Key Lime Cupcakes – light, fluffy cupcakes full of key lime flavor! With lime juice and zest, topped with a tangy sweet lime frosting and graham cracker crumbs. A new cupcake recipe by our contributor, Lindsay Conchar.
So there’s a long-standing debate in our household. My husband has long been a fan of lemon and lime – but only when it involves savory food. As for me, well I will take it any way it comes. Sweet or savory – bring it on!
Even just the other day, I gave him a leftover bag of Easter jelly beans that were flavored like sweet tarts. He was so excited because he loves anything fruity flavored (he also loves candy) and will gladly take it over chocolate. Not long after, I looked over at the bag and noticed an abundance of green and yellow jelly beans in the bag. So I asked, “Were there an unusually large number of green and yellow jelly beans in that bag, or are you just not eating them?”
And so the debate began again, with me maintaining my position that yellow and green are delicious and should not be ignored. One day I will make him see.
Sadly, his dislike for citrus in sweets means he wasn’t into these cupcakes. Fortunately, that means more for me!
These cupcakes are summer in a cupcake! The cupcake itself is flavored with key lime juice and beautiful like flecks of finely grated key lime zest. Key lime can sometimes be hard to find, so feel free to use regular limes for the zest. For the juice, there’s fortunately bottled key lime juice that works quite well and is always available. It lends a nice, light key lime flavor to the cupcake.
For the frosting, there’s more of the same to make sure you get plenty of key lime in every bite. Key lime juice and zest are the backbone of any good key lime pie so there’s no shortage here. Plus, I used some graham cracker crumbs around the edges of the cupcake to complete the key lime pie flavor and look. Not only does the key lime make me think of the beach – the graham cracker crumbs make me long for sand and the beach. Maybe if I eat enough of these cupcakes, I can will myself to a chair on the beach, cupcake in hand.
Key Lime Cupcakes
Key Lime Cupcakes – light, fluffy cupcakes full of key lime flavor! With lime juice and zest, topped with a tangy sweet lime frosting and graham cracker crumbs.
- Yield: 12 - 14 Cupcakes
- Category: ✽ ✽ ✽
Ingredients
For the Key Lime Cupcakes:
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cups sugar
- 6 tablespoons sour cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoon key lime zest
- 3 egg whites
- 1 1/4 cups (163g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons milk
- 4 tablespoons key lime juice
For the Lime Buttercream Frosting:
- 3/4 cup butter
- 3/4 cup shortening
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- 3–4 tablespoons key lime juice
- 1 teaspoon lime zest
- 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
Instructions
Make the Key Lime Cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Do not skimp on the amount of creaming time.
- Add sour cream, vanilla extract and and key lime zest and mix until well combined.
- Add egg whites in two batches, mixing until well combined after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
- In a separate small measuring cup, combine the milk and key lime juice.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until well combined. Add the milk mixture and mix until well combined. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Fill the cupcake liners about three quarters full. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs.
- Remove cupcakes from oven and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to finish cooling.
Make the Lime Buttercream Frosting:
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and shortening with a mixer until smooth.
- Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth and well combined.
- Add the key lime zest and 3 tablespoons of key lime juice and mix until combined.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add additional key lime juice, as needed to reach desired consistency.
- Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes using a large round pastry tip, like this one.
- Press graham cracker crumbs around the bottom edge of the frosting.
Notes
- To make the frosting all butter, replace the 3/4 cup shortening with an additional 3/4 cup butter.
YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY:
Key Lime Pie Cake
Blackberry Lime Cake
Lemon Lavender Cupcakes
Lemon Blueberry Cake
Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
Absolutely delicious! I doubled the recipe to make 24 cupcakes, but the reason I’m only giving 4 stars is that I also doubled the buttercream frosting, and WOW! It makes way too much! I chose to make all buttercream and I frosted the cupcakes Exactly as pictured using a large round pastry tip. I also tried several methods to apply the graham crackers crumbs…rolling, spooning, and just pressing on with my fingers. Using my fingers worked best, but you have to do this before the icing hardens. There’s also no instruction as to how many limes to use for decoration, hence, I ended up with A LOT of leftover limes. I ended up zesting two more limes for sprinkling on top of the icing and I halved lengthwise two limes and cut thin slices. Guess I’ll be freezing lime juice!
Janice T. “Even though this recipe was “absolutely delicious!” I’m only giving it 4 stars because I changed the recipe and had leftover”
Are you kidding me? 🙄
how can you give the recipe a rating for 4 b/c you chose to double the recipe and had too much icing left over? This makes no sense.
So fresh and airy! Definitely a keeper. Took the advice of the earlier comment, and doubled the cupcake portion, but not the frosting. Worked out perfectly for 24 cupcakes.
Absolutely wonderful recipe that I was looking for. Cupcakes were soft and moist but frosting seem to much to me, doubled cupcake proportion as comment above may be a good idea for me. However, this recipe also great for frosting lovers.
