{taste this} Mini Margarita Cupcakes

It's Tuesday...that means today is {taste this} time!

And in case you missed last week {gasp!}, one of my best friends - The Bakerista (or AL) and I are sharing 6 awesome takes on cupcakes that all start with a boxed cake mix and classic vanilla buttercream. 

Pina Colada, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Key Lime with Raspberry Sauce, Chocolate Mocha, Almond Joy and Mini Margarita

Take #1 Key Lime Cupcakes with Raspberry Sauce is here along with the recipe for the vanilla buttercream that is the starting point for all of the cupcakes.  Each week, I will give you a shopping list (Stuff to Buy), anything to pull from your pantry (Stuff you Have) and any other special instructions (Stuff to Do).   This week's recipe is...

Take #2 Mini Margarita 

Stuff to Buy
Lemon cake mix
Margarita Mix

Stuff you Have
green food coloring (optional)
sea salt

Stuff to Do
Whip up a batch of Classic Vanilla Buttercream (recipe here)

These minis start with a boxed lemon cake mix - prepare as instructed on the box EXCEPT replace 1/4 cup of the water with Key Lime juice.  Bake as directed.  We made minis because they are just so cute and since we're adding a little sprinkle of salt, we didn't want that to be too overwhelming. 

While these tasty tinies are cooling, make your vanilla buttercream frosting and make it slightly thicker that the normal recipe.  After all, you're adding margarita mix to it!! 

Brush your cooled cupcakes with margarita mix - you don't want them soggy, so brush once, let it soak in and brush again!

Add the margarita mix (about 1 TB) and a drop or two of green food coloring (just so there is a hint of green) to your slightly thickened vanilla buttercream. Stir until the frosting is spreading/piping consistency.  Too wet?  Add a little more powdered sugar.  Frost the bite size cupcakes and sprinkle with a few grains of sea salt. 

These are seriously perfection, bite-sized!  When I took a selection of our six cupcakes to the ball park...these were the first to go and everyone was surprised at the sweet and salty combination - DIVINE! 

Looking for more margarita inspiration? Here is my recipe for non-alcoholic Maybe Margarita Punch!

Well, my fine fine readers, we're two cupcakes in and four more to go in our 6 Takes on Cupcakes series...come back next week for the first of our two chocolate cupcakes that start with a milk chocolate boxed cake mix:  Chocolate Peanut Butter and Chocolate Mocha! 

Just a little something to whet your whistle...these are gonna be awesome!

Now, what to do with the rest of this margarita mix...  ;)

This was shared at all the blogs on my Link page!

Saturday Stuff: Farmers Market in Pictures

We have a local farmers' market that is held every Saturday morning in a renovated train station...it is a rainbow of flowers and plants, fruits and vegetables, kettle corn, jams and jellies, granola, artisan cheeses, cheesecakes, herbs...just fantastic!  I thought I would share it with you in pictures...

Even Awesome got a little treat to munch on, kitty-safe wheat grass...

Hope your holiday weekend is colored with all of your favorite things!

{create this} Paper & Twine Summer Seashells

Memorial Day weekend is here!!  It's the official kick off to summer!  And a bonus day off on Monday - woo hoo!  And this Fin de Friday (my weekly, jump-on-into-a-crafty-weekend project and tutorial) is perfect for a warm, summer day at the beach...hopefully in our future soon!!  Grab some scrapbook or decorative paper, ink, scissors, adhesive and twine...that's all you'll need to bring a little sun and sand indoors (without the sunburn and sand in uncomfortable places) and make...

Paper & Twine Summer Seashells

Without further ado, the HOW TO:

To make the classic scallop, start with a strip of paper 5" x 12".  Fold it accordion style like a fan.  Stretch it open and trim off the corners, leaving a rectangle with two rounded corners.  Ink the edges on both sides of the paper.  Fold the paper back up into the accordion.  Tie a tight knot near the bottom with twine.  Spread out the shell above and below the twine.  And now, in pictures :)

The fun swirly periwinkle shells are SO easy!  Just ink the edges of a strip of paper, roll it up and tie with twine!  And here you go...more pictures:

For the sand dollars, use a scalloped circle punch to punch two circles.  Hand cut the five small holes in one punch.  I used scrap paper, folded it and added it inside of the two punches to give some dimension to the sand dollar when the two punches are stuck together.  Then, I added a twine 'flower' reminiscent of the design on the top of the sand dollar.  For your viewing enjoyment...

And last but not least, the cute little scalloped clam shell!  This also starts with two scalloped circle punches.  I cut away some of the circle to make the shape of the shell.  Ink the edges, glue together the little 'hinged' part and you are done!  See...

