High Altitude Key Lime Pie Cupcakes

These high altitude key lime pie cupcakes are made with cinnamon scented graham cracker cupcakes, filled with homemade lime curd and frosted with a swirl of vanilla buttercream!

Looking for more citrus recipes? You’ll love this orange sour cream coffee cake, citrus sour cream pie, lemon icebox pie tarts, and orange ginger shortbread cookies.

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What’s in a Key Lime Pie Cupcake?

Since a key lime pie is made up of a graham cracker crust, creamy lime custard filling and fluffy whipped cream, I wanted to replicate those elements with a graham cracker cupcake, lime curd filling and vanilla buttercream.

Lime Curd

For the homemade lime curd, simply follow my recipe for lemon curd, substituting lime juice and lime zest instead of lemon. It’s a simple mixture of egg yolks, granulated sugar, corn starch, lime juice, lime zest and butter. Cooked over a double boiler until thick and creamy, it makes a delicious filling for these key lime pie cupcakes that tastes just like the pie.

Cupcakes

Graham Cracker Cupcakes: For a graham cracker flavored cupcake, I used 1/2 the cake recipe from my S’mores Cake. It’s slightly dense, but very moist and buttery, with a wonderful graham cracker flavor that’s perfect with the lime curd and vanilla buttercream.

Vanilla Cupcakes: I’ve made key lime pie cupcakes with a vanilla cupcake before, which is also completely wonderful. I love this recipe for vanilla cupcakes. With a vanilla cupcake, you won’t have as much graham cracker flavor in your cupcakes, so I’d suggest pressing some crushed graham cracker moistened with a little melted butter into the cupcake liners before pouring in the cake batter. This will give you a nice little graham cracker cookie crust on the bottom of each cupcake.