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Margarita Cupcakes

Last Updated On: February 23, 2024 | Published: June 29, 2023 by Melissa Diamond | 5 Comments
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These delicious margarita cupcakes are soft and moist with a wonderful melt-in-your-mouth texture.

This is the perfect party cupcake for adult birthdays and celebrations! These homemade cupcakes (which are based in part on our Lemon Cupcake Recipe), have a light lime flavor and are frosted with a simple tequila cream cheese frosting.

(For more fun cocktail inspired cakes or "boozy cakes" like limoncello cake, Piña Colada Cake, and more, don't miss our collection of Boozy Cake Recipes!)

Margarita Cupcakes topped with tequila lime frosting and lime wedges, on a white pedestal.

Why We Love Them

There is so much to love about these margarita cupcakes! Here are just a few reasons to bake up a batch as soon as possible!

  • Soft crumb.
  • Incredibly moist with delicious lime flavor.
  • A great party dessert!
  • Easy recipe with simple ingredients!

Ingredients for Margarita Cupcakes

Here are the ingredients for our moist lime cupcakes and tequila cream cheese frosting.

Collage of Ingredients used for this recipe

Notes

Tequila: Any brand of tequila is fine! You will not need much, as we only used 2 Tablespoons in the frosting. (You can adjust to your liking. Also, if you'd like to use even more, you can use our Tequila Lime Buttercream recipe which allows for more liquid in the recipe.)

Cream Cheese: We used cream cheese in the frosting. We recommend full fat, not only for richness but also because low fat cream cheese is too soft.

Buttermilk: We recommend full fat buttermilk. The benefit of buttermilk in the cake batter is that its acidity softens the strands of gluten, making for perfectly moist, soft cupcakes!

Lime Jello: We love the flavor that the lime jello powder lends to this cake! The flavor doesn't bake out. You will only need 3 tablespoons.

Unsalted Butter: We prefer to use unsalted butter since the recipe calls for salt. This allows us more control over the amount of salt in the recipe.

How to Make Margarita Cupcakes

  • First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, add paper cupcake liners to cupcake pan(s)
  • In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for 30 seconds. Set aside
Bowl of dry ingredients with whisk
  • In another bowl, add the buttermilk, vegetable oil and lime juice & zest. Set aside.
Mixture of wet ingredients for the margarita cupcake batter
  • In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and mix at medium speed until smooth. (If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment).
  • Gradually add the sugar and Lime Jello powder and continue to mix on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until fluffy. It will become a pretty shade of green thanks to the Jello.
Mixing bowl with butter, sugar, and lime jello mixture
  • Add the room temperature eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yellow of the yolk has blended.
Adding eggs to the butter, sugar, and jello mixture.
  • Next, with the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of wet).
  • Mix just until incorporated. Be careful not to over-mix.
  • Scoop about ¼ cup cake batter into each cupcake liner (in the cupcake pans).
margarita cupcake batter, in the liners
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just few crumbs attached.
  • We like to remove cupcakes immediately from the pans to prevent over-baking. Baking times can vary depending on pan & oven- check at 15 minutes to be on the safe side, but it may take a few minutes more.
  • This recipe makes about 7 ½ cups of cake batter. At approximately ¼ cup of batter per cupcake, you'll have about 30-32 cupcakes.

Tequila Cream Cheese Frosting

The frosting is what turns these fabulous lime cupcakes into margarita cupcakes!

We based our recipe on our favorite Cream Cheese Buttercream recipe. This is a simple recipe with softened butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, and a pinch of salt.

Bowl of Tequila Cream Cheese Frosting

We added a bit of tequila and lime zest to the recipe. Using two tablespoons in the recipe, the tequila is not strong. (Adjust to your liking- but keep in mind that additional tequila will soften the consistency of your frosting.)

Softer Consistency

*Since cream cheese frostings are on the softer side, we prefer to decorate with it when it is slightly chilled. So, freshly made cream cheese frosting needs about ten minutes in the refrigerator before decorating with it for best results.

Tequila Lime Buttercream

Tequila Lime Buttercream is another great option for your cupcakes! This is the frosting that we used for our Margarita Cake from Cake Mix, and it always gets great reviews. It is slightly sweeter than cream cheese frosting, and also less perishable.

Tequila Lime Buttercream in a glass bowl with red spatula.

Decorating the Margarita Cupcakes

We kept things very simple with our decorating! After the cupcakes cooled completely, we frosted them with the tequila cream cheese frosting.

Using a disposable piping bag fitted with an 8B piping tip, we frosted each cupcake and topped with a small slice of lime.

You can also use a microplane (or very small grater) to sprinkle lime zest over the tops of the frosted cupcakes.

Piping tequila cream cheese frosting onto the margarita cupcakes.

FAQs

Yes, because of the tequila cream cheese frosting, these cupcakes should be refrigerated. However, for best flavor and texture, remove the cupcakes from the refrigerator a couple of hours before serving. This gives them a chance to warm and soften.

As we mentioned in our post, another less perishable option is our Tequila Lime Buttercream Frosting, which can be left out for several hours.

Yes, we recommend freezing the cupcakes before frosting them if you are working in advance. Once the margarita cupcakes have cooled, line them up on a tray or sheet cake board and layer them with a couple of sheets of plastic wrap.

