lime

Passionfruit Mojito Cupcakes

July 22, 2022 By Ashley Leave a Comment

I didn’t realize how amazing mojitos actually were until I was introduced to them in Miami, as THE cocktail to order, during a dinner with friends while attending a cake show. The traditional lime mojitos were amazing, but the passionfruit one, was my absolute favorite. I wouldn’t turn down a pineapple one either. Also delish. Once I returned from Miami, I knew I needed to make my new favorite cocktail into a cupcake. My passionfruit mojito cupcakes have all the traditional flavors of a mojito – lime, rum and mint, with a pop of passionfruit curd and sparkling lime sugar. They’re incredibly delicious and a must bake.

Lime Cupcakes

These soft and tender cupcakes are infused with lime zest for a pop of lime flavor. I prefer to use zests rather than juices in my cupcakes as the zest packs the most flavor. These cupcakes are quick and easy to prepare. Room temperature ingredients are key to a perfect cupcake. The egg, egg white, oil, rum and vanilla extract are combined together in bowl and whisked to mix. The dry ingredients – cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt – are mixed together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Room temperature butter is mixed into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Milk is added just until the flour mixture is moistened, then the batter is whipped for a full 90 seconds. This aerates and stabilizes the batter for fluffy cupcakes.

The remaining milk is mixed in with the egg/oil mixture. The egg/oil mixture is added to the batter in two additions, scraping the bowl after each addition. Be sure to scrape the bowl when noted to make sure the ingredients are being thoroughly incorporated and well combined.

Passionfruit Curd

Passionfruit curd. Oh how I love it so. It’s tart and sweet, creamy and thick, and goes so well with the lime, rum and mint. Passionfruit curd is easy to prepare and takes less than 30 minutes to make. You can find frozen passionfruit puree in most stores, which is what I used for this recipe. Egg yolks, an egg, sugar, salt, and passionfruit puree are heated until thickened and creamy. Butter is added to help thicken the curd, add a little bit of richness and also make the curd silky smooth. Once the curd is chilled, it is ready to use.

Mint Rum Buttercream

The key to a light and creamy buttercream is to whip, whip and keep whipping. Whipping the butter and the finished buttercream takes a little bit of time but is so worth it. I used fresh mint leaves to give this buttercream its minty flavor. Beating the butter with the fresh mint leaves infuses the butter giving the buttercream more of a traditional mojito flavor rather than an artificial taste with an extract. Rum is added towards the end for more mojito flavor. Remove the fresh mint leaves before piping or spreading the buttercream onto the cupcakes.

Lime Sugar Topping

I once saw someone use a flavored sanding sugar on a cupcake and knew I had to do try it out. It does not disappoint. Don’t skip out on the lime sugar topping as it adds a bit of crunch and another punch of lime. Rubbing the sugar and lime zest together between your fingers releases the oils in the zest, which means mega flavor. Sprinkle the sugar onto the cupcakes after frosting them, and top with fresh mint leaves.

If you make these passionfruit mojito cupcakes, let me know! Drop a comment or tag me on Instagram. I love seeing your bakes and creations.

Enjoy!

Ash xx

For more cupcake recipes, check out these posts:

Piña Colada Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Ermine Frosting

Fruity Pebbles Cupcakes

Maple Bacon Blueberry French Toast Cupcakes

Black Forest Cupcakes

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Passionfruit Mojito Cupcakes

Lime cupcakes filled with sweet tart passionfruit curd and topped with mint rum buttercream and topped with lime sparkling sugar

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time1 hr

Course: Dessert

Keyword: cupcakes, lime, mojito cupcakes, passionfruit, rum

Servings: cupcakes

Equipment

Ingredients

Lime Rum Cupcakes

1 ½ cups (175g) cake flour
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon lime zest
5 tablespoons (70g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 large egg white
⅓ cup (76g) whole milk
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons light rum
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Passionfruit Curd

1/4 cup (48g)+ 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 large egg yolks
⅓ cup (60g) passionfruit purée
3 tablespoons (42g) unsalted butter
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

Mint Rum Buttercream

1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 ¼ cups (255g) powdered sugar
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoons light rum
1 ½ tablespoons whole milk or cream
⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt

