Key Lime Pie Cupcakes
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My dad is a very, very picky eater. He’s most certainly a meat and potatoes sort of guy. He won’t touch Chinese food, turns his nose up at most vegetables, and the idea of leftovers is a completely foreign concept to him. Thankfully, I didn’t inherit this pickiness from him, but I did wind up with his adoration for lime-flavored anything.
Key lime pie is one of my favorite desserts, but finding key limes has never been very easy for me. Fortunately, my friend Heather keeps coming across them, and gifting bags of them to me. I’m now stockpiled with enough key lime juice in my freezer to make many a key lime pie treat!
I’ve had several key lime recipes booked for ages, many which come from Peabody. I decided to ask her what her personal favorite key lime recipe from her blog was, and she directed me to this one. Oh, sure, Peabody – pick the multi-step recipe. 🙂 This was my first time making filled cupcakes and eventually they turned out well, but I did have a little trial and error, Goldilocks-style. At first, I was overfilling them, making the filling ooze out of the top after I placed the cupcake top back on. Then that worried me, so I underfilled them. Finally I got it “just right,” though I did still have some leftover filling. The leftover filling is a nice accompaniment with some leftover graham crackers, but I think next time I would use cream cheese rather than mascarpone. Don’t get me wrong, I love mascarpone but it’s a bit pricey and since it didn’t all get eaten, I’d opt for the frugal-friendly cream cheese next time around.
A few other changes I made: I used sour cream instead of buttermilk in the cake recipe because that’s what I had around, and also added just a splash of vanilla in the buttercream recipe. I also “made” my own cake flour.
At any rate, these cupcakes are delicious. I mean, they are key lime pie enveloped by cake. You really can’t go wrong there. It’s too bad I couldn’t get some of these to my dad!
Key Lime Pie Cupcakes
Makes 24 cupcakes
Adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody (cake adapted from Easy Home Cooking magazine)
1 recipe key lime pie filling (recipe follows)
1 recipe graham cracker crust (recipe follows)
1 recipe lime cake batter (recipe follows)
1 recipe lime buttercream (recipe follows)
graham cracker crumbs for garnish (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350.
Pour the batter from the lime cake evenly over the graham cracker crust. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool the cupcakes in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and allow to cool completely.
Once cool, fill your cupcakes with the key lime pie filling using the cone method.
Frost each cupcake with the lime buttercream, and top with graham cracker crumbs, if desired.
Key Lime Pie Filling
8 oz. mascarpone or cream cheese, at room temperature
1 (9 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
5 oz. key lime juice
Place all ingredients in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, and mix on low for 30 seconds. Increase the speed to medium and blend for 2 minutes.
Refrigerate the filing for 2 or more hours.
Graham Cracker Crust
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 Tbsp. sugar
3-4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
Prepare 2 muffin tins with liners.
In a food processor, blend together graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Add 3 Tbsp melted butter and pulse a few times. If it seems like it needs more butter, add the remaining tablespoon. Distribute evenly among cupcake liners and press down to form a shell.
Lime Cake
2.25 cups cake flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1.5 cups granulated sugar
2 egg whites
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream or buttermilk
1 Tbsp. lime zest
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl; set aside.
Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy.
Add egg whites, beating well after each addition. Add eggs, beating well after each addition. Beat in the lime zest until blended.
Combine milk, vanilla, and sour cream in a bowl, whisking until incorporated.
With electric mixer at low speed, add flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, beating well after each addition.
Lime Buttercream
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 to 8 cups powdered sugar
3 TBSP key lime juice, possibly more to thin out frosting
splash of vanilla
Beat together the butter, 3 cups of the sugar, key lime juice and vanilla on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.
Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency.
You may not need to add all of the sugar. If too thick, thin with more key lime juice. You can also use more lime juice if you want a more tart flavor.
One word: beautiful.
That cupcake looks pretty and the inside of it tender — not try like some other cupcakes.
These look fabulous – key lime is one of my favorites! It’s all just the thing to help bring some summer into this middle of winter.
Beautiful cupcakes! I love everything with lime. This just looks SO-mouth-watering!
These look fantastic! Next time I need to bring dessert somewhere–this will be it!
You read my mind!! I was just thinking the other day how I could incorporate the two. Looks like you made it easy for me, can’t wait to try these!!
