Key Lime Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

I grew up in Miami where Key Lime pie isn’t exotic or hard to find. It’s a staple dessert – on every menu, at every party and on the table with Cuban coffee after every meal at my uncle’s house. Key Lime pie is his specialty. It’s cool and tangy and graham cracker-y and just about the best thing ever when it’s sweltering outside. In fact, Tom loves to get a frozen, chocolate-dipped key lime pie on a stick every time we go to Key West. I’m a key lime purist – always opting for the regular slice.

But just because I’m a purist when it comes to key lime pie, doesn’t mean I don’t like my key lime other ways. I’ve been dying to try key lime cupcakes all summer, but never got around to it. Then I was going to make a key lime cake for my sister-in-law’s birthday, but she was out of town and I didn’t have a cake pan. Key lime cupcakes it is, then. I made mini ones because I can’t stop at just one and I’ll do less damage this way.

These cupcakes were better than I’d imagined. The citrusy key lime balances out the sweet cream cheese icing perfectly. I will warn you though – the batter is a little scary. When I poured that key lime juice in with the butter and sour cream, I was sure these were destined for the trash can. As you can guess, the batter curdled. But it’s nothing to worry about – it’s just like making your own buttermilk or ricotta cheese. The batter blends perfect once you add the dry ingredients and it tastes great even before you cook it. I may have licked the spatula. Just maybe.

If you want a little taste of Miami without the expensive plane ticket, make these little beauties and then come back and tell me how much you loved them.

Related:
Strawberry Cupcakes with Chocolate Almond Frosting
Guava & Cream Cheese Cupcakes

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Strawberry Cupcakes with Chocolate Almond Frosting

I don’t know what got into me this weekend. Normally when I want a Sunday cooking project I make a roast or bread or some kind of complicated savory thing. If I do make sweets, they’re almost always cookies. But this Sunday I felt like make something a little more special. It was my cousin’s birthday and although I knew there would be a cake, I wanted to bring a little something extra. So what if he’s a 57 year old man and these cupcakes are just about the frilliest thing I’ve ever made?

All summer long, I’ve been thinking about strawberry cake. I had one tiny strawberry cupcake a couple of months ago and I’ve been craving more ever since. These cupcakes use the same base as my Guava ones, but I used diced strawberries in place of the guava. The frosting is a simple buttercream with a little cocoa powder, almond extract and honey.

I loved these cupcakes. They were sweet without being cloying and the strawberries gave them a super fresh, summery taste. Just the thing for the 4th of July – no better way to celebrate America than with strawberries and chocolate!

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guava & cream cheese cupcake remix

Guava and cream cheese. Some people reading this will probably think I’m crazy, but it’s really an amazing combination. Every day after school, my grandmother would layer soda crackers with a slice of guava paste and a little cream cheese. Sunday mornings my grandfather would deliver fresh-from-the-oven Cuban pastries filled with guava and cream cheese. And on the 4th of July, the guava and cream cheese empanadas were the first to go. They just feel right together.

So when my parents and their friends decided to celebrate their 33rd wedding anniversaries with a 70′s Party, I volunteered to make cupcakes for dessert. My special guava and cream cheese cupcakes, to be exact. In keeping with the groovy theme, I tried out a tie-dye look on the frosting, but I’m not sure how successful that turned out. Mostly, they looked confused. Some were yellow, some orange, some a swirly combination of the two. They may have been a little ugly, but they were darn tasty.

If guava paste weirds you out (it shouldn’t!) or if you can’t find it, you can substitute any kind of chunky fruit preseves. Just fold some orange marmalade, apricot preserves or strawberry jam into the batter just before you bake the cupcakes. The fruit makes is the perfect compliment to the cream cheese icing.

I posted this recipe here about a year ago, but was never really happy with the huge amounts of butter in the frosting and batter. I’ve tweaked the recipe and I think it works much better this way.

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guava surprise!

A couple of weeks ago, Tom read about a cupcake place in Miami that serves Guava and Cream cheese cupcakes. Ingenious! But instead of seeking them out at the source for the big birthday celebration, I decided to make my own. I figured it’d be easy enough – just plop a piece of guava paste in the middle of some batter and top with cream cheese icing.

They were everything I’d ever dreamed of and more! To me, there’s nothing that says comfort food like a slice of guava paste and some cream cheese on a soda cracker. I’m sure it sounds positively bizarre to most people, but it’s the Cuban staple for afternoon snacking. The cupcake is a fancied-up, birthday version of that snack.

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be my belated valentine

So, I was supposed to be keeping this blog updated more often. But, I haven’t. Work is crazy, wedding stuff is its own full-time job. Thankfully, the planning will soon be over and I can get back to lounging on the beach, cycling and cooking on weekends. I seriously, seriously cannot wait. Not to mention the 2 weeks in Hawaii.

Since I’m a slacker, I’m posting my recipe for fancy Valentine’s Day pizza now…almost an entire month later. I’m not a huge fan of going out on Valentine’s Day. The crowds, the parking, the fixed price aphrodisiac menus designed to impress the newly coupled…It’s just not fun.

Keeping to tradition, I made Tom homemade pizza. This time, it was whole wheat crust, with chicken sausage, artichoke hearts, fresh mozzarella and sage. First, I brushed the dough with some truffle oil (yes, I own truffle oil). Then I piled on the rest of the ingredients and ground a LOT of fresh black pepper over the top. The earthiness of the sage and the truffle oil were perfect with the meaty sausage and fresh artichokes.

And I didn’t have to wash one dish. True love, indeed.

recipe after the jump

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