post #5: Strawberry Margarita Cupcakes

Strawberry Margaritas - In a Cupcake!

Happy Monday! After a weekend full of friend time, my heart is full. I spent Friday with my college girlfriends and their significant others - playing games, eating, drinking, and laughing. Saturday was spent with Jo's college group of friends celebrating a two sweet lovebirds who are getting married in August. We got to hang out with so many people who we don't see as often as we'd like, and it was nothing short of fantastic!

In lieu of weekend activities, I decided to bake a treat. I found a recipe here for Strawberry Margarita cupcakes. We have lots of fresh & frozen strawberries, so I thought this would be the perfect festive dessert. I changed a few things from the recipe I found, and was really happy with the results. Boy oh boy - these were awesome! 

If you need a summer treat, do yourself a favor and whip these up. Fairly minimal effort was involved, and it is a unique dessert to bring to any type of gathering. Fresh strawberry chunks and hints of lime made the cupcakes finger licking good. The icing is even better than the cupcakes - I could probably spread this on anything. Like a spoon. Or my finger. I might even double this recipe the next time I make the cupcakes. I did run out of icing with about 6 cupcakes left, and tried to use fairly minimal amounts since I had to sample so many times to get it just right.

I hope you'll try making these too - let me know what you think!

Strawberry Margarita Cupcakes

Yields 24-28 cupcakes, depending on size

Ingredients (Cake)

1 Box White Cake Mix

1 cup Vegetable Oil

4 Eggs

1 Package of Strawberry Jello (3 oz)

2/3 cup thawed frozen margarita mix (Bacardi)

About 1 cup of pureed strawberries (see below) (to taste)

Instructions (Cake):

1) Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin tins.

2) Using a mixer, combine cake mix, vegetable oil, and eggs. Mix in the Jello, margarita mix, and strawberries until completely combined, about 2 minutes.

3) Fill muffin tins (about 2/3 of the way full) and bake for about 15 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

(what you need)

Pre-Instructions - I blended about 2 1/2 cups of sliced strawberries, along with about 2 1/2 tablespoons of sugar, in our trusty Magic Bullet. Remember that a cup of strawberries ≠ a cup of pureed strawberries!

 (before)

(after)

 (cake mix, eggs, and oil)

 (+ strawberry jello, margarita mix, and strawberries)

(finished cake batter - yum!)

(I recommend doing 1.5x or double the frosting recipe, in order to ice all of the cupcakes with a large amount of icing. And, of course, so that you can try some to make sure it is delicious. And is still delicious a few minutes later!)

Ingredients (Frosting)

1/3 cup Strawberry Puree

1 cup softened butter

1/4 c thawed frozen margarita concentrate (Bacardi)

4 cups powdered sugar

Instructions:

1) Beat butter and strawberries on low speed until smooth.

2) Add in powdered sugar, slowly! (I recommend that you use your bowl shield to avoid spraying powder everywhere. Oops!)

3) Add margarita mix and continue beating until frosting is light and fluffy!

Note - wait until the cupcakes are completely cool to frost. I know. It's hard. But will be worth it!

(butter & strawberries)

(finished icing)

(finished products)

(cupcakes - yum! more - and prettier - icing next time!)