Vegan Margarita Cupcakes

 

I made these cupcakes years ago using dairy products and wanted to see if I could do a vegan version. Right after I finished this recipe I was asked to make beach themed cupcakes for a middle school party. I figured that these would be perfect, and then remembered that they are full of tequila. While there isn’t enough liquor in these to inebriate anyone, to avoid rampant mothers I recreated a PG version. I’ll explain those more at the end of this post. I doubled everything in this recipe and ended up with 20 cupcakes.

Margarita Cupcake

Ingredients

-2 limes

-1/4 cup safflower or vegetable oil

-1/2 tsp vanilla

-1 cup almond milk

-1 1/2 cups flour

-3/4 cup sugar

-1/2 tsp baking powder

-1/4 tsp baking soda

-1/2 tsp salt

-2 tbs tequila

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°

2. I had no idea I had such a dislike of zesting and juicing things until making these cupcakes. So let's get the limes out of the way first. Zest and juice 2 medium sized limes into your bowl. 

3. Stir in 1/4 cup oil, 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1 cup almond milk.

4. Add in 1 1/3 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda and  1/2 tsp salt. Make sure this is mixed well and there are not any lumps.

5. Add 2 tbs tequila. If this is too strong for you, add 1 tbs. I wouldn’t recommend using more than 3 tbs because there will be too much liquid.

6. Fill the cupcake holders 3/4 of the way full and bake for 20 minutes

Margarita Frosting

 

Ingredients

-1/2 cup soy free earth balance (or any vegan margarine)

-1/2 cup crisco

-5 cups powdered sugar

-1 1/2 tbs tequila

-1 1/2 limes

- option food coloring

Instructions

1. Beat together the 1/2 cup of earth balance and 1/2 cup of crisco until it becomes fluffy.

2. Beat in the 5 cups of powdered sugar one cup at a time.

3. Add in the 1 1/2 tbs tequila and the juice of 1 1/2 limes. If the frosting still feels to thick, feel free to add more tequila or lime juice until you feel you have the flavor right.

4. I decided to dye the frosting a light green. Food coloring and I don't get along too well, and I ended up dying my hands green. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get this off, other than practically rubbing your skin off with steel wool, I would appreciate it.

 

After piping these cupcakes with frosting, I added a ring of sugar to mimic salt on a margarita glass. I purchased lime sugar at the Tea and Spice Exchange. If you happen to have one near you I highly suggest taking a look inside. They have some great flavored sugars.  

 

 When I remade these for the middle school I used the same cupcake recipe and left out the tequila. For the frosting I replaced the tequila with another lime because I still needed the moisture. I decorated these cupcakes to be a bit more campy than the original margarita cupcakes.