Key Lime Pie Cupcakes - Upside-Down Key Lime Pies

These key lime pie cupcakes are like upside-down key lime pies.  The cake (the bottom part) is moist and intensely key lime-flavored (prepare to pucker your lips) and the frosting (the top part) is packed with crushed graham crackers so you feel like you're eating a graham cracker crust on top of the cake.  

Easy Key Lime Pie Push Pops

I made these key lime pie push pops using a recipe for key lime pie ice cream found on Sugar Cooking (adapted from Cooking Light).  This recipe is EASY!  Dump all of the ingredients into one bowl, transfer to push pop molds, and freeze!  The best part is that the result tastes just like key lime pie!  It's tart, not overly sweet, and has bits of graham cracker mixed throughout.  While the recipe is enjoyable as ice cream (I tried it that way, too), and it would be fantastic as a popsicle, making the recipe as push pops adds a whole other level of fun.  Push pops (like cupcakes) make you feel like a kid, ready to jump in the air and click your heels together screaming, "Yabadabadoo!"   Why, at 35, am I just now discovering the joy of push pops? 

Where To Get Push Pop Molds

Lime, Pineapple, and Mascarpone Breakfast Soufflé with Dulce de Leche

I've never made a soufflé before.  Soufflés sounded like scary, fancy French food - something that Julia Child would have futzed over for months trying to perfect.  I learned, however, that a soufflé (which means "puff up" in French) is just a cake with separated eggs. The beaten egg whites are used to give the cake lift - not so frightening.   My soufflé is even less imposing since it's made in a cast iron skillet.  Breakfast in a skillet is like a man in a cowboy hat. It doesn't matter how handsome the dish actually is; sticking it in the skillet gives it instant appeal.

Each bite of this lime, pineapple, and mascarpone soufflé is like eating warm lime clouds, pineapple sunshine, and a soft dulche de leche breeze.  I see more soufflés in my future.

Beach Cupcakes: Key Lime Pie Cupcakes Decked Out For Summer

My cupcakes are getting ready for summer! These key lime pie cupcakes were a huge hit. They were moist and sweet, just the way my tasters like them.

One small confession - these cupcakes are actually made with lime and not key lime. My cupcakes considered blushing, but they were too busy trying to catch a tan.

Is There a Difference Between Key Lime and Lime?

There is a difference between key lime and regular (Persian) limes. According to the Wikipedia article on key limes, key limes are "smaller, seedier, have a higher acidity, a stronger aroma, and a thinner rind."

Key Limes and the Florida Keys

Key limes are called key limes because of their association with the Florida Keys. According to the Wikipedia article on key lime pie (oh how I love Wikipedia), "Key lime pie is made with canned sweetened condensed milk, since fresh milk was not a common commodity in the Florida Keys before modern refrigerated distribution methods."

The photo above is of my aunt and mom in the Florida Keys in front of a key lime pie shop. The man in the middle is a real person - in case you doubted this as I did.

I'm not sure who took the photo so I can't properly credit them, but I can only assume that it was my grandma or grandpa. I also did not ask for the permission of anyone in the photo before posting it. Here are my guesses at their responses:

My aunt: I'm famous, but did it have to be in that visor? (Or maybe she loves the visor and I've just publicly insulted it. Time will tell.)

The pie man: Hooray! Free press for keylimeshop.com and don't I look dapper in my pie man outfit. I should send that woman some key lime stuff. (That last comment was just wishful thinking.)

My mom: Next time, could you maybe pick a picture where I'm looking at the camera?

The Key Lime Pie Cupcake Recipe

I got the cupcake recipe from Garrett of Vanilla Garlic. He actually made the cupcakes one year and one day ago so it's almost like an anniversary celebration for them! Garrett made a graham cupcake and then filled it with a key lime filling. I made the same graham cupcake, but baked the key lime filling right into the cake. I am reprinting the recipe with my notes below.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

• 1/2 C butter (room temperature)
• 1 C sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 C milk
• 1 C flour
• 1 1/2 C graham cracker crumbs (I used my homemade graham crackers.)
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/8 t salt
• 5 egg yolks
• 1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 C lime or key lime juice

1. Beat the butter for about 30 seconds until creamed.
2. Add the sugar and mix for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, being sure to beat for 30 seconds for each egg.
4. Use food processor or a potato masher or whatever you have on hand to grind the graham crackers into tiny crumbs and powder.
5. Sift the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda and powder, and salt. (I didn't actually sift the graham cracker crumbs. While mine were small, I don't think they would have fit through the sifter.)
6. Add about 1/4 of the mixture to the butter mixture.
7. Add some of the milk.
8. Continue to add the ingredients in a dry - wet - dry method, ending with the dry.
9. Mix until just combined.
10. In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, and lime juice. (FYI - If you want to make an amazing key lime pie, just mix the ingredients in this step, dump it into a pie shell and bake at 375 for 15 minutes. It's the easiest recipe ever! The pie won't be green and it shouldn't be. Lime juice isn't green.)
11. Dump the key lime mixture into the graham batter and lightly stir. Do NOT fully integrate the key lime and graham batter. You should have clumps of batter in a key lime soup.
12. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Make sure each liner has a nice distribution of key lime liquid and graham clumps.
13. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until top bounces back when touched.

The Lime Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

I used the same lime cream cheese frosting on these that I used on my avocado lime cupcakes. I am reprinting the recipe here.

