Mexican Car Bomb Cupcakes

Corona, tequila and lime in a cupcake - what more could you ask for in life?

Does anybody else do To Do Lists? I'm all over them, I think it's my control-freak tendencies. I always get up in the morning and write myself a list that looks something like this:

1. Clean kitchen

2. Clean out Uli's hutch

3. Clean bathroom and ensuite

4. Prune mulberry tree

5. Finish making trousers

6. Make something for Holiday Recipe Club

7. Blog recipe

8. Finish writing application

9. Write journal article

10. Make strawberry dress

11. Cut out Mah Jong dress

12. Vacuum house

Generally it's a ridiculously long list of things which I'll never possibly manage to get done. By the end of the day my list usually looks like this:

1. Clean kitchen
2. Clean out Uli's hutch
3. Clean bathroom and ensuite
4. Prune mulberry tree
5. Finish making trousers
6. Make something for Holiday Recipe Club
7. Blog recipe
8. Finish writing application
9. Write journal article
10. Make strawberry dress
11. Cut out Mah Jong dress
12. Vacuum house

At least I get some things done. However, as you can see the good news is that I managed to cook something to blog :) Today's Holiday Recipe Club ingredients are pork, watermelon and beer. Pork is obviously out, and watermelon is a bit ridiculous at this time of year - being incredibly out of season and not that appealing when it's freezing and windy. So that left beer. Lots of possibilities, but I couldn't really settle on anything.

What I ended up with were these cupcakes inspired by a drink called a Mexican Car Bomb. It's not a cocktail as such, it just means you take your corona and add a shot of tequila to it. I love Corona, it's delicious with lime and it's vegan friendly to boot! Using beer (or other carbonated drinks) in cupcakes makes for such a light and springy cake. These cupcakes are laced with corona and tequila with zingy lime icing on top. They're also perfect accompanied by a corona!

Ingredients

The Cake

1 cup Corona

1/4 cup tequila

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp lime zest

1/3 cup apple sauce

1 1/4 cups wholemeal plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

The Icing

1/2 cup vegan margarine (I use Nuttelex)

2 tsp lime juice

1 tsp lime zest (or as much as you like, I like to use more to make it extra limey)

1 tsp tequila

pinch of salt

1 cup soft icing mixture

Lime slices to decorate

To Make

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

2. Combine the Corona, tequila, sugar,vanilla, lime zest and apple sauce. Don't over mix it though, as you'll loose some of the carbonation of from the Corona.

3. Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix to combine.

4. Fill cupcake liners almost to the top and bake for 20 minutes, at which time a knife should come out clean when inserted into the middle.

5. Put on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely. While they are cooling you can make the icing.

6. Cream the margarine, lime juice and zest, vanilla and tequila together. Beat in the soft icing mixture until the icing is nice and fluffy. Ice cakes when they are completely cool and decorate with fresh slices of lime.

Makes 10 cupcakes.