Wow, these look amazing! I just made key lime pie last night, and now I’m kinda wishing I’d made it crustless and used it to fill cupcakes instead!
Glad you liked them! They look like they turned out great!
Oh my! I’m on a lime kick at the moment…how good do these look? Thank you for sharing Elly!
I love love love key lime pie. Have you ever had Key Lime Pie at Cheesecake factory? It will not disappoint you. Most key lime pies at restaurants don’t meet my high standards!
I could eat a whole box of these..the finish on the icing is a nice attention to detail!
These look awesome! I can’t wait to make them!
They look so lovely!
So pretty – they look fabulous, Peabody always has the best treats 🙂 I’ve never filled cupcakes before either – gotta add that to my list!
Yum! Oh you even filled these. What delicious mouth watering cupcakes these must have been. I love lime in desserts!
My parents are crazy picky eaters also. Especially my father. He hates all spices, citrus, beans, most vegetables (unless they’re covered in cheese)…and really the list goes on. Sometimes I wonder whether or not we’re related. But i have his eyes. So there goes that theory.
I am a big lime/lemon lover myself and these cupcakes are adorable! I need to get a friend with a knack for finding key limes…pronto.
These are soo cute Elly! I have not made cupcakes in a while and now I don’t know how much longer I can hold out!
I love the photos, Elly. Great shots.
These sound/look absolutely amazing! I absolutely adore key lime pie, but I always feel the need to purchase one from a local bakery (to be fair, they are pretty legendary)…but I think I should give this recipe a try…I would love to be able to create some key lime goodness myself – mmmmm!!!
I have a hard time finding fresh key limes too. Do you think key lime concentrate would work as a substitute for the fresh juice? These look amazing.
Hi Sarah. I would use juice from regular limes if you can. I find bottled lemon/lime juices tend to be a bit too acidic.
They sell Key Lime Juice at Spec’s.
I made these the for a party the night of hurricane Irene. I was thinking the entire day that they were going to cancel the party, so I left out making them with the graham cracker crust, I didn’t want to get stuck with 2 dozen cupcakes, if I didn’t know how they would freeze…anyway the party wasn’t cancelled and the cupcakes were such a hit.
They looked gorgeous and tasted soooooo good.
Such a great, easy recipe, and the icing was a snap to make and it was compeletly balanced between the sweet and the sour.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe, it’s a keeper!
Hi, it’s Lish’s niece, Amy. The only thing she wanted for her birthday this year was Elly’s amazing key lime cupcakes! Well, I don’t know if they’re as good as yours that I’ve been hearing about for so long but she seems happy. Thanks for this recipe and making Lish’s birthday a success!
Amy, I’m so glad you made them and she had a happy birthday!
Thanks so much for the recipe! I made these for the hubby last night for valentines day, and he loved them. I brought the extras into work they are a hit! Tastes just like key lime pie….even better!!! 🙂
So happy everyone enjoyed them, Amanda!
These cupcakes are delicious. I was wondering can I make this batter,frosting and filling a day or two before I bake the cupcakes or will it not taste as fresh? Thanks
Hi Hannah. Glad you liked the cupcakes. You can definitely make the filling and frosting a day in advance and refrigerate. You’ll probably need to leave the frosting at room temp for a little bit before icing the cupcakes. As for the batter, I’m not sure. I’ve never done it personally, but it seems like it would be fine. I’d probably just go ahead and bake them the day before. I think cupcakes made the day before are just fine.
I made this recipe for a baby shower and it was a big hit!!! I’m gluten free so I substituted All purpose rice flour for the cake flour and the cupcakes came out amazing.
Thank you for sharing!
Glad you liked them, Meagan, and good to hear they can be made GF!
I love to spend Sunday afternoons baking yummy treats to bring in to my coworkers on Mondays. I made these delicious cupcakes yesterday and have received nothing but rave reviews! Thank you for sharing, I will be making these again and again.
I’m so glad everyone liked them, Alissa!
These are amazing!! Thank you for sharing this recipe with us!!
Glad you enjoyed them!
Have you made this as a cake and if so how was it?
I have not made this as a cake, but I’m sure it would be great.
These are so delicious!! Thanks for sharing. I plan on making these over and over. My family and friends thought they were fantastic-I did too!
Glad to hear that Mari!