Tadaaaa

Originally uploaded by icecreamb4dinner

Here is the cute little certificate I spoke of in the last post. Forget my bachelor's degree, I have a certificate of achievement with my name on it. I think its really nice that a big company would take time out to make something like this for people who send in pictures of their products. So, send your pictures in to Betty Crocker, people! :)

Key Lime Cupcakes

Originally uploaded by icecreamb4dinner

Ok, I made these a very long time ago. A million years ago to be exact. But I've been super busy. I figure, better late than never, right? Especially with these cakies, it'd be doing them a horrible injustice to not post them. They were absolutely delicious, and stayed moist. One of Daniel's coworkers said, "This is the best thing I ever put in my mouth". They were that good.

We had still never used any of that beautiful key lime juice from my trip to Key West in the beginning of September, so when searching King Arthur Flour's website (our new bible for baking) for a recipe to make, we kept key lime juice in mind. We stumbled upon these "Fairy Cakes" as they called them. The only thing we did different from
the original recipe was to make it key lime instead of regular lime, and make the frosting key lime flavored as well.

"Fairy Cakes" or Key Lime Cupcakes:
3/4 c butter, soft
3/4 c sugar
1 Tablespoons lime zest
1 1/2 c King Arthur unbleached ap flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 Tablespoons key lime juice
1/4 c milk
3 lg eggs

Preheat to 375
Lightly grease cupcake pan, no paper liners.
Cream the butter, sugar, and zest until fluffy.
Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together, and beat into butter mixture until a paste forms.
Stir in key lime juice and milk.
Add eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl between each one.
Final batter should be nice and light and fluffily.

Bake ~18 minutes, or until slightly golden brown, tops spring back when touched lightly or until toothpick test comes back clean. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then remove from pan to cool completely.

Here is our version of the
Vanilla Key Lime Frosting:
2/3 c butter, soft
1/8 tsp tsp salt
4-5 c confectioner's sugar
~1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp key lime juice
1/4 - 1/3 c milk
green food coloring

Beat butter and salt until fluffy.
Add 2 c of the sugar and beat slowly until well blended.
Add the vanilla, half the milk, and the key lime juice. Beat.
Continue mixing in sugar and milk alternately until completely mixed in.
Add green food coloring and beat until light and airy.

One of the funniest things happened as a result of baking these cakelets. My father is a food broker and has Betty Crocker as one of his clients. The green food coloring I used was a new item of theirs, neon food coloring, and the sprinkles were from a Barbie line of cake/cupcake decorations they had put out a while ago. I sent my Dad a picture of the cupcakes for fun, showing the products of theirs that I used. The picture got sent around to various peoples at Betty Crocker, and within a week I got a nice little certificate of achievement for creativity and skill in decorating with a little picture of my cakeys on it.