Cinco De Mayo! Drink Up!

Adorable photo from we heartit.com

You absolutely CANNOT celebrate Cinco De Mayo without the Margarita! And what better way  to enjoy the fresh lime and tequilla combo, than in a cupcake version!

Enjoy mi amigos!! xoxo

Margarita Cupcakes

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
3 limes, zested and juiced
1.5 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line two muffin pans with cupcake liners. (Which I think is pretty obvious, but I figured I’d say it anyway)

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

Using a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.

One at a time, add in the eggs. Mix well after each addition.

Add in the lime juice, lime zest and vanilla and beat well. Make sure your lime zest is small rather than large chunks – it will give the cupcake better texture.

Beat the flour mixture into the bowl. Do this in three additions, starting with the flour mixture and adding the buttermilk after the first and second flour additions.

Fill the cupcake liners about half-full with the batter (Again, obvious)

Bake 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cupcakes will not brown so don’t be alarmed if they still look white.

Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes.

Tequilla Lime Buttercream

2 cups sugar
8 large egg whites
Pinch of sea salt (a pink is about ½ tsp.)
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice

1 tsp of vanilla
3 tbsp. tequila (maybe more depending on the kind of day you’ve had)

Combine sugar, egg whites and salt in a medium sauce pan and heat until it reaches 160 degrees F and the sugar has completely dissolved.

Transfer to a stand mixer and beat on medium-high until stiff peaks form and it has cooled to room temperature. This takes awhile – so don’t get discouraged, just practice patience…or have a drink of that tequila.

Add in the butter, two tablespoons at a time — mixing well after each addition.

The mixture may start to look curdled…just keep mixing it and, eventually, it will look like frosting.

Stir in the lime juice and tequila.

**Before piping the frosting onto the cupcakes, I make a mixture of half lime half tequila to brush on the top of my cupcakes – This gives it a more authentic margarita taste vs. a lime cupcake with a kick. Trust me, you’ll want to do this **

Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes

Decorate with a slice of fresh lime (or a candy lime) and green sprinkles.

I added straws to mine because I thought it looked cute – but it’s not necessary.

Enjoy!

Key Lime Frosting and a Giveaway Winner!

Happy March 1^st lovelies!! You know what that means…I can finally start talking about St. Patrick’s Day. I’ve got some really yummy, festive, and fun recipes to share with you guys and I just can’t wait!

First things first though – let’s announce the winner of my Delightful Designs Giveaway!

Drum Roll Please…….

The Winner is SuckersbySteph! Congrats – I will email you today the details of your prize!

Now, on to a very green frosting recipe! I love this Key Lime Frosting and it’s perfect color to celebrate the luck of the Irish!!

What you will need:

• 1/2  cup  butter, softened
• (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, divided
• 1/3  cup  milk
• 1 key lime

Directions:

• Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add 1 cup powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended.
• Add milk, beating until blended. Gradually add remaining powdered sugar, beating until blended. Stir in 2 tbs grated lime rind and 3 tbs of lime juice.

Perfect for frosting Vanilla, Coconut, Strawberry, or Lemon Cupcakes!

Enjoy xoxo

Jill

It’s Friday, where’s my margarita??

Actually, It’s right here, in cupcake form of-course! A few weeks ago, I became very curious about what seems to be the new rage in cupcakes…cupcakes using adult beverages. I have seen such fun cupcake ideas based on well-known alcoholic beverages.

So here’s my take on the Margarita cupcake. There are so many recipes out there, none of which I completely liked, so I created my own. Enjoy this recipe, and have a great weekend! Cheers

Margarita Cupcakes

It's Happy Hour!

Enjoy a refreshing drink, in cupcake form!

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
3 limes, zested and juiced
1.5 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line two muffin pans with cupcake liners. (Which I think is pretty obvious, but I figured I’d say it anyway)

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

Using a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.

One at a time, add in the eggs. Mix well after each addition.

Add in the lime juice, lime zest and vanilla and beat well. Make sure your lime zest is small rather than large chunks – it will give the cupcake better texture.

Beat the flour mixture into the bowl. Do this in three additions, starting with the flour mixture and adding the buttermilk after the first and second flour additions.

Fill the cupcake liners about half-full with the batter (Again, obvious)

Bake 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cupcakes will not brown so don’t be alarmed if they still look white.

Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes.

