Key Lime Cupcakes

Cupcakes are (maybe "were" now) the new black. The cupcake craze has gone a little overboard this year with cupcakeries cropping up all and selling the tiny cakes at $3.50 a pop. After spending $7 on two dry cupcakes at Sugarbaby's I decided maybe I don't need to eat cupcakes (I have, however, heard great things about Crave). But, when I saw this Key Lime Cupcake recipe in bon appetit, originally from Buttersweet Bakery in Altanta, I thought it sounded fun and it would give me a reason to buy neon-green food coloring. I also had some amazing Key Lime Cheesecake Cupcakes at a shower recently and so it's been on my mind.

Turns out this recipe is a keeper. The cupcakes are incredibly dense but the lime flavoring isn't too strong and the icing is just perfect. I have always heard that the secret to good Key Lime Cheesecake is using real key limes and I would suspect that would also help out this recipe.

After I had all the batter mixed I had a flashback to the Avocado Soup I made recently. It was almost the identical color and texture. We're taking these to a BBQ today and Allen has already decided we'll tell everyone they're spinach cupcakes. We'll see how that goes over.

Cupcake Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup self-rising flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon finely grated lime peel
1/4 teaspoon neon-green food coloring
3/4 cup buttermilk

Frosting Ingredients:
1 8-oz package cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon finely grated lime peel
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard cupcake pan with 12 paper liners. Whisk both flours in medium bowl until smooth. Add sugar, beat to blend. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then next 3 ingredients (batter may look curdled). Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions.



Spoon scant 1/3 cup batter into each liner.



2. Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool 10 minute. Remove from pan; cool.

Frosting:
Beat all ingredients in a medium bowl until smooth. Spread over cupcakes.