Yummy, rummy cupcakes!

Cupcake practice is underway, and so far, has met the stringent demands of my local taste testers!

I didn't think it would be quite so difficult to find a simple cupcake recipe on the internet, one that didn't require copious amounts of eggs and butter, one that could be easily adapted to new flavor combinations. I was SO wrong.

After sifting through a lot of different options, I settled on a 1-2-3-4 cake as the base recipe. There are a gazillion recipes out there so I'm not going to post a link. It is so simple, you can pretty much commit it to memory after the first try. The ratio of ingredients makes it easy to cut the recipe down to your needs or double if necessary. Beyond my caipirinha additions, I swapped out self-rising flour in the original recipe with regular flour and added some baking powder and salt to fill the gap. But if you have self-rising flour, you can skip the salt/leavening and just use that. Here is the finished product:




Caipirinha Cupcakes


1 cup (apx 180 grams, a little less than a full block) butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 cups flour
3 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 cup liquid (I used 3/4 cup milk, subbing in the rest in lime juice and cachaça)
zest from 1-2 limes


Cream butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time, beating well. Mix dry ingredients together in a separate container and add to egg mixture alternating with the liquid. Fold in flavorings and zest, if desired.

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake until just done. In my oven, that was about 20 minutes...I would guess you want it at about 350. Let cool completely before frosting.


Boozy Buttercream Icing:

1/2 stick butter (Brazilian kind, otherwise, one American stick)
1 1/2 - 2 cups powdered sugar (acuçar de confeiteiro, impalpável)
1 - 3 t rum/cachaça (have fun here!)
lime oil if you want to kick up the taste
juice from 1/2 lime
lime zest

Cream butter and zest, then add sugar and liquid until frosting has the consistency you desire. Indulge.

Final verdict, one day later. The cake has a dense crumb; a lighter recipe may suit your tastes better. I think it would probably benefit from a little spritz of juice/alcohol over the tops or injected inside...but overall, they're tasty little things with a slight "oomph" of rum coming through. If I was really fancy, I would candy lime slices and top the icing with them...