For many years, I thought that I didn’t like margaritas. I realize how wild this sounds. I attribute it to bad Mexican restaurant chains, cheap tequila, and the tooth-rotting sugary bottles of atomic green mixers used by said establishments. My aversion also may have stemmed from that trip to Mazatlán during my freshman year of high school, who knows. Once I had a real margarita made with actual limes and tequila that didn’t come from a plastic jug, I was in love. There really is nothing like an icy cool margie on a warm summer night. But a Margarita Cupcake is pretty dang great too!
Cinco de Mayo is one of my favorite holidays that we celebrate here in the states. It serves as a kickoff to the summer drinking season and arrives just when North America needs to let loose and have cinco too many. The next best thing to an actual margarita is a tequila laced Margarita Cupcake. These cutie cupcakes hit on all of the right flavor spots; sweet, sour, salty and saucy.
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Recipe
MARGARITA CUPCAKES
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Description
These Margarita Cupcakes are infused with lime and tequila, then frosted with a boozy tequila lime buttercream frosting and garnished with lime moons and a crunchy sprinkle of coarse salt.
Ingredients
MARGARITA CUPCAKES
- 1 ½ cups cake or pastry flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (1 stick)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 whole eggs, at room temperature
- 2 whole limes (juice and zest)
- 2 tablespoons tequila blanco (+ 1 additional TB for brushing)
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup buttermilk, at room temperature
TEQUILA LIME BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (2 sticks)
- 2 ¾ cups powdered sugar (sifted)
- 1 whole lime juice and zest
- 2 tablespoons tequila blanco
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon coarse salt for sprinkling
Instructions
TEQUILA LIME BUTTERCREAM
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
- In an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the butter and sugar together until pale, light, and fluffy (about 5 minutes).
- Reduce speed to medium and add the eggs one at at time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the lime zest, lime juice, vanilla extract and tequila. Mix until combined. (The mixture may start to look curdled at this point, but don't worry, it will all come back together, stay on the path.)
- Reduce the mixer speed low. Add the dry ingredients in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk in two batches. Mix only until just incorporated, using a rubber spatula to give it one last mix by hand.
- Using a large cookie scoop, divide the batter between the muffin cups.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes, until just slightly golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, rotating the pan(s) halfway through bake time.
- Allow cupcakes to cool for 5 to 10 minutes, and then transfer to a cooling rack. Once the cakes are cool, brush the tops of the cupcakes with the 1 to 2 tablespoons of tequila mixed with a little lime juice.
- With the whisk attachment on a stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Reduce the speed to medium-low, and gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing and scraping the sides of the bowl until all is incorporated.
- With the mixer on medium-high speed, add the lime juice, tequila and salt mix for a couple of minutes, until incorporated and fluffy.
- If the frosting appears a bit too soft, add some additional sugar, one spoonful at a time until desired consistency is reached.
- Frost cupcakes with desired frosting tip. Garnish with a lime half moons, lime zest, an additional sprinkling of coarse salt.
Notes
This amazing recipe was adapted from the original recipe for Margarita Cupcakes by the super talented browneyedbaker.com
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dessert
Sabine says
They are delicious! I just made them, but won't be serving them till tomorrow. Is there a reason to wait with the frosting till tomorrow or can I just put everything together now? I won't have time to do the whole thing tomorrow. Thanks!
beckysue says
Hi Sabine! I just saw this post...I'm so sorry. You can definitely frost them ahead of time. I like to keep mine sealed and in the fridge to keep them as fresh as possible. I might wait to put the lime slices on until just before serving though. Enjoy! 😀
Meg says
Glad to see I was the mistaken one!! 🙂 thanks for the comment!