These lime syrup cupcakes are an absolute treat. Sometimes we don’t want to make a treat out of coconut, quinoa and flaxseeds. Sometimes we want an actual treat, a real treat, a good old-fashioned treat. Enter lime syrup cupcakes.
I’ve got an oversupply of limes on my hands right now. I honestly don’t know how it happens. I’m usually a hoarder of chickpeas and laundry detergent. You know, the items you always put in your trolley because you think you don’t have any when you actually have lots? Do you have a tendency to hoard while shopping?
Right now, it’s limes. I have bags of them. So I was on the hunt for recipes and I found one that had a lemon syrup and I thought, why not substitute limes? And it worked.
These lime syrup cupcakes are a really nice treat and the recipe is dead-easy and absolutely fail-proof. Yep, unlike many temperamental cupcake recipes, this one works every time. And, of course, you can substitute lemons for the limes if you happen to have an abundance of those instead.
These are good too: Moreish peanut butter date balls
Lime syrup cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes
Takes 15 minutes
Bakes 20 minutes
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon lime zest
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 150g butter, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup caster sugar
• 2 free-range eggs
• 1 ½ cup plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
To make the syrup
• 2 teaspoons lime zest
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• ½ cup caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
Preheat fan-force oven to 170°C. Grease a 12 hole cupcake pan and line with patty cake holders if using (I don’t).
Mix the sour cream, 1 teaspoon of lime zest and 2 tablespoon of lime juice in a bowl and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat the butter, vanilla and ¼ cup of caster sugar until light and fluffy. Add each egg one at a time, beating into the mix each time.
Add the sour cream mix to the bowl and combine with a wooden spoon. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and fold well.
Divide the batter between the 12 holes of your pan — each hole will be about two-thirds full — and bake for around 20 mins (do the skewer-check to make sure it comes out clean).
While the cakes are baking, make the syrup: in a saucepan over lowish heat, stir the water and ½ cup of caster sugar until sugar is melted and boiling. Simmer for about 10 minutes then remove from the heat and stir through the lime juice and zest. Set aside to cool for about 5 minutes.
Once the cupcakes have cooled in the pan for about 5 minutes, spoon the lime syrup over each cupcake (I use a pastry brush) and leave to sit for a minute or two. Then remove from the pan and leave to cool on a wire rack.
The syrup helps the cupcakes stay nice and moist for up to three days in an airtight container. This recipe doesn’t freeze well.