Lime Sugar

2 teaspoons demerara sugar
½ teaspoon lime zest
fresh mint, for garnish

Instructions

Lime Rum Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners and set aside.
In a measuring cup, combine the egg, egg white, rum, vanilla and oil. Whisk to combine.
In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and lime zest and mix on low speed for a minute to combine.
With the mixer still running, add in the softened butter pieces. Mix on low speed until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. You should be able to gather a bit in your hand, squeeze and you have a solid piece. This means the butter is evenly distributed.
With the mixer still on low, slowly pour in the milk, mixing JUST until the flour mixture is moistened. You will not use all the milk at this time. Pour the remaining milk into the bowl with the eggs and oil, and whisk to combine. Set aside.
Turn the mixer speed to medium and whip for a full 90 seconds. The mixture should be whipped up, thick, and lighter in color.
Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is properly mixed.
With the mixer speed on low, add the egg/oil/remaining milk mixture in two additions, scraping down the bowl after each addition has been mixed in.
Once all the wet ingredients have been added, give the bowl a final scrape and mix with a spatula.
Evenly divide the batter among the cupcake liners, 2/3 full.
Bake the cupcakes for 17-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with a crumb or two when inserted in the center of the cupcake. Don't over bake.
Place the baked cupcakes on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Carefully remove the hot cupcakes from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Passionfruit Curd

Place the sugar in a bowl. Add the egg and egg yolks to the sugar mixture and whisk to combine thoroughly.
Add the passionfruit purée and whisk to combine.
Pour the mixture into a medium sauce pan, and place over a medium low heat. Add the butter and salt. Stir continuously to keep the mixture moving so your eggs don't scramble.
Cook the curd until thick and just beginning to bubble, or until an instant read thermometer reaches 170F. The curd will thicken more in the refrigerator.
Take the curd off of the heat and whisk in the butter. Strain the curd into a clean shallow bowl, and let it sit until it reaches room temperature.
Cool completely in the refrigerator before using.

Mint Lime Buttercream

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter powdered sugar and mint for 6-8 minutes on medium speed until very light and fluffy.
Add in the rum, milk and salt. Whip for another 5 minutes.
Remove the mint leaves.

Lime Sugar

In a small bowl, combine the demerara sugar and lime zest. Use your fingers to work the zest into the sugar to release the oils.

Assemble the cupcakes

Using a sharp knife, cut a hole into the center of the cooled cupcakes to create a space for the passionfruit curd. The piece you removed will be the shape of a cone.
Spoon the passionfruit curd inside each carved out cupcake. Fill the cupcake with the filling to the top, about a heaping teaspoon full. Slice off the pointy end of the cone piece you removed so that it can fit on top of the filling. Place on top of the filling.
Pipe or spread the buttercream onto the cupcakes. Sprinkle the lime sugar on top of each cupcake and garnish with fresh mint leaves.

Coconut Lime Crumble Cake

June 24, 2021 By Ashley Leave a Comment

I am not a fan of coconut. I’ve tried to like it over the years, but just hadn’t found anything with coconut that I enjoyed. Until this cake. I was determined to make a coconut cake that I loved, one without an artificial or overpowering flavor. This is THAT cake! It’s probably one of the best cakes I’ve ever made – it’s that good. Moist, fluffy and tender coconut lime cake made with lime zest, coconut milk, lightly toasted coconut and a small about of coconut extract just to oomph up that coconut flavor. Filled with a sweet tart lime curd, toasted coconut and crunchy graham cracker crumble, my coconut lime crumble cake is perfectly balanced, delicious and is the perfect summer cake.

Lime Curd

This curd is seriously good enough to be eaten on its own. It’s tart and sweet, creamy and thick, and pairs so well with the coconut lime cake. Lime curd is easy to prepare and takes less than 30 minutes to make. Egg yolks, a whole egg, sugar, salt, lime juice and zest are heated until thickened and creamy. Butter is added to help thicken the curd, add a little bit of richness and also make the curd silky smooth. Once the curd is chilled, it is ready to use.

Graham Cracker Crumble

The graham cracker crumble adds a layer of crunchiness to add texture to the cake with its creamy fillings. With the creamy buttercream and tart lime curd, the crumble adds an element to the cake that is reminiscent of key lime pie. Crushed graham crackers are mixed with melted butter, brown sugar and a pinch of salt and baked until golden brown and crunchy. Don’t use finely crushed graham cracker crumbs. You want to make sure you are leaving some small pieces of graham cracker intact for some extra crunch and texture. Once the crumble is baked and cooled, break into larger pieces and toss with some of the toasted coconut. The crumble will be layered with the coconut buttercream and lime curd.

