make the cream cheese frosting
- Beat the butter until soft and fluffy.75 grams Unsalted butter
- Sift in the icing sugar and beat until smooth and combined.150 grams Icing sugar
- Take the cream cheese out of the fridge and add it to the bowl. Gently fold until the frosting is combined. Be careful not to over-mix, as it can quickly become runny.75 grams Full-fat cream cheese
Decorate the cake
- Spread the cream cheese frosting over the top of the loaf cake.
- Sprinkle the chopped pistachios and lime zest on top. Slice and serve!1 Lime, 25 grams Unsalted pistachios
Video
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Hi Jessie
If i wanted to make this loaf as a 2 tier cake should i double the recipe or maybe just make 1.5 measurements, it doesn’t need to be a big cake, 20cm ?
Thanks
Hiya! 1.5 measurements would work as long as your 20cm cake tins are deep enough to hold all of the mixture (8cm+). Baking time will be ~40-45 minutes I think. Hope that helps 🙂
*Any adjustment to the recipe OR baking time? (sorry for the typo:) ). Thanks Jessie.
Hello! No worries 🙂 Happy to help! Love the idea of turning this into a traybake. Here’s my suggestion…
Keep all the cake ingredients the same, but bake the cake at 160°C (fan) for 35-45 minutes. The lower baking temp will help the cake rise evenly and prevent it from doming on top. The larger baking tin will mean the cake will cook more quickly, so reducing the baking time will ensure it’s not overbaked. I think 35 minutes should be okay, but check on it through the oven door after 30 minutes.
For the frosting, I would double the ingredients to make a bigger batch because you’ll have more surface area to cover.
Hope that all makes sense!
Hi Jessie.. the cake looks amazing!. I would like to bake it in10x10 square cake tin. Is it possible? Any adjustments needed to the recipe of baking time?
Hi, Jessie
Thank you for this delicious-looking recipe! I’ll be making two loaves to share with our family as a treat for the upcoming month of Holy Ramadan. Question – I want to bake both loaves at the same time, do I increase the baking time?
Hello Nazish, you’re very welcome! This is a good question… bake both loaves on the same shelf and increase the baking time by 5 minutes. That should do the trick 🙂
I halved this recipe using only 150 g of ingredients etc, within 15 mins of baking my cake had sank in the middle like a massive deep hole…I can’t understand why…
Although The mixture was lovely, the taste was amazing..the cake still had a lovely crumb..thank god..but why did it sink? help
Hello! Did you use self-raising flour and was it a fresh pack? Can I ask where you’re based in the world too? High altitude can cause cakes to sink/collapse in the middle because of the lower air pressure.
Thanks for recipe, so delicious 👍
Yay! You’re very welcome, so happy you enjoyed it. It’s one of my personal favourite recipes too 🙂
Salted or unsalted pistachios?
Unsalted 🙂
So delicious
Thank you! 😊
I’m a total amateur but this cake has turned out wonderfully. It’s absolutely delicious, the two flavours compliment each other very well. Thank you for a precise, user-friendly recipe
Hi Simon, I’m so happy to hear this! This cake is a very old recipe on my blog and i’ve been meaning to update the photographs! It’s great to hear your feedback on the recipe itself 😊
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