• 1 8oz package of cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1/4 C butter (room temperature)
• 4 C powdered sugar (I recommend that you sift it.)
• 1 t lime extract (I couldn't fine lime extract at Whole Foods so I bought it here.)

1. Mix the cream cheese and butter.
2. Add the powdered sugar and lime extract.

Graham Cracker Sand and Chocolate Shells

To make the key lime pie cupcakes even more beachy, I topped them with crushed graham cracker sand and chocolate from the Nautical Collection 60 Piece Gift Assortment. Thanks again to chocolate.com for the free chocolate and the inspiration.

Avocado Lime Cupcakes: It Isn't Easy Being Green

"Cupcakes just shouldn't be that color,"said my friend about my Avocado Lime Cupcakes knowing full well that any statement she made was liable to appear on this blog. She was willing to try them though. In fact, she ate a full three quarters of a cupcake. Yes, she and her boyfriend (of "I injured myself on a margarita cupcake fame") cut the cupcake into quarters because they were just that skeptical that they wouldn't like it.

While it may sound like I am mocking them, and that would be true, I actually have to give them props. Most people wouldn't even go so far as to taste this cupcake. They saw the green color and turned their noses. "Umm... I think I'll pass this time."

For some tasters, I turned it into a game. "Here's a cupcake. Guess the flavor." I actually had the most success with this group; people like a challenge. They couldn't guess that it was avocado lime, but they enjoyed the flavors. One woman insisted it was kiwi. Even after I told her it was avocado she still stood firm on her kiwi stance.

Growing up in NY, avocado was not a part of my diet. Like many Americans, I had tried guacamole, but never made the leap from that to think about the fruit that made the green blob on my plate. As I got more into sushi, avocado became the pretty splash of color in many of my favorite rolls, but again, it wasn't a flavor unto itself.

My largest avocado exposure was on my honeymoon in Ecuador. They know how to treat an avocado right. Every meal contained slices of fresh avocado. Even soup was always served with an avocado on top.

According to Wikipedia, "In Brazil and Vietnam, avocados are considered sweet fruits, so are frequently used for milk-shakes and occasionally added to ice cream and other desserts. In Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia, a dessert drink is made with sugar, milk, and pureed avocado." It's fascinating that other parts of the world think of avocados as a sweet dessert item. Why are we so limited in our avocado thinking?

My Seattle carrot cake loving friend actually made an avocado ice cream recently. He said it was quite good and his friends enjoyed it. Perhaps west coast eaters are more open to avocado adventures than Missouri folks. Unfortunately, I didn't get to taste the ice cream. He will get to taste my cupcakes though, since he'll be in MO this weekend. No fair.

Neurobiology experts say it is good for the brain to do things that are different from your daily routine. Since I wasn't sure if using Avocado differently really helped my brain, I decided to switch things up a little bit more by doing all my baking with one arm.


OK, I didn't do this as a neurobic exercise. I actually broke my elbow while on vacation in Colorado (for those that must know, I was riding a horse and the saddle fell off of it). That's me on the left. No, I can't see the break either, but apparently it is there. You can however, as a friend pointed out, see my underwire. Quite the strip tease, huh?

I probably wouldn't have bothered with one armed baking, but I really wanted to enter Quirky Cupcake's Cupcake Hero contest. The theme this month was lime and since I had planned my recipe already, I thought it would be a shame to not follow through. I was able to do the whole thing myself except for zesting. Can anyone think of a way to zest with only one arm? Anyway, not to sway the judging by playing the disability card, but baking with one arm certainly felt like a cupcake hero kind of thing to do.

And finally... it's time for the recipe. I made this recipe up myself based off of my apple and honey one. That recipe contained applesauce and I figured applesauce could easily be replaced by an avocado lime sauce. It worked! I also used two different frostings. The outer ring was an avocado frosting and the inner ring was a lime cream cheese frosting based on my favorite fool proof cream cheese frosting recipe. My favorite bites were the ones that had both frostings and the cake. It all went perfectly together.

Warning: It is a dense cupcake. Don't make it if you want light and fluffy. Also, don't make this if you are scared of green. If you want your friends to eat it, I'd recommend that you make this outside of the US or on the West coast.

The Avocado Lime Cupcake Recipe
makes 16 cupcakes

Cream:

• 2 sticks butter
• 1 C + 2 T sugar
• 2 C Flour
• 4 Eggs
  

Mash Up in Food Processor (you could probably easily do this by hand if you were able to use 2 hands):

• 2 avocados
• 1 t of strong lime juice (I used Volcano Lime Burst - I found it at Whole Foods. The link is for a 24 pack, I just bought one as I'm not a expecting to have to bunker in my house and survive on lime juice any time soon.)

Stir avocado mash and zest of 2 limes into the creamed mixture.
Fill cupcake wrappers. Bake at 350 for 30 min.

Avocado Frosting Recipe

• 1 avocado
• 1 cup of powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup of butter

Mash the avocado and mix with the butter and powdered sugar.

Lime Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

• 1 8oz package of cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1/4 cup butter (room temperature)
• 4 C powdered sugar (I recomend that you sift it)
• 1 t lime extract (I couldn't fine lime extract at Whole Foods so I bought it here.)

Mix the cream cheese and butter. Add the powdered sugar and lime extract.