I think these would make a gorgeous, casual wedding centerpiece for a beach wedding, cute little tags (especially the scalloped clam) on gifts, fillers for a bowl (guess what my summer centerpiece on my table has?!) or sweet little invitations.  String them together for a garland or hang them on a beach-themed tree...the paper-y possibilities are endless!

Hope these get you in the mood to grab a pail and shovel and dig your toes in the sand!  Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

This project was shared at all the blogs on my Link page!

{taste this} Key Lime Cupcakes with Raspberry Sauce

Welcome back to Taste This Tuesday!  What do you get when two best friends - one bakerista (Amy Lynn aka AL) and one bloggirl (Keri Lyn aka KL) - get together for a weekend??  If you are a Pressed Down, Shaken Together reader, you get...

Pina Colada, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Key Lime with Raspberry Sauce, Chocolate Mocha, Mini Margarita and Almond Joy

The weekend was a whirling dervish of flavor brainstorming, list making, several shopping trips and oodles and oodles of cupcakes!  The best part is that all of these recipes (courtesy of AL) start with a boxed cake mix and classic buttercream - we'll add yummy stuff and make them unbelievably delectable!

Each cake mix will be used to make two flavors of cupcakes:

Lemon Cake Mix:  Key Lime with Raspberry Sauce & Mini Margarita
Vanilla Cake Mix:  Almond Joy & Pina Colada
Milk Chocolate Cake Mix:  Chocolate Peanut Butter and Chocolate Mocha

Each week I will give you a shopping list (Stuff to Buy) and a few things to grab from your pantry (Stuff You Have) and if there are any other instructions, (Stuff to Do).  

Take #1 :  Key Lime Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream and Raspberry Sauce

Stuff to Buy
1 lemon cake mix
key lime juice (you will only need 1/4 cup)
1 small bag of frozen raspberries
graham crackers

Stuff You Have
2 tsps sugar
cornstarch

Stuff to Do
Whip up one recipe of Classic Vanilla Buttercream and Raspberry Sauce (recipes to follow)

So without further ado, the HOW-TO:

1. Mix the cake as instructed on the box BUT replace 1/4 cup water with key lime juice.
2. Bake the cupcakes as instructed and let cool completely.
3. While the cupcakes are cooling, make the raspberry sauce and vanilla buttercream
4. Fill each cooled cupcake with raspberry sauce.  Like so ;)

Use a small paring knife to remove the center of each cupcake, fill with raspberry sauce and replace the core

Frost each cupcake with a generous amount of delicious vanilla buttercream and sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs.  And now, the pictures!!!

The crunchy graham cracker crumbs are reminiscent of the crust of a Key Lime Pie!

This is how much raspberry filling I wanted in my cupcakes, ha ha!!

I made this citrus plate at one of those paint-your-own-pottery stores...perfect for Key Lime Cupcakes!!

And now because, if you are like me and you just cannot live without these, here are the recipes for the classic vanilla buttercream and the tart and tangy raspberry sauce that is the perfect compliment to the sweet key lime cake!

Vanilla Buttercream
2 sticks softened (room temperature) butter
1 cup solid vegetable shortening
2 lb. bag powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla or Wilton butter flavoring (you can use a mixture of both)
4TB of milk or water (Use milk if you want richer, creamier frosting and you're not worried about refrigeration)
dash of salt

Yield:  This was enough for three cake mixes and a truckload of cupcakes, so you may want to half this if you don't have to feed a hungry hoard or are not having a marathon cupcake weekend :) 

This is the frosting we use (and doctor up!) for all six cupcakes.  AL offers the tip to make this frosting a little stiffer so you can add liquids (like coffee and margarita mix!!) to it.  You can always add a little more powdered sugar to bring it back to spreading/piping consistency.

Raspberry Sauce
Combine one bag of frozen raspberries and 4 TB sugar in a small sauce pan and reduce on medium low heat.



Add a tablespoon of cornstarch to thicken the sauce - you could strain the sauce to remove the seeds, but I was woefully equipped so we left them in :)

This will make WAY more than you need for the cupcakes but let me tell you...this is {amazing} on waffles and over yogurt.  And it sure ain't bad by the spoonful ;)

And there you have it, Take #1 ...what do you think??  These sweet, tart cupcakes are perfect for summer get togethers and BBQs - I can guarantee you won't have any leftovers to bring home! 

We're baking like mad for the next 5 weeks...see you soon!

This project was shared at all the blogs on my Link page!