Craving A Margarita

My husband has me hooked lately on Margarita's. It must be the sweet combined with that salt! Gotta love Margarita Salt.

At any rate, I decided to make Margarita Cupcakes. I have been meaning to try this recipe for a couple of weeks now and just now got around to doing them. It was easy enough (aside from extra steps with the grating of the key lime zest and fresh key lime juice). They tasted incredible.

My only complaint would be the fact that that Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting was overpowering to the actual Margarita Cupcake. I had to get a bite of just cake to really taste the flavor but they are still delicious no matter what.

My one tweak to the recipe is I did not put the sugar around the cupcake (like a Margarita glass) because I did not want to make them too incredibly sweet. So instead I grated some extra Key Lime Zest and sprinkled them.

I also refrigerated them due to the cream cheese frosting and they held up just fine!

Margarita Cupcakes with a Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
1 package (18.25 oz. white cake mix (no pudding in the mix)

1 can (10 oz.) frozen Margarita mix, thawed (undiluted)

3 egg whites

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon grated lime zest

Yield: Makes 24 cupcakes.

Directions
In large bowl, combine cake mix, Margarita mix, egg whites and vegetable oil using electric mixer. Stir in lime zest; mix completely. Fill prepared pans 2/3 full. Bake 22-24 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pan on cooling rack 5-8 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely. Frost cooled cupcakes with icing and garnish, if desired, with a strawberry and/or lime twist

Key Lime Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons key lime juice
1 teaspoon key lime zest or lemon zest
4-5 cups confectioners' sugar
Yield: Makes about 3 cups icing.

Directions

In large bowl, cream butter, cream cheese, juice and zest with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Add 4 cups confectioners' sugar, one cup at a time; continue beating until light and fluffy.
If icing is too thin add additional confectioners' sugar 1 tablespoon at a time.