Coconut Buttercream

For this cake, I went to my go-to Swiss meringue buttercream as the base for my coconut buttercream. For a semi-naked 8″ cake, 5″ tall, you will only need a half of a batch of buttercream. To fill and completely frost a 8″ cake, 5″ tall, make 3/4 of a batch or a full batch of Swiss meringue buttercream. Coconut cream and a small amount of coconut extract gives the buttercream it’s creamy coconut flavor. Use as much or as little coconut extract as you like. Be careful adding too much though, because adding too much will give you that suntan lotion/artificial coconut flavor.

How to make coconut lime crumble cake

I typically bake my cakes in two pans then torte (cut in half), but you can divide the batter between 3 pans if you like. For a 6″ cake, make a half batch of the batter. This coconut lime cake uses coconut milk, coconut extract and lime zest for flavor.

Butter is mixed into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Mixing the butter into the dry ingredients coats the flour, preventing too much gluten formation. Then, a small amount of the milk mixture is added, just until the dry ingredients are *just* moistened and the mixture is beaten on medium-high for two full minutes until lightened in color, and thick like soft-serve ice cream. This mixing is crucial as it helps to form the structure of your cake. The remaining wet ingredients are added in three parts. The cake batter will be a bit on the thicker side.

You will also notice, a scale is required for this recipe. Scratch cakes can be tricky to make sometimes, and the baking science is very important in the making and baking of scratch cake. We need cakes to be consistent in taste and texture, and bake up with no problems – no sinking, no overflowing, no rubbery layers, etc. A scale is key in getting consistent results. I use this one from Amazon. This recipe will not work if you convert it to volume (cups) measurements.

If you make this coconut lime crumble cake let me know! Drop a comment or tag me on Instagram. I love seeing your creations.

Enjoy!

Ash xx

For more layer cake recipes, check out these posts:

Strawberry Rose Buttermilk Cake

Earl Grey Cake with Honey Buttercream and Blackberry Caramel

Banana Cake with Salted Caramel and Peanut Butter Buttercream

Chocolate Stout Cake with Coffee Irish Cream Buttercream

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4.50 from 4 votes

Coconut Lime Crumble Cake

Moist, fluffy and tender coconut lime cake made with lime zest, coconut milk, lightly toasted coconut and a small about of coconut extract filled with a sweet tart lime curd, toasted coconut and crunchy graham cracker crumble

Prep Time1 hr

Cook Time45 mins

Cooling Time3 hrs

Course: Dessert

Ingredients

Lime Curd

3 large (42g) egg yolks
1 large (50g) egg
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (76g) fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon lime zest
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 tablespoons (57g) unsalted butter, room temperature

Graham Cracker Crumble

3/4 cup (107g) graham cracker crumbs (about 4 1/4 graham cracker sheets)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
pinch of fine sea salt
1/4 cup (22g) coconut, sweetened, flaked

Coconut Lime Cake

14 ounces (396g) cake flour
14 ounces (397g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons lime zest
8 ounces (255g) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 large eggs
3 ounces (85g) canola oil
12 ounces (341g) unsweetened coconut milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
1/2-3/4 cup (43g-64g) toasted coconut, sweetened, flaked

Coconut Buttercream

1/2 batch Swiss meringue buttercream (Omitting vanilla)
1/4 cup (74g) coconut cream, unsweetened
1/4 teaspoon coconut extract

Instructions

Toast the coconut.

Place the coconut for both the streusel and the cake a in a large skillet.
Cook over low-medium heat, stirring frequently, until the flakes are mostly golden brown. Because the coconut is sweetened, it will toast quickly.
Set aside to cool completely.

Make the lime curd.

Combine the sugar and lime zest into a bowl. Rub the mix between your hands to release the oils of the zest.
Add the egg and egg yolks to the sugar mixture and whisk to combine thoroughly.
Add the lime juice and whisk to combine.
Pour the mixture into a medium sauce pan, and place over a medium low heat. Add the butter. Stir continuously to keep the mixture moving so your eggs don't scramble.
Cook the curd until thick and just beginning to bubble, or until an instant read thermometer reaches 170F. The curd will thicken more in the refrigerator.
Take the curd off of the heat and whisk in the butter. Strain the curd into a clean shallow bowl, and let it sit until it reaches room temperature.
Cool completely in the refrigerator before using.

