{ The Life In Cupcakes }: Ole! Strawberry Margarita Cupcakes with Strawberry Margarita Buttercream Frosting

I'm just going to start this out by saying that I love love LOVE making alcohol-infused cupcakes. There is plenty of room for custimizing, and the possibilities are seriously endless! Perhaps this is the tipsy girl in me talking, but I find tons of inspiration from girly cocktails when thinking of new cupcake recipes to make.

My friend Rachel celebrated her birthday the weekend of Cinco de Mayo, so what better flavor cupcake to make than Strawberry Margarita Cupcakes! I found this really good recipe from The Picky Apple Blog for the cupcakes and frosting. Using cake flour instead of all-purpose flour would result in a more dense product and a finer crumb, so I gave it a shot (and didn't dissappoint!). Also, cake flour doesn't rise as much (hence the increase in density) so filling the liners more than usual worked out just fine.

You may also notice that I have a heavier tequila hand as I altered the frosting recipe as shown below to a be a bit more generous in the alcohol. hehe :) [It did give more of a runny frosting since the tequila ratio didn't completely blend, so I may add more sugar, butter, and stawberry preserves next time.]

Strawberry Margarita Cupcakes
Makes 22 cupcakes

3 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teasepoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons limeade concentrate, I used Nellie & Joe's Famous Key West Lime Juice
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup tequila, Jose Cuervo Especial
5 tbsp strawberry preserves, I used Bonne Maman Strawberry Preserves

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tine with fun and sassy cupcake liners.
2. Mix together the flour, salt, baking soda and powder and set aside.
3. In a medium sized bowl, cream the butter until smooth then add the sugar and cream together using a stand mixer. Once the butter and sugar are creamed add in the lime juice, strawberry preserves, and 1/3 cup tequila. Mix in one egg at a time, waiting until egg is completely blended before adding the next.
4. Add in flour mixture 1/3 at a time, alternating with the milk.
5. Use spring-loaded ice cream scoop to fill cupcake liners and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to cool.

Strawberry Margarita Buttercream Frosting

1 pound (16 ounce bag) powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3 tbsp limeade concentrate
3 tbsp tequila
4 tbsp strawberry preserves
Pink food coloring, or Red will do

1. Using a stand mixer, cream together butter, powdered sugar, limeade, tequila, and strawberry preserves until smooth.
2. Add drops of food coloring until frosting is desired shade of pink.

Step #3: Mixing in the stawberry preserves, lime juice and tequila. Don't be alarmed if is looks like this! Keep mixing and it will figure itself out as seen below...