Happy Birthday Cupcake Hero! Lime & Coconut Margarita Cupcakes

Last year, I somehow stumbled upon Laurie’s blog and saw the posting about Cupcake Hero. Of course I had to enter. The first theme was Lime. I made Vegan Margarita cupcakes that didn’t turn out so great. Well they tasted great, but didn’t look so good. They we’re somewhat gummy. I later learned that was from using lowfat soymilk.

Here we are one year later and CH has grown beyond anyone’s expectations! Be sure to check out the new website. I try to enter every month. I even won in July! It totally made my week

This month, to celebrate the first birthday of CH, the theme is Baker’s Choice. We have to choose two flavors from the past two months and use them both in the cupcake.

There is a place near us that has these amazing coconut & lime margaritas. They’re my absolute favorite. So I wanted to recreate this as a cupcake. AND, I’d have two themes: lime and alcohol. I realize this may not the most creative combination. So I wanted to get creative about how to make the cupcake.

I stumbled upon a recipe for lime meltaways and decided to combine that with the coconut cupcake and put margarita frosting on the top. I spent days contemplating how to make this cookie/cupcake combo… I started with a trial batch to see what worked best. I made 4 cupcakes. One had raw cookie batter on the bottom, one in the middle, one on top, and one with a baked cookie on the bottom (similar to the Oreo cupcakes).

So this is what my test cupcakes looked like when they came out of the oven. I had to taste each one of course to see how well the lime and coconut played together. I was pleasantly surprised that the baked cookie didn’t burn while the cupcake was baking over it. After taste testing my experimental cupcakes, I decided to bake the cookies, then put them under the raw cupcake batter. The cookies that were baked in the cupcakes didn’t bake through and the one on top just looked silly.

For the cookie recipe, see Lime Meltaways post. For the coconut cupcake recipe, check out when I made Pina Colada cupcakes. I went with a really sweet frosting to balance out the tartness of the fresh lime juice in the margarita that I brushed on top. I also needed a non-alcoholic frosting because my 13 year old sister was going to be at the party I was taking them to. I did brush the non-alcoholic ones with a little freshly squeezed lime juice.

Margarita2 parts tequila
2 parts freshly squeezed lime juice
1 part triple sec

Mix. Brush onto cooled cupcakes. Any remaining mixture can be poured over ice for your enjoyment

Lime Coconut Frosting1 stick of butter
powdered sugar
zest of 1/2 lime
1/4 cup coconut
1/4 tsp coconut extract
1/4 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
couple drops of vanilla extract

Cream the butter. Add sugar to reach desired consistency. Add remaining ingredients and mix. Add more sugar if consistency is too runny.