Margarita Cupcakes with Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

Margarita Cupcakes with Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

Cupcakes:

1 package white cake mix
1 can (10 oz.) frozen Margarita mix, thawed
3 egg whites
2 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil
1 Tbsp grated lime zest

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line standard muffin pan with baking cups.
2. In large bowl, combine cake mix, Margarita mix, egg whites and oil using electric mixer.
3. Stir in lime zest; mix completely.
4. Fill prepared pans 2/3 full.
5. Bake 22-24 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean.
6. Cool in pan on cooling rack 5-8 minutes.
7. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely.
8. Frost cooled cupcakes with icing and garnish, if desired, with a strawberry and/or lime twist. Can also roll the frosted edges in colored sugar to simulate the salted rim of a Margarita glass.
Yield: 24 cupcakes.

Frosting:

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp key lime juice (or 1 Tbsp lemon, 1 Tbsp lime)
1 tsp key lime zest or lemon zest
4-5 cups confectioners' sugar

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

Pinned it and Made it: Top Gear Chocolate cupcakes with Oreo Whipped Cream

Last night was the US premiere of the new season of the original UK version of the show "Top Gear". The Mister and a few of our friends are big fans of the show, so we decided to have everyone over for a little viewing party. Any excuse to make cupcakes is fine by me!

A few weeks ago I'd Pinned this recipe for Chocolate Cupcakes with Oreo Whipped Cream frosting.

Original Source: http://pawleysislandposh.blogspot.com/2012/03/pink-pants-and-such.html Please be sure to Pin from the original source!

Our local cupcake shop sells a cupcake called the Cookie Monster that looks just like this, only it's also filled with the whipped Oreo cream. It happens to be their shop's best selling cupcake and it's Maren's favorite, so I wondered if this recipe would recreate it. The black and white theme was perfect for my party!

I was in a hurry and in no mood to deal with fallen cupcakes (a hazard of baking at Denver's high altitude with 'normal' recipes) so instead of making the cupcakes from scratch using the Pinned recipe, I cheated and used a Devil's Food cake mix. The Oreo Whipped Cream frosting was just that--whipping cream, a small amount of powdered sugar, vanilla, and crushed Oreo crumbs.

Initially I thought the frosting wouldn't be sweet enough and I did add 2 extra tablespoons of Oreo crumbs, but once it was on the chocolate cupcakes it was just perfect! It wasn't an exact match for the Cookie Monster cupcake from my local shop, but it was on the right track. The whipped cream frosting was a nice lighter alternative to buttercream. The cupcakes were a big hit--I made 24, and at the end of the night only 4 were left--and we only had 11 people here!

For our "Top Gear" party, I forewent the Oreo half in the photo and instead made my own The Stig cupcake toppers:

If you don't watch the show they won't make any sense, but The Stig is this masked driver they use to drive very fast cars. His identity is a secret and they introduce him using silly made-up facts that always begin with the phrase, "Some say..."

To incorporate that element, I made silly paper wraps for our soda bottles, each with a different "Some say..." phrase found on this website. They were kind of ghetto because they were literally done at the last minute, but had I more time I would have put a photo of The Stig on the wraps as well. I probably would have also manage to cut the papers all the same size (sheesh). I always have more ideas than time, it seems!

April Fool's treat: Spaghetti & Meatballs cupcakes

I realize I'm about 10 days late with this post, but I wanted to show you the cupcakes I made for April Fool's Day.

I've wanted to make these cupcake for years, since I first saw them in the very fun Hello, Cupcake book and I figured April Fool's Day was the perfect excuse, especially since we had special guests for dinner. I tinted my buttercream frosting with a few drops of yellow food coloring to get the perfect spaghetti noodle color, then spread the cupcakes with a thin layer to cover then top of the cake. Next I piped it through a small round tip to get the noodles. It doesn't take any special technique--you just squeeze the icing and the frosting 'noodles' itself!

The Ferrero Rocher meatballs really made it, though--with the strawberry jam coating, they looked eerily realistic! I even used some red and white checked cupcake liners from my stash to echo a red and white checked tablecloth like you might see at an Italian restaurant.

They were really fun to make and delicious to eat, both a good trick and a good treat!

Firecracker Cupcakes

Yesterday Maren and I wanted to make some fun, festive cupcakes for The Mister to take to work, so I was excited to see these fun Firecracker Cupcakes from Inside BruCrew Life via Tatertots and Jello. I just happened to have a package of Twizzlers Pull n' Peel licorice in the pantry that we could add to the top.

We had fun making the tri-colored cakes and decorating them with all of my red, white and blue sprinkles. I think The Mister's co-workers will like them!

Groundhog cupcakes

Friends, it's been a rough week. And it's only Wednesday afternoon.

On Monday morning, Maren had two cavities filled. She was a brave girl--didn't cry one tear and never even needed the nitrous oxide! That afternoon at school she fell during indoor recess (cold kept the kids inside) and hit her head on the wall and landed hard on her wrist, resulting in the dreaded call from the school nurse.

The doc decided it warranted an x-ray, and it turns out she has a buckle fracture in one of her bones. We head to the pediatric orthopedist this afternoon to find out if it needs a cast or can stay in the splint. (sidenote: Maren keeps calling her splint her "sliver." I think she's getting the whole splinter/sliver thing mixed up but it makes me giggle every time.)

Yesterday school was canceled due to ridiculously cold weather. The high temp yesterday was several degrees below zero, and we spent the whole day listening to the heater cycle on and off nearly continuously as it tried to keep up with the cold outside! I went into the basement yesterday morning to put in a load of wash and found that the water in the washer won't come on. We're not sure if it's due to a frozen pipe or just that the washer coincidentally went kaput on the coldest day of the year, but either way we have about two more days of clean undies until I'll be knocking on my neighbor's door with a basket of dirty laundry in hand.