Make the graham cracker crumble.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a small cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, melt the butter in the microwave, about 30-45 seconds.
Whisk in the brown sugar.
Add the graham cracker crumbs to the bowl and stir to coat.
Pour out the streusel onto the parchment paper.
Bake for 6-8 minutes, or until golden brown. Let the crumble cool.
Sprinkle 1/4 of the toasted coconut over the crumble. Stir to mix, breaking up some of the larger crumbs.

Make the coconut lime cake.

Prepare your cake pans. Brush the bottoms and sides of your cake pans with melted butter. Line the bottoms and sides with parchment paper.
Combine the coconut milk, oil, eggs, coconut extract and vanilla in medium bowl. Whisk to thoroughly combine. Pour 40z/113g of the wet ingredients into a separate mixing cup.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and lime zest. On low speed, mix for 1 minute.
With the mixer still running, add in the softened butter pieces, one or two pieces at a time. Mix until the mixture resembles cornmeal. You should be able to gather a bit in your hand, squeeze and you have a solid piece. This means the butter is evenly distributed.
With the mixer still on low, pour in the 4oz of liquid and mix until the flour mixture is moistened.
Turn the mixer speed to medium (4 or 6) and whip for *two full* minutes. The mixture should be whipped up, thick, and lighter in color.
Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is properly mixed.
With the mixer speed on low, add the remaining wet ingredients in three parts, scraping down the bowl after each addition has been mixed in.
Once all the wet ingredients have been added, give the bowl a final scrape and mix with a spatula. Fold in the 1/2 cup of toasted coconut.
Evenly divide the batter among the prepared pans.
Bake the layers for 35-45 minutes. Check the cake at 30-35 minutes to test for doneness. If a toothpick comes out clean, and the top of the cake feels springy and set when touched, take the cakes out.
Tap the cake once, firmly against the counter to remove excess steam. If your cakes dome at all, use a clean kitchen towel to gently push the domes down. Cool the cakes for 15 minutes in the pans.
Run a palette or butter knife around the cakes in their pans before turning them out to cool completely on cooling racks.
Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator a couple hours.

Make the coconut buttercream.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the coconut cream at little at a time, coconut extract and prepared Swiss meringue buttercream.
Mix on low until everything is incorporated and the buttercream is smooth.

Assemble the coconut lime crumble cake.

Work with chilled cake layers. Using a long serrated knife torte the layers, cutting them evenly in half. You will have four cake layers total. The tops of the cakes will be the center two layers of your cake. If you made your cake in 3 pans, skip this step.
Put one of the cake layers, cut side up onto an 8" cake board or directly onto a cake stand.
Spread a thin, even layer of the butter on the cake layer with an offset spatula. Pipe a rim (or dam) of buttercream around the edge of the cake layer.
Spread about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the lime curd over the cake.
Sprinkle the graham cracker streusel on top of the curd. Pat into place.
Spread about one cup of the buttercream on top of the curd/crumble using an offset spatula to evenly distribute the buttercream. You're looking for the buttercream to be about 1/4 inch thick.
Place the second cake layer on top, top up, and press down gently so that the layer is adhered to the buttercream. Repeat steps 3-6.
Place the third cake layer on top, top up, and press down gently so that the layer is adhered to the buttercream. Repeat steps 3-6.
Place final cake layer on top and frost with the remaining buttercream. Chill for 30 minutes.
Slice into pieces and serve.

Notes

The completed cake will keep in the refrigerator for up to three days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Spicy Pineapple Margarita Granita

July 9, 2020 By Ashley Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for a refreshing, icy, adults-only sweet treat during these hot summer months, then look no farther than my spicy pineapple margarita granita. This granita is super easy to make, can be made in advance and doesn’t require an ice cream maker. Made with sweet, fresh pineapple, lime juice, jalapeño, tequila and orange liquor, this sweet, tart and spicy spin on a pineapple margarita cocktail is perfect for sunny, summer days and is absolutely delicious.

What is granita?

Granita generally falls somewhere in between shaved ice and a sorbet. It’s not as coarse as shaved ice, but not as smooth and fine as a sorbet. Typically, granita is made with a flavored liquid, water and a sugar syrup that is frozen and is scraped with a fork every couple hours to create small ice crystals. Granitas are more intense in flavor compared to shaved ice, or snow cones, but can come close to sorbets in the intensity of their flavors – particularly when using purées. Sorbets and granitas are usually made with the same ingredients, though sorbet is churned and granita is not. The stirring and scraping of granita every few hours allows for fine ice crystals to form, allowing the mixture to freeze in a shaved ice-state, but with smaller and more delicate ice crystals.

