Margarita Cupcakes

Recipe



Cinco de Mayo... I don't know much about it. Just what I have read on Wikipedia but I do know that it's a good opportunity to bake some Margarita Cupcakes! And I get to use my new stand mixer to boot!

I searched for a good recipe and settled on one from Fake Ginger. It seemed to be more based on Margaritas instead of just being a lime flavored cake. So I find the Margarita Mix at the store and go with the one on sale even though it was recommended I get the Margaritaville mix. Side note: I don't really drink Margaritas, mostly because I can't be bothered with the caloric intake so I wasn't sure what mix was good to use so I asked a guy in the office who is a huge Margarita drinker. I am however always on the lookout for Skinny Girl Margarita mix. That stuff is awesome!

So I creamed the butter and sugar and here's my mixer in action:

It even matches the Margarita mix! How perfect! Next I sifted the dry ingredients and beat the egg whites. The recipe calls for 5 egg whites. I hate odd numbers. Now I have 11 eggs in my refrigerator. What will I do with 1 egg? Hmmm. Anyway, I kind of mixed up the order in which I was supposed to add the egg whites. I was so concerned with "beating them until stiff white peaks formed" and I wasn't using an electric mixer, I just added them when I deemed it was necessary. I added the dry ingredients after the egg whites and before the Margarita mix. Oops. Oh well it seemed to turn out okay in the end.

Here is what the batter looked like before the Margarita mix:

Not a lot of things make me happier in life than fluffy, white, cake batter. It always looks so pretty and yummy and this batter was no exception. So I added the Margarita mix and it still tasted awesome. Next I put the batter into the cupcake liners and baked for 20 minutes. They didn't expand as much as I thought they would:

So perfect and cute! And definitely the best part of the cupcake. So while those are cooling, I brushed them with a little tequila and I made the frosting. I am so not a frosting person but I know that it's a necessity to the cupcake so I cream the butter and add the lime juice, Margarita mix and tequila. Just to warn you, I would use about half of the mix and half of the lime juice unless you really like limes.

I ended up putting 6... that's right... SIX CUPS of powdered sugar in the bowl because it was way too watery and way too sour. And it was still too much lime and still too wet if you ask me. This is what it looked like (keep in mind I had frosted the cupcakes and this is what was left):

I frosted the cupcakes (I ended up with 24 in the end... I've never made the amount the recipe calls for! I usually have more) and begin to decorate with straws and lime slices. When all is said and done I get this:

(Note: There are only 15 here because the rest wouldn't fit in this sized pan)

They sure are cute! I tried part of one with the frosting and the rest with out and I definitely prefer the cake over the frosting but like I said, I am not a huge frosting fan. And I would have done the frosting recipe completely different. In the end though they were pretty popular. Dave even said (jokingly...I think) "You might not be good at much but you are good at baking."

Sorry the picture sucks...

This weekend I will be making cinnamon rolls and I'm really excited about it. I much prefer baking breads and pastries over cakes and cupcakes but all in all I just love to bake. I don't even care about the eating part, for me the joy is in the experience of putting it all together.