A Slice of Sunshine

Watch out, pecan and pumpkin. In Florida and across the country, Key lime pie is upstaging the classics

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PUCKER UP Tart cranberries amplify the zing and color of this Key lime pie.

IF YOU CAN SMELL a Key lime pie before you even set eyes on it, you know it's going to be good. This is especially true when walking into Fireman Derek's Bake Shop in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, where the team is working at full tilt with pie orders two weeks ahead of Thanksgiving. But it's not the apple or pumpkin kind they're cranking out-it's Key lime.

The entire place, owned by former firefighter Derek Kaplan, smells of fresh zest. In a corner of the nearly 5,000-square-foot facility, two men are squeezing vats of Key limes as if they were born to juice. Across the room, bakers are molding the graham cracker crusts, adding a sweet, buttery scent to the wafting citrus.

Even though this beloved dessert is believed to have originated over 100 miles south in Key West in the late 1800s, a handful of Miami bakeries are creating a new niche for it during the holiday season. The crew at Fireman Derek's is cooking around the clock to pump out sweets for its three storefronts, plus Goldbelly orders that ship nationwide. Last year, 460 Key lime pies were preordered, and if the past numbers stay the course, they'll sell about 10,000 baked goods this November-with around 2,200 of those being Key lime pies.