IN THE POT | KEY LIME CUPCAKES

I don’t know why but for the past couple of weeks I have been craving lime.  I think I’ve drunk nearly 4 litres of lime cordial in the past few weeks.  I wonder if it’s a summer thing or whether this is just another one of those things that you can chalk up to pregnancy, either way our house is lime flavour central at the moment.

In an attempt to sate my cravings I decided to make these cupcakes which I’d seen on Pinterest.  They were awesome.  So easy to make and had such a surprising tang to them.  I love them.  The cream cheese frosting also helps.

I ended up being able to make 18 from this mixture.  I guess you can squeeze more out of the mixture when you’re not allowed to lick the bowl or spoon. (Damn raw eggs in pregnancy!)

I’m actually thinking of having a tweak of this recipe and seeing if I can come up with a nice lime and coconut version.  Should be interesting.

Key Lime Cupcakes

1 ¾ cups cake flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) cool unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs (room temperature)
2 ½ tablespoons key lime juice
1 tablespoon key lime zest
1 drop green food coloring paste
¾ cup buttermilk (room temperature)
Icing
1 stick cool unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
8 ounces cream cheese (room temperature), cut into 8 pieces
2 ¼ cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon key lime zest

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F (or 180°C). Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners.

2.  Sift the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt three times, set aside.

3.  Using a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on low until it’s softened a bit. Add the sugar and increase the speed to medium. Beat until fluffy, about four minutes. Add one egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lime juice, zest, and food coloring and beat until mixed. (The mixture will look curdled.)

4.  Add the flour in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Mix on low until just combined. Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 full.

5.  Bake 20-25 minutes. Cool completely and frost with cream cheese icing.

6.  Icing: Using a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on low until it’s softened a bit. Increase speed to medium and add the cream cheese one piece at a time. Reduce speed to low and slowly add powdered sugar until combined. Beat in zest.

Source: My Madison Bistro; adapted from Bon Appetit, Sept 2008

Makes: 12-14 cupcakes

Note: I didn’t have access to fresh limes so I used bottled lime juice and wasn’t able to add any zest.  It still worked out ok, I just found I had to double the recipe amount.  I’m going to give these another go when I can get my hands on some fresh limes as I think the zest would add an extra punch to them.