Whip It Up Wednesday: Lemon Margarita & Vanilla Cupcakes

For our engagement party we've decided to do a "Cupcakes and Cocktails" theme - yum! 

Here's an idea that combines the two!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Margarita Icing

This uses an adapted version of  this icing and this strawberry stuffed vanilla cupcake recipe, without the strawberries. I did intend to use strawberries but I'm FAR too lazy to cut a cone out of each cupcake after they're baked so I can shove a strawberry in. I should've at least put the strawberries on top, but alas, the strawberries were eaten long before I reached that stage... I'm rather fond of strawberries.

I did experiment with baking a strawberry inside a couple of cupcakes, but it's really not that impressive. For the sake of sharing from experience, this is what it looks like:

And the texture of the strawberry is squishy :-/ Perhaps more appropriate for creepy Halloween cupcakes ;)

Anyway! I used the exact vanilla cupcake recipe that the Food Network used, and here is my adapted icing recipe (original here) - my version is lemony instead of limey. It's also quite strong but very tasty!

What You Need:

* Rind and juice from 1 large lemon

* 1/2 cup room temperature unsalted butter

* 1 cup of caster sugar

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 2 tablespoons tequila

* 1/4 tablespoon milk

* A few drops of green food colouring

What To Do:

Put butter in a big mixing bowl and cut it into small pieces. Add vanilla, lemon juice and rind and tequila. Mix with the electric beater until combined. Gradually add sugar and milk. Add food colouring and keep mixing until everything is evenly combined.

Now you can ice your vanilla cupcakes! Top with a strawberry or glace cherry for an extra punch of colour!

Enjoy!