Margarita Filled Cupcakes

I've been wanting to make these for a long time, but the other day, I got a BIG reason to go for it.  My husband graciously offered to go to the grocery store the other day and I asked him to pick up 6 limes (because I know they are 6 for $1 at that store).  Ahhh, here's where the fun starts, he saw a "sale" bag of limes for $1 (also known as 'reduced for quick sale") and thought that was a good deal, BUT, since he wasn't sure if I would be happy with those old limes, he also picked up the 6 'new' limes.  Soooo, I counted up my limes when he got home... here it goes; 2 limes already in my fruit bowl, plus 6 'new' limes, plus 18 "old" limes = 26 limes!!!!  I guess now is the time to make Margarita Cupcakes and Tequila Lime Pork with Mole Sauce too!

I would make the filling first and get it chilling in the fridge, maybe even make it the day before.  I think the filling really makes the cupcakes sumptous, so I wouldn't skip it.  This filling would be incredible on top of cheesecake too. You can sometimes Lime Curd in jars at speciality grocery, but they are usually about $6 a jar... so maybe you should just make it!

You may notice that the cake does not have any eggs in it, it is actually a great Vegan recipe that is the best cake that I have had.  Of course, the filling and the buttercream frosting are not vegan friendly, but wanted you to know about the cake. 
I also have a whole listing of Vegan Cake recipes on another blog posting.

If you really want, you could sprinkle your cupcakes lightly with flake salt, like Maldon, which isn't too salty and goes with the Margarita theme! 

Lime Margarita Filling

Make about 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

1 Tbsp tequila (optional, use 2 Tbsp lemonade instead)

1 Tbsp Triple Sec (optional, use 2 Tbsp lemonade instead)

1 teaspoon lime zest

3 eggs, beaten

Place the sugar, butter, lime juice, lime zest in the top of a double boiler; stir over medium-high heat until butter melts.

Mix 2 tablespoons hot lime mixture into the eggs and stir to blend. Reduce heat to medium until water simmers. Slowly whisk egg mixture into the lime mixture. Whisk in tequila and triple sec.

Cook over the double boiler until lime mixture thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool slightly and spoon into a clean, glass jar. Cover and refrigerate.

NOTE:  I will admit that I didn't use a double boiler, I thought I could do it carefully without using one.  Guess what?  I was wrong...  Below you will see that I have Margarita Scrambled Eggs and I had to strain my filling to get those bits out of it.  Really though, it wasn't hard, so you can strain the filling to get your egg curdles out of there if you do it too. Don't panic, you can fix it!



Margarita Buttercream Icing
4-5 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 tsp lime zest
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp tequila (optional)
A little salt

Whip the butter, lime zest & juice, tequila until fluffy, slowly add the powdered sugar until peaks form. Add salt if desired.

Margarita Cupcake Ingredients:
Makes about 18 cupcakes

2 cups flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup oil

2 Tbsp lime juice
2 Tbsp tequila (optional, use 2 Tbsp lemonade instead)
2 tsp lime zest
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon vinegar, white or Cider

 

Baking Instructions :
Preheat oven at 350.
Mix together all dry ingredients, then the liquid (water, lime juice, tequila etc), oil and extract, then add the wet mixture to the dry and stir until uniformly moistened. 

This batter is a bit more liquid than most batters, but it cooks up nice and moist! Line your muffin tin with papers and fill each one about 1/2 full.  Bake for about 20 minutes. Let cool completely.

Whew, finally, here's how to assemble:

Cut little cones out of the top of each cooled cupcake.

Fill each hole with Margarita filling and replace the cone, it will still be slightly poking out, which is OK because you are going to frost around it because it gives your cupcakes a nice shape!

I used a pastry bag for the filling because it was easier to do quickly!

Pipe frosting over the cake and filling using a large star shaped pastry tip, or use a small icing knife to spread. Serve with a little lime wedge, or sprinkle with some green decorator sugar.





If you like filled cupcakes, here's two more that are very popular on my blog:

Coconut Cream Filled Cupcakes

Reese's Stuffed Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting