Lime Maria Icebox Cake – “Carlota de Limon”

Carlota de limón, a popular dessert in Mexico and the Americas, is not only easy to make, but uses only 4 ingredients. What’s not to love!?

Now, because it is made in so many different places, this dessert goes by many different names including “carlota de limon,” “pie de limon,” and “postre de limon.” For English speakers, we’ll just call it Lime Maria Icebox Cake.

I’ve included it in my post 10 Around-the-World Desserts You Can Make at Home if you want to learn about other delicious dessert recipes from across the globe.

Only 4 ingredients, you say?

Yes, that’s right: Maria cookies, sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and fresh lime juice. That’s it!

Now, a beautiful thing happens when we add acid to dairy: it coagulates, creating a beautiful, thick, custard-like cream. This cream becomes not only the base, but the individual layers of this dessert. So, as the Maria biscuits will be the bricks for our construction, the cream will be the mortar. 

You construct the whole cake, or pie, in layers, then leave it overnight in the fridge to set up. When you take it out, you’ll have creating a beautiful, delicious layered dessert. And no baking invloved!

I adapted my recipe from Goya. Let me know in the comments what you think!

Lime Maria Icebox Cake

A delicious no-bake cake made with alternating layers of Maria biscuits and sweetened, condensed milk, topped with lime.

4.45 from 34 votes

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Resting time 8 hours hrs

Total Time 8 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 8 people

Calories 222 kcal

Equipment

• juicer
• blender
• baking tray or aluminum brownie pan

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1/2 cup lime juice about 4 good-sized limes
• 1 can sweetened, condensed milk 14 oz
• 1 can evaporated milk 12 oz
• 1 pkg Maria cookies

Instructions

 

Filling

• With a citrus juicer, squeeze 4 or so limes until you have 1/2 cup of lime juice. Set aside.
• In a blender, add one can of sweetened, condensed milk and one can of evaporated milk.
• Blend until combined.
• With blender on, slowly add lime juice. Blend until the cream reaches a pudding-like consistency.

Constructing the Cake

• On a 7 inch aluminum brownie pan (or comparable) put down a layer of Maria cookies. (I fit 9 cookies on the bottom of my pan.)
• Spread a generous layer of your cream mixture on the cookies.
• Keep alternating layers of biscuits and cream, reserving about a half a cup of cream for the top.
• Garnish with lime zest and a thin, twisted slice of lime.
• Place in the refrigerator overnight (or at least 8 hours) to allow it to set up before serving.

Notes

To make the cake more sturdy, give the cookie layers a little mush when you lay them down.

If you don’t have a square pan, you can use a pie dish — really any kind of baking dish will work.

If the cookies don’t fit perfectly, just break them in half to make them fit. The important things is to have a nice layer.

If you wanted, you could also crush up your cookies for the bottom layer. Also there is no regulation height, so lay down as many or few layers as is feasible. 

Nutrition

Calories: 222kcalCarbohydrates: 33gProtein: 7gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 30mgSodium: 110mgPotassium: 335mgFiber: 1gSugar: 32gVitamin A: 245IUVitamin C: 7mgCalcium: 258mgIron: 1mg

Keyword condensed milk, lime, Maria biscuits, no-bake cake

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