Tequila Lime Buttercream

2 cups sugar
8 large egg whites
Pinch of sea salt (a pink is about ½ tsp.)
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice

1 tsp of vanilla
3 tbsp. tequila (maybe more depending on the kind of day you’ve had)

Combine sugar, egg whites and salt in a medium sauce pan and heat until it reaches 160 degrees F and the sugar has completely dissolved.

Transfer to a stand mixer and beat on medium-high until stiff peaks form and it has cooled to room temperature. This takes awhile – so don’t get discouraged, just practice patience…or have a drink of that tequila.

Add in the butter, two tablespoons at a time — mixing well after each addition.

The mixture may start to look curdled…just keep mixing it and, eventually, it will look like frosting.

Stir in the lime juice and tequila.

**Before piping the frosting onto the cupcakes, I make a mixture of half lime half tequila to brush on the top of my cupcakes – This gives it a more authentic margarita taste vs. a lime cupcake with a kick. Trust me, you’ll want to do this **

Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes

Decorate with a slice of fresh lime (or a candy lime) and green sprinkles.

I added straws to mine because I thought it looked cute – but it’s not necessary.

Enjoy!

Mini Coconut Lime Cupcakes

This wonderful recipe landed in my inbox and absolutely made my day  today! If I didn’t already have plans tonight, I would head home after work and bake these immediatly! Tomorrow is Saturday though, so you can bet I will be baking up these little lime goodies! Enjoy the recipe – let me know how they turn out 🙂

Coconut Lime Cupcake – Mini Version!

Makes approx 48 mini’s and one dozen (12) regular size cupcakes

Cupcakes:

 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

 2 cups sugar

Zest of one lime

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

 1 ½ tps baking soda

 1 ½ tsp salt

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla

¾ cup milk

The juice of one lime

¾ cup Toasted Coconut + 2 cups for garnish

 Lime mini wedges

Green food coloring

1. Preheat oven to BROIL. 
2. Line cupcake pans with liners.
3. On an ungreased cookie sheet, lay coconut spread out on sheet.  Put in the oven and broil until about 1/5 of the coconut has browned.  Move around the coconut after 30 seconds to get more even browning. Watch carefully and DO NOT OVER TOAST!!!!! It should only take a minute or two. Set aside to cool.
4. Turn oven down to 300 degrees.
5. Measure sugar into a medium bowl.
6. Prepare the sugar by working the lime zest into sugar by pressing the back of a spatula down into sugar, thus releasing the oils from the zest into the sugar.  This process should take about five minutes, and the sugar will become very fragrant.  
7. Cream the butter for 2-3 minutes using electric mixer and the paddle attachment.  Add the sugar to the butter mixture and continue creaming until fluffy.
8. While butter/sugar are creaming, in another bowl sift together flour, salt baking soda and baking powder and set aside. Sift at least twice to ensure all ingredients are combined.
9. Add eggs one at a time to butter and sugar, mixing thoroughly after each egg.
10. In a measuring cup that pours, mix together the milk, lime juice and vanilla. 
11. SLOWLY alternate adding the flour and milk mixture to the butter/sugar.  Begin and end with the flour and make sure to mix very well after each addition. Do not over mix.
12. Fold in the toasted coconut.
13. Add 6-10 drops of green food coloring and fold in until you get the desired green color you want.
14. Fill liners 1/2 full with batter.  DO NOT OVER FILL!!!
15. For Minis: Bake for 8 minutes and rotate pan 180 degrees in oven. Bake another 2-3 minutes.
16. For Regular: Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes and rotate pan 180 degrees in oven.  Bake another 3-5 minutes.
17. Cool in pans for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to completely cool.

Lime Buttercream:  

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

 2 lbs (approx 6 cups) powdered sugar

 1/4 -1/2 cup milk

 Zest of a lime

 Juice of a lime

1 tbsp light corn syrup

Mini lime wedges 

1. In an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter.
2. One cup at a time, add the powdered sugar.  Between each cup, add a splash of milk.   Mix until smooth & scrape down the sides after each addition
3. Before the last cup of sugar, add the zest and juice of the lime.  Mix until smooth.
4. Add the corn syrup.
5. Add any remaining milk until you get the texture and consistency you want. 
6. Mix on high for 4-5 minutes.

To Assemble:

1. Pipe a dollop of buttercream on the cupcake.
2. Dunk the cupcake upside down in the toasted coconut.
3. Top with a small lime wedge. 

This recipe was created by Betsy Eves, author  of the blog JavaCupcake.com! Thanks Betsy for the fantastic recipe!!