Margarita Cupcakes With Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

I was hosting our monthly alumnae meeting this past weekend. We had a rep come from Beauti Control to do some spa treatments and other fun stuff for us. The "theme" of the evening was supposed to be a fiesta, so I had made some fresh guacamole, and a monteray jack queso dip with some fresh peppers and baby carrots and multi-grain tortilla chips for dipping.

At the last minute, I decided to make something sweet, too. I think I take after my mom in the fact that I am always afraid of running out of food, so I tend to make way more than necessary. In this case, there was supposed to be 8 people attending (including me!), but only 2 ladies showed up. Kind of a bummer, but this just meant that I had lots of guac and cupcakes all to myself!

So onto the cupcakes, I needed something that I could throw together quickly, and this fit the bill. I made the cupcakes the night before in between cleaning the house, and watching 'Lost'. As much as I like making things from scratch - when I have the time - I am all for shortcuts! I made the cupcakes as directed, but I knew I was going to pressed for time between when I could leave work and when the first guests arrived, so I opted to just use canned cream cheese frosting with some fresh lime juice and a little bit of lime zest. I garnished with itsy bitsy lime wedges. They were so cute!

Margarita Cupcakes with Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

Source: recipezaar.com

CUPCAKES
1 (18 1/4 ounce) box white cake mix (no pudding in the mix)
1 (10 ounce) can frozen margarita mix, thawed (undiluted)
3 egg whites
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon grated lime zest

ICING
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons key lime juice
1 teaspoon key lime zest or lemon zest
4-5 cups confectioners' sugar

*1 lime, cut into mini wedges for garnish

In large bowl, combine cake mix, Margarita mix, egg whites and vegetable oil using electric mixer.
Stir in lime zest; mix completely. Fill prepared pans 2/3 full. Bake according to box dirctions 22-24 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean.

Cool in pan on cooling rack 5-8 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely.

FOR ICING:.
In large bowl, cream butter, cream cheese, juice and zest with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Add 4 cups confectioners' sugar, one cup at a time; continue beating until light and fluffy.
If icing is too thin add additional confectioners' sugar 1 tablespoon at a time.