In general, I'm not much of a cupcake person. It's not that I dislike them; they just fail to entice me in the same way that say, ice cream does. (Although I do love frosting. My ideal cupcake would probably have about an inch of cake topped with two inches of frosting.) However, last month my mom made a batch of incredible key lime cupcakes for my grandma's birthday. They were moist, citrus-y, and not too sweet, and topped with a creamy lime frosting. They were the sort of cupcakes that made me immediately start scheming about when I could make a batch myself.
I got my chance this past week. My last cupcake post was about lemon cupcakes that I made for my co-worker's wedding shower. She and her husband are now eagerly expecting their first child in June, so it was time for an office-wide baby shower. I thought that it would be cute to make some mini desserts, so I cut up brownies and blondies into bite-sized pieces and adapted the key lime cupcake recipe my mom used to make mini cupcakes. To save some time, I baked the cupcakes the weekend before, froze them, and then thawed and frosted them the night before the shower.
Some recipe notes for the cupcakes: since I didn't want to buy a whole bag of key limes for this recipe, I used bottled key lime juice instead of freshly squeezed. The lime zest came from regular lime slices we used to garnish Broiled Tofu Steaks with Jalapeno Vinaigrette, but obviously if you're using fresh key limes for juice you can use the zest from those. Since I don't have an electric stand mixer, I did most of my mixing by hand and used a hand-held electric mixer to smooth out the batter at the end. If you have an electric mixer you can follow the mixing instructions in the original recipe. Finally, I recommend actually measuring each tablespoon of batter to get consistently-sized cupcakes. Since the cupcakes are so small, I didn't trust myself to eyeball the batter level.
Recipe notes for the frosting: like I did for the cupcakes, I used bottled key lime juice and regular lime zest. I mixed the frosting by hand, which gave my right arm and shoulder an intense workout. If you have an electric stand mixer, by all means follow the instructions in the original recipe. Since I needed to transport the cupcakes, I wanted a thick, sturdy frosting and didn't add any milk, but it you prefer a softer frosting you can add a small amount of milk. I used my nifty cake decorating tool to frost the cupcakes. Finally, I found that I only needed about two-thirds of the frosting for the cupcakes, which meant that there was plenty leftover for me to eat plain (underscoring the fact that this is the best cupcake recipe of all time).
Adapted from the Goddess of Baking and Sprinkles Cupcakes
Yield: 24 mini cupcakes and extra frosting
Ingredients:
Cupcakes
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons key lime juice, divided
- 1/2 tablespoon lime zest
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
Frosting
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, firm but not cold
- pinch of salt
- 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon key lime juice
- 1/2 tablespoon lime zest
- whole milk, if needed to achieve desired frosting consistency
Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 24-cup mini muffin tin with liners.
In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a mug, combine milk, vanilla, 1 tablespoon lime juice, and lime zest; set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add egg and mix until just combined. Add half of the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Add the milk mixture and mix until just combined. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until just combined. Using a hand-held electric mixer, mix batter at low speed just until smooth, about 30-60 seconds.
Place one tablespoon of batter into each of the prepared muffin cups. Bake until the tops of the cupcakes are dry to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 10 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool. Freeze at this point if desired, or proceed immediately to next step. If you do freeze the cupcakes, allow them to thaw completely before proceeding to next step.
Using a toothpick, poke a few holes into the top of each cupcake and brush the tops with the remaining 1 tablespoon of lime juice. Allow cupcakes to completely dry before frosting.
Frosting
In a medium bowl, cream together butter and salt until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, and beat until sugar is completely incorporated. Add vanilla, lime juice, and lime zest and mix until just combined. If needed, add a very small amount of milk (approximately 1 teaspoon) to achieve desired frosting consistency.
Frost cupcakes.