Are the egg whites to be beaten first? My cupcakes had good flavor, but we’re stodgy and dense. I used unbeaten egg whites, but now wonder if I should have fluffed them first!
No, this recipe does not require you to beat the egg whites first. If you’re cupcakes seemed overly dense, I’m wondering if a heavy hand when measuring the flour was the culprit. Too much flour will leave any baked good heavy and dense. Spooning the flour into your measuring cup will result in a more accurate measure than using the measuring cup to scoop the flour directly from the container. Hope that helps for next time!
Yes, mine were overly dense too. Not sure why as I measured everything accurately including the flour. I’m a pretty good baker but have yet to master key lime. All of the recipes I’ve tried seem to give me the same results, heavy dense cupcakes 🙁
When you say you can replace the shortening with butter, is it one to one, or 3/4 cup + an additional 3/4 cup?
This frosting recipe calls for both shortening and butter. If you want to omit the shortening and only use butter, you’ll need to increase the butter by ¾ cup. In total, you’ll use 1 ½ cups of butter.
I’m curious as to why you make your frosting with shortening and butter. How does the combination affect the texture and taste as opposed to just butter, and why is that your preference for this recipe? I’d appreciate any thoughts you have to share! Thanks!
Using shortening along with butter gives the frosting a bit more stability due to the higher temperature needed to make shortening “melt.” A buttercream made with some shortening will not soften up as much in warmer temps.
Can I omit the sour cream? I find it makes cupcakes more dense
Omitting the sour cream would alter the acidity and fat content of the recipe, so you’d have to make other adjustments to ensure a good result. Unfortunately, we have not tested this recipe without the sour cream. You can read more about how milk/buttermilk/sour cream affect a cake recipe in our article here: https://thecakeblog.com/2014/09/cake-baking-science.html
Are these mini cupcakes? Yielding 12-14 minis?
This recipe makes 12 -14 full sized cupcakes.
Is the butter to be used in the frosting “unsalted”?
Yes, unsalted butter. 🙂
What does it mean “add egg whites in two batches” ?
It simply means add half of the egg whites to the batter. Mix them in. Add the rest of the egg whites. Mix them in.
I just made these cupcakes and they were a hit, absolutely delicious!!!
I loved this recipe! The cupcakes were tangy and moist, and the frosting added the perfect touch of limey sweetness. The reason I gave it only 4 stars is because the cupcake papers pulled away from nearly every cupcake! Any tips on how to fix this issue? In all other ways, the cupcakes were perfect!
I find leaving them in the muffin tray until cold fixes that problem
Amazing Key Lime Cupcakes!!! Recipe was perfect as written, silky soft cupcakes, in a very good way!! Thanks!!!
When you say add egg whites in two batches, what does that mean?
It simply means add half of the egg whites to the batter. Mix them in. Add the rest of the egg whites. Mix them in.
Mine came out dense and a little gummy. This only seems to happen when I make cakes/cupcakes that involve lemon/lime juice. I don’t over beat the batter. I make cupcakes alllllll the time but it only happens with ones that involve juice
Same here Kaela! Especially fresh key lime/lime juice. I wonder if I use bottled juice would it work out better for me.
Lovely recipe, can I ask what sugar did you use please? Xx
Can this recipe be made into a cake?
I loved the cupcakes! lol Pardon my enthusiasm. I made this recipe but I added a twist to it, no electric mixer involved and instead of using graham crackers, I used toasted desiccated coconut and sprinkled it on the frosting as the hubby loves the combination of limes and coconut. The cupcakes still came out nicely done, even the frosting. I did have to do some prep for the tools and ingredients I used for the frosting: the whisk and mixing bowl were chilled in the fridge for 24 hours and had to soften the butter before the creaming procedure. Anyways, I tagged the cakeblog IG profile, if y’guys wanna have a look. =)
Great recipe…as always with Lindsay! However…I really do wish the gram measurements were included. It makes a huge difference when baking. Thank you 🙂
SOOO good!! So limey! I adjusted for high altitude and they are perfect! Thank you!!
Hi I was wondering how I could make this key like cup cake into a cone cake. I’m looking to do it as a school project (high school foods class comp).
Hi do you think key lime yogurt would be good in place of the sour cream?
These cupcakes are delicious! However, they are very time consuming, and that’s the only reason I’m giving 4 stars instead of 5. I’m no expert Baker, so I’m sure it takes me a litter longer anyways, but the part that really gets you is having to hand zest and squeeze like 30 key limes. I just made them for a second time for my husband’s birthday, because he absolutely loves them, but I told him these are once a year cupcakes because of how long they take to make, lol.
Just wondering what shortening is? Is it some sort of power?
These cupcakes are AMAZING! My family came over for dinner and we all rate them 5 stars 😁
I just made these for my sons 15 birthday (his request) and they turned out absolutely fantastic. I followed the recipe exactly. I made 14 normal sized cakes and finished the frosting to the last drop. I absolutely loved the graham cracker detail. I rolled the cakes in the crumbs on a plate right after frosting. I wish I could upload a photo for you!