Alcohol Accented Cupcakes

I'm not an alcoholic, I swear. But I really enjoy baking with alcohol because it always adds a little bit more fun to your food. My fascination for alcoholic cupcakes happened on New Years Eve in 2007 when someone brought margarita cupcakes to the party I was at. A few days before that New Years Eve I got really sick with the flu and got to ring in the New Year floating on an assortment of antibiotics, so since I couldn't actually drink anything that night I settled for stuffing my face with her delicious cupcakes. A year later, I decided to try making them myself.



These lovely cupcakes are not only fun, but they're vegan as well. I was a vegan for about a month this past year, but that's a whole different story. The recipe was taken out of an amazing book, my cupcake bible, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I've made them twice, and both my Vegan and non-Vegan friends love these cupcakes. Making them also gives you the prefect excuse to drink tequila as you cook.


Margarita Cupcakes
(from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World)
1/4 cup lime juice
1 1/2 tsp lime zest (1 lime)
1 cup soy milk (plain or vanilla- I generally use vanilla)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp tequila
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Fill a 12-cup cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, mix together lime juice, lime zest, soy milk, oil , tequila, vanilla and sugar.
In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to lime mixture and stir until just combined. Divide evenly into muffin tins.
Bake for 20-24 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the cakes spring back when lightly pressed.
Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.


Tequila and Lime Frosting
1/4 nonhydrogenated shortening, softened
1 tbsp soy milk
3 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp tequila
2+ cups confectioners' sugar
coarse sugar for "rims"(I used green sprinkles).

Cream together nonhydrogenated shortening, soy milk, lime juice, tequila, and 2 cups of confectioners' sugar. Add in more sugar as needed to make frosting stiff, but spreadable.

Spread on cupcakes and roll the edges in a small amount of coarse, colored sugar. If you use a really flat surface to do this on, it's not too hard.

Your best bet for making these, or any vegan cupcakes, is to bake them a day before you serve them to fully allow the juices so sink it.

Good luck and enjoy!