I follow this with a layer of aluminum foil. (If you are only freezing a day or two, the foil isn't necessary, as long as it is tightly wrapped with a couple of layers of plastic wrap.)

When tightly wrapped, the cupcakes will stay fresh in the freezer for three months. (We haven't tested beyond that.)

To defrost, move them from the freezer to the refrigerator, still wrapped. And let them thaw overnight. The next morning, move to the kitchen counter, unwrap, and continue thawing. Decorate as usual.

We have experimented with this over the years and find that the tequila flavor bakes out. So, it is best to add the tequila to the frosting.

Another fun option is to purchase cupcake pipettes/toppers to add to the finished cupcakes. This allows your guests to infuse tequila into the cupcakes just before taking a bite! These can be purchased on Amazon.

Yes! We really love these cupcakes just as is, with the Lime Jello. It gives a really nice lime flavor and color!

However, if you'd prefer not to use Lime Jello, you can substitute with lime extract. (1 tablespoon of Lime extract if not using Jello).

If you go this route, I would use 2 cups (400g) of sugar in the recipe rather than the 1 ¾ cup that the recipe calls for. We reduced the amount of sugar used in the recipe because we added Jello (which is basically additional sugar).

More Summer Cakes

We have so many more fun party cakes to share with you! Any of these are perfect for summer celebrations. Here are just a few:

You must use the category slug, not a URL, in the category field.
Margarita Cupcakes on white pedestal, against background of hyndrangeas.

More Lime Cakes

If you love refreshing lime cakes, don't miss these other delicious recipes! Some of our favorites are Key Lime Pound Cake, Margarita Cupcakes, and Coconut Lime Cake.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Don't miss our full collection of Cake Recipes! We gave all sorts of cakes, including cake mix recipes, cake recipes from scratch, bundt cakes, and more!

If you are a fan of cupcakes, we have more great recipes including lemon cupcakes, banana cupcakes, vanilla cupcakes.

Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!

Margarita Cupcakes on white pedestal, against background of hyndrangeas.

Margarita Cupcakes

BY Melissa and Bebe
These scratch Margarita Cupcakes are incredibly moist and soft, with just the right amount of lime flavor. We topped them with tequila lime cream cheese frosting!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 16 minutes
Course: Dessert
Servings: 30
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Ingredients

  • 1 ½ sticks (170g) unsalted butter softened (holds it shape but dents when pressed)
  • 1 ¾ cups (350g) sugar
  • 3 tablespoons Lime Jello Powder
  • 3 eggs room temperature
  • 3 cups (342g) cake flour (spooned into measuring cup and leveled off) If you do not have cake flour see substitution in Notes below.
  • 2 teaspoons (8g) baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon (3g) baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
  • 1 ¼ cups (296g) buttermilk If you do not have buttermilk, see substitution below
  • ¼ cup (57g) lime juice This is 1-2 limes depending on size.
  • ⅓ cup (68g) vegetable oil We use Canola Oil
  • Zest of two limes

For the Tequila Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter softened but still cool to the touch
  • 16 oz (453g) Cream Cheese, softened (This is two 8 oz packages) Use full fat cream cheese.
  • Zest of one lime
  • 6 to 6 ½ cups 690g - 747g powdered sugar Start with 6 cups, and adjust to your liking
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 Tablespoons Tequila

Instructions

For the Cupcakes

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, add paper cupcake liners to cupcake pan(s)
  • In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for 30 seconds. Set aside
  • In another bowl, add the buttermilk, oil and lime juice & zest. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and mix at medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and Lime Jello powder and continue to mix on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until lightened in color and fluffy.
  • Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yellow of the yolk has blended.
  • With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of liquid).
  • Mix just until incorporated. Be careful not to over-mix.
  • Scoop about ¼ cup bake batter into each cupcake liner (in the cupcake pans)
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just few crumbs attached. We like to remove cupcakes immediately from the pans to prevent over-baking. Baking times can vary depending on pan & oven- check at 15 minutes to be on the safe side, but it may take a few minutes more.
  • Makes 30-32 cupcakes (approximately ¼ cup of batter per cupcake)

For the Frosting

  • Add the softened butter to the bowl of your mixer, mix until smooth.
  • Cut the softened cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, mixing until blended.
  • Add the tequila and lime zest.
  • Gradually add powdered sugar and mix until well blended.
  • This frosting will pipe best if used while still chilled. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use let it soften slightly and remix. Do not microwave to soften. If the frosting becomes too soft while using just refrigerate the piping bag or bowl for a short while to firm it up.

Notes

Substitute for Buttermilk: No Buttermilk? Here is a substitution: To a measuring cup, add 1 Tablespoon plus one teaspoon vinegar or lemon juice. Add milk to the 1 ¼ c. mark, stir. Wait 5 minutes and it is ready to use.
Substitution for Cake Flour: Using all purpose flour (plain in UK) to make Cake Flour: For each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK). This recipe has 3 cups of flour so you will measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour, remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend
Refrigeration & Serving: Because of the cream cheese frosting, these cupcakes need refrigeration. Remove two hours before serving to allow for the frosting and cupcakes to warm and soften.
 
Recipe makes approximately 7 ½ cups batter.

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5 Comments

  1. OMGosh! Definitely going to try this. I am a margarita and tequila fan :-) They look delish and beautiful :-) Perfect for summer.

    Reply