KEY LIME CHEESECAKE CAKE

KEY LIME CHEESECAKE CAKE image

Yield 10 servings

Number Of Ingredients 7

CURD:
3 lg eggs, 3 lg egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup key lime juice (fresh squeezed is best), 1/4 cup lime peel, pinch of ginger, pinch of salt.
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
2 1/2 8oz pkgs of cream cheese at room temp., 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp., 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 tbsp vanilla extract, 1/4 c coconut flakes.
CAKE:
1 box vanilla bean cake mix (and ingredients listed on cake box), 1 box vanilla instant pudding
7 Ginger snap cookies

Steps:

Prepare curd 1 day ahead--whisk eggs, yolks, sugar, lime juice, lime peel, ginger, and salt in lg METAL bowl to blend. Place bowl over saucepan of barely simmering water (fill pan about 1/3 of the way up) and do not allow bowl to touch water. Whisk constantly until curd thickens, about 8 mins. Remove bowl and strain through fine strainer. Press plastic wrap directly onto curd and chill overnight. Frosting--the next day: Beat ingredients for cream cheese frosting together until fluffy then add 1 day old curd and coconut and continue beating until it gets to a light frosting-like consistency. Cake: follow directions for cake mix, adding pudding mix and increasing the oil required for cake from 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup (or 1/3 c to 1/2 c--whichever the cake mix calls for). Make 2 round cakes (9 in). Assembly: smash ginger snaps and after frosting the bottom layer of cake sprinkle the snaps onto the layer before putting top layer on and then on top of cake for decoration.