Granitas can be made with just about any sort of liquid, usually being some sort of fruit juice or puree. But other liquids like coffee, wine and even chocolate are used often as well. I prefer to use purées for the most concentrated flavor.

About the ingredients

A super ripe, fresh pineapple is the best for this recipe. Ripe pineapples are super sweet and have intense flavor, so not much sugar is added to this granita. Fresh lime juice is also needed for this recipe, as well as a small jalapeño. Don’t be scared of the jalapeño. A bit of spicy heat goes so, so well with pineapple and really makes this granita special. There are ways to control the heat level in the granita that I’ll hit on further down in the post.

Two different kinds of alcohol is used in the granita – tequila and orange liquor. I used Jose Cuervo Especial Silver Tequila. Use the tequila you like to drink in your margaritas. You can use any orange liquor – I used Grand Marnier because it’s what I use in my margaritas.

How to make this spicy pineapple margarita granita

This granita is super quick to pull together and involves little work. Make a simple syrup by combining the water, sugar and jalapeño in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer, until the sugar is dissolved. This allows the jalapeño to steep and for the simple syrup to get infused with the heat and flavor.

*A note on jalapeño heat.* Heat and spice tolerance is subjective. What’s spicy to you, may not be noticeable at all to me, and so on. I want you to love this granita with the jalapeño, so I’m going to give you some tips on how to get a sweet, even heat and not an overpowering spicy nightmare. The goal here is to have a perfectly balanced pineapple margarita granita with a smooth hint of heat.

When steeping the jalapeño, you can remove the seeds if you would like. This will help you err on the side of less heat in your syrup. I steep mine with the seeds to get the most flavor. The pineapple, lime juice, tequila, and orange liquor are blended until smooth in a blender. Then I determine how much heat I like in my granita but mixing in a little bit of the simple syrup at a time to the pineapple mixture, tasting it after each addition to determine if I need more. Remember, you can always add more, but you can’t remove it. Jalapeños don’t all have the same heat intensity – another reason to add the syrup little by little.

I should also mention that alcohol levels can be decreased or increased depending on your preference as well. This recipe is not intended to be a choose your own adventure type of recipe, but I’m merely pointing out, that it’s 100% customizable to YOUR preferences, but can still create a delicious spicy pineapple margarita granita.

The mixture gets poured into a 13×9 or a shallow pan and popped in the freezer. Stir and scrape the granita every 30 minutes or so, mixing it up to break up any large chunks and ice crystals. This will also keep the mixture from separating. You will want to do this for 3 to 4 hours so that the ice crystals remain delicate and uniform and the consistency is close to that of a sorbet. At this point you can serve it or store it in the freezer.

I like to serve my spicy pineapple margarita granita in salt rimmed glasses and a sprig of mint. Enjoy!

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Spicy Pineapple Margarita Granita

Made with sweet, fresh pineapple, lime juice, jalapeño, tequila and orange liquor, this sweet, tart and spicy spin on a pineapple margarita cocktail is perfect for sunny, summer days and is absolutely delicious.

Prep Time10 mins

Chill4 hrs

Course: Dessert

Keyword: frozen margarita, granita, margarita granita, spicy pineapple

Servings: servings

Ingredients

1 cup water
1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
1 small jalepeno, or 1/2 of a large jalepeno, cut into pieces
1 lb (2 cups) fresh, ripe pineapple, peeled and cored
1/3-1/2 cup tequila, to taste
2 tablespoons orange liquor - I used Grand Marnier
Juice of 1 lime

Instructions

In a small saucepan, combine the water, sugar and jalapeño over medium-low heat. Bring to a simmer, until the sugar is fully dissolved. Cool until just warm.
Place the pineapple, lime juice, orange liquor, and tequila in a blender. Blend to combine
Add the simple syrup a few tablespoons at a time, stopping to taste the mixture to determine if you want more heat. It's possible you will not use all of the syrup.
Pour the pineapple mixture out into a shallow dish. I use a 13x9. Place the dish in the freezer.
Stir and scrape the mixture every 30 minutes for 3-4 hours or until chilled through. Serve immediately or store for up to one week in the freezer.