Ever since Bramble Berry was a wee thing, I’ve celebrated employees’ Bramble’versaries by baking something that they would like. Some things are a hit (Choco Salted Caramel Beer Cupcakes), some things were just a ‘nice attempt’ (Bacon Caramel Cupcakes). In this case, Kelsei has been with Bramble Berry for a year as a fulltime Puller. This means that she walks up to 3 miles a day in our warehouse pulling your orders. Her favorite dessert is Key Lime Pie so I decided to make a Key Lime Cupcake (which falls strongly into the ‘Hit’ category).
This recipe is a bit complicated but totally worth it. There are graham crackers ground up into the cupcake batter and a key lime pie filling swirled in throughout the cupcake. If that’s not enough craziness in a cupcake, you pop the cupcake tops off and fill them with a lime pudding! Whooosh!
Makes 30+ cupcakes.
Step 1 – Make the Cupcake Batter
•1/2 Cup butter (room temperature)
•1 Cup sugar
•3 eggs
•1 Cup milk
•1 Cup flour
•1 1/2 Cup graham cracker crumbs
•1 tsp baking soda
•1 tsp baking powder
•1/8 tsp salt
•5 egg yolks
•14oz sweetened condensed milk
•1/2 Cup lime or key lime juice
Preheat your oven to 350; line your cupcake pans with cupcake liners.
Beat the butter until creamy (about 30 seconds). Add the sugar and mix for approximately three minutes until it is lighter and more fluffy. Add the eggs and mix on medium for an additional 3 minutes.
Grind the graham crackers up into tiny bits (they’re headed into the batter). I used a food processor but you could smoosh ’em with a rolling pin or a meat masher thingy.
Sift the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt) if you’re really into absolute precision baking. I’m not (I figure this much sugar and butter in a recipe is enough to make anyone overlook a few mini lumps).
Add a bit of this into the butter mixture, mix up, add some milk, add some more dry, add some milk and keep this up until it’s all in there. Mix until it’s all combined.
Now it’s time to make the traditional tart and amazing Key Lime filling (yum yum!). In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks (only the yolks!), sweetened condensed milk and lime juice. Whip this. It gets to be a beautiful pudding like consistency.
Add this Key Lime filing into the graham batter and stir just a bit. You don’t want to mix in the Key Lime filling all the way. You’ll want chunks of it throughout your cupcake.
Fill your cupcake liners up about 2/3 full. These cupcakes don’t puff out like a normal cupcake. They sort of end up a bit like a sponge cake. Be sure to that each cupcake as a good mix of Key Lime pie filling and graham cracker cupcake batter.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Make sure each liner has a nice distribution of key lime liquid and graham clumps. Bake at 350 for approximately 20 minutes or until you can put a knife or knitting needle into the cupcake and it comes out clean.
Step Two – Lime Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
•8 oz package of cream cheese (room temperature)
•1/4 Cup butter (room temperature)
•4 Cup powdered sugar
•1 tsp lime extract
(True Confessions: I couldn’t find Lime Extract but I did find Lime Juice so I used that instead)
Mix the cream cheese and butter. Whip in the powdered sugar and lime extract/juice. Take a huge finger swipe. Isn’t that good?
Step Three – Filling
1box (4-serving size) Lime instant pudding and pie filling mix
1 1/2 Cups whipping cream
1/4 Cup Key lime or regular lime juice
4drops green food color
1 1/2 Cups powdered sugar
Make the pudding mix; whip in everything else and get ready to fill your cupcakes.
You’re almost done! Almost there! Just take a knife and carve out a little upside down rounded triangle out of your cupcake. Cut the ‘point’ off the cupcake. Eat it. Isn’t that insanely yummy? Now, fill up a baggie with your Filling. Cut off a very small tip. You want to be able to control the flow. Fill up the cupcake holes.
Then top the filling with your little cupcake hats.
Now, you’re ready to frost. Fill up a baggie with all of your frosting and snip a teensy tip off the frosting bag and frost your cupakes in a circular fashion.
Are they all frosted? Have a bite. You’ve earned it.
I hope I can eat desserts again soon – I want to try this recipe so bad! It’s a good thing my retainers will be setting in soon, according to my dentist in Scottsdale! After that, I can probably try cooking one of these cupcakes for me and my wife! Thank God for modern dentistry, else I’ll have to wait longer just to eat something sweet again!
I got it at the ‘dented and dinged’ food store in town. I don’t remember if
it was Jello brand or not. I think you could probably whip one up with some
Lime Flavoring (extract) pretty easily though – Vanilla + lime extract
flavor + green food coloring = lime Jello? =)
I’m curious though as to where you bought yours and what brand…I really would like it to be lime. I might make some homemade lime pudding to substitute…
Vanilla would taste just as delicious. 🙂
Happy Soaping!
Anne-Marie
http://www.brambleberry.com
Blog: http://www.soapqueen.com
Where do you get your lime pudding mix? I was going to make this recipe tomorrow, and I was unable to find any puddings that came it lime. It’s not listed on the Jello website….so am not sure where to get this.
Hm, that’s a good question. Maybe someone else will know the answer! =) I
actually don’t know.
So you don’t need to ‘cut’ the cake out. The tip just helps the filling stay
in all by itself and no cupcake breakage?
I can’t wait to hear what you think of them after you’ve indulged =) They’re
delicious without the filling as well. The “cake” portion of them is very
spongy, almost like a sponge cake.
Oh, sweet merciful! I LOVE Key Lime everything! I have a pretty scrumptious Key Lime Cupcake recipe, but I’ve never seen these before! Must make time in my schedule to make some…and soon! Thanks for posting! 🙂
These look wonderful! Keylime anything is my favorite!
Lovely cupcakes, Anne-Marie! I have a suggestion for filling cupcakes – get a Berliner tip. It’s a really long cake icing tip you can just poke into the cupcake to insert any lovely filling. I think mine was about $2.50 and it saves more time than you can imagine!
You are so right – who doesn’t want some Key Lime in the middle of unending dreary darkness! =)
Wow these look seriously delicious. I think I’m going to (try to) make these this winter. I think it will add a little tropical, summery touch to a dreary cold winter in Atlanta.
Keep up the good work!
What a wonderful idea Anne-Marie! I don’t know if i can get graham crackers here in Australia? Are they sweet biscuits?
Let me know what you friends/family think! =)
These look wonderful. Thanks for sharing.
They were delicious and decadent. I never was able to even finish one!
Happy Soaping!
Anne-Marie
http://www.brambleberry.com
Blog: http://www.soapqueen.com
If I was on time for their Bramble’versaries, maybe! But Kelsei’s was 2 months late, Linda and Zach are next and I’m already a month late with them. Eeek! I better get to baking. :))$
Happy Soaping!
Anne-Marie
http://www.brambleberry.com
Blog: http://www.soapqueen.com
How wonderful that you do something so personal for your employees’ special day. You are a rockstar!
Oh, gorgeous!!!! I am definitely going to make these Anne-Marie. Thank you so much for sharing 🙂