Last night, Porter finally figured out how to climb out of his crib. I know that he's known how to do it since before Christmas, but last night was the first time he actually tried it. Moving him to a toddler bed is not an option for numerous reasons, so we're going to try the crib tent thing for a while.

To get Porter to stay in bed last night we rigged up a 'lid' for his crib out of packing boxes and duct tape. It did the trick and kept him in safely, but then I woke up around 4:30 am this morning, worried that he'd manage to get his head stuck somehow and asphyxiate so I crept downstairs and got scissors and cut all of the tape just in case.

Today school is closed again because of the extreme cold, but I decided we'd go out to the chiropractor (my back/neck are killing me) and to buy a crib tent. I got us all dressed to fend off the -20 degree windchill, strapped everyone in their car seats, and only then found that the car battery is dead. {bangs head against wall}

The bad news is, I fear we haven't faced the worst of it yet. My dear grandmother is fading rather quickly, and I'm afraid that she may not last through the week. Every time the phone rings I'm afraid to look at the caller ID.

Highlight of the past few days has been the Groundhog cupcakes that Maren and I made yesterday.

They're not perfect, but they're still cute! This photo was taken after Porter perpetrated a small Groundhog Massacre so a few of them have wonky faces. I sent them to work with The Mister--I don't care for Almond Joys, so this may be the first time I've ever made cupcakes that I didn't want to go in there and eat them all by myself.

Everyday CAN be a holiday with Jenny & Aaron & Michael's!

In 2007 I had the pleasure of attending Silver Bella, one of the best paper arts events in the country! While there, I got to take classes from the fabulous Jenny & Aaron, of Everyday is a Holiday. In fact, I hung up the darling cake plaque I made in one of their classes for Maren's birthday celebrations a few weeks ago. Jenny & Aaron are the nicest people, and I've long been a fan of their gorgeous pink & aqua blue, vintage-style cake art, so you can imagine how thrilled I was to find out that their work is available at Michael's craft stores RIGHT NOW!!

I was first tipped off by Natalea (a fellow '07 Bella who was in that cake plaque class with me) a few weeks ago and couldn't wait to go to Michael's to see the items for myself. They were even cuter in person, with pretty pastel colors and glitter and sprinkles all over. This (lousy) photo only shows a small portion of the line. There were more styles of journals, notecards, little enclosure cards, magnets, and rhinestone words--all in Jenny & Aaron's signature style! And guess what--they were only $1 each--can you believe it? I loaded up my cart because I think I could happily use these cards for all my mail correspondence for pretty much forever.

And guess what else--because I love Jenny & Aaron's art so much and because I just know that you'll love it too, I picked up an extra packet of notecards for one of you!

Aren't these cards just darling? Simply leave a comment on this post between now and noon MDT on Wednesday (that's tomorrow) and I'll pick someone to send a little bit of cupcake Happy Mail!

Corn on the Cob-cakes

Is this not HILARIOUS? This picture is from the July 2008 issue of Family Fun magazine and I literally laughed out loud when I turned the page! You can click on the photo to enlarge it and read the text. This is from the new book Hello, Cupcake! (the author is an editor with Family Fun) which I haven't yet seen but am anxiously awaiting from the library. I'm SO making these cupcakes this summer, if it means I have to create an occasion to do so. They're just too darn clever to pass up!

Hurrah for the Red, White and Blue!

I love to decorate for the Fourth of July. LOVE it, I tell you. I love it so much that my family room is done in Americana all year round: the walls are navy blue, we have this print hanging on the wall and above it I have a vinyl lettering phrase that reads "God Bless America." I have a wreath with rusty stars and flag pillows and I just love it! In June I get out the rest of my patriotic decor in time for Flag Day and I leave it up until the end of July so I can enjoy it for a while. Because I've had so much fun decorating, I thought I'd post a few of my favorite red, white, and blue things this year:

**I'm running out of time, but still hoping that maybe I can get some of the projects in the July Country Living done before we leave to go out town on Thursday. It's a tall order, we'll see. I really love those rosettes and I've already bought all the crepe paper so I need to get crackin'!

**We all know that I love cupcakes, but festive and patriotic cupcakes are even better! Look at these cuties here and here from the Wilton website. The first one with the fireworks looks tricky with that fancy tip but the second one using a star tip probably isn't as difficult.

**These red, white and blue candies from Hammond's are making my heart go pitter-pat! I think I may need to make a quick drive up tomorrow morning to check them out in person. Isn't the flag ribbon candy neat? And those great big round lollipops--wouldn't they look great displayed with a big red ribbon on the sticks? I want it all. Bad.

This cute pillow by Bethany Lowe Designs. Heck, I love her whole July 4th line. There's also a matching table runner.

**This last one isn't exactly red, white and blue but I think it goes along with the theme. For an upcoming church activity I'm in charge of coordinating donations for care packages to be sent to deployed military service members. I went to AnySoldier.com to compile my list of requested items and was very touched by the simple requests that so many of the soldiers & Marines have made, and their responses telling just how grateful they are for the packages that they have received. I think I'm going to make a personal goal to send one package per month to someone on the list. We have friends who are deployed and I know we need to be better about sending some mail love to them too. I encourage all of you to think about putting together a care package for a soldier in honor of July 4th--it doesn't take much to stuff a Flat Rate Priority box good and full, and I know that it would be appreciated!

And now off to bed! I've got to get up bright and early for my field trip to Hammond's. :)