Key Lime Cupcakes

I don’t know if any of you watch Cupcake Wars on The Food Network, but it’s one of my favorite shows! R and I love to watch it and see if we can guess who is going to be the winner. 🙂 One of the judges on the show is Candace Nelson and she is the founder of Sprinkle’s Cupcakes. Now unfortunately I don’t live anywhere that has a Sprinkle’s store (there is even a Sprinkle’s Cupcake ATM in Beverly Hills!), but you have to assume that if they make her a judge of cupcakes her cupcakes are probably dang good! I really wanted to do a Key Lime Cupcake so I went searching for inspiration! Low and behold, I found a link from when Candace was on Good Morning, America, and actually shared her bakery’s recipe for Key Lime Cupcakes! I was SUPER excited to get to try her recipe and maybe get a taste (if I could do it any justice at all) of what an actual Sprinkle’s Cupcake might taste like!

I didn’t change a thing in the cupcake recipe, and I’m glad I didn’t. It turned out AMAZING. It has a wonderful, mild flavor and bakes up beautifully! So make sure you check out Sprinkle’s Key Lime Cupcake Recipe for the cupcake ingredients and directions.

I did slightly alter the Key Lime Frosting recipe. I first made it exactly as the recipe said and decided I wanted a touch more lime flavor (and a touch of green!). Here is what I did…

Key Lime Buttercream Frosting
Adapted ever so slightly from Sprinkle’s Cupcakes original recipe

1 cup butter (unsalted), firm but not cold

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon Key Lime zest (from the lime peel)

5 tablespoons fresh Key Lime juice

(preferably fresh squeezed key limes, but you can use regular limes too)

1/2 teaspoon milk

2-3 drops of green food coloring, depending on how dark you want the green

Using the paddle attachment, beat together butter, food coloring, and salt on medium speed in the bowl of a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Reduce electric mixer to low speed and slowly add powdered sugar, beat until well combined. Make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add vanilla, Key Lime juice, and zest (don’t skip the addition of lime zest, it gives the frosting even more fresh lime flavor), mix until just blended, DO NOT OVERMIX. Frosting should be dense and creamy, kind of like ice cream.

As you can see my cupcakes have LOTS of frosting on them and I still had some frosting leftover (which my boys so graciously took care of for me!), so if you half the amount of frosting you put on them, you could easily frost 2 dozen cupcakes with this recipe. 🙂

If you’d like to frost your cupcakes like mine here is what you’ll need:

1M Wilton Star Tip

Pastry Bag

Cut the tip off your piping bag, put your 1M tip into the bag and fill your bag with the frosting. You’ll want to start with a dollop of frosting and then swirl around and up for your creamy frosting swirl.

I hope you all enjoy this cupcake, it’s gotten great reviews from my family and friends because of its great flavor! It has more than just a hint of lime flavor! Next time I’m going to put a slice of key lime on top of the center of each cupcake.

© The REAL Housewives of Riverton, 2011-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s authors and/or owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to The REAL Housewives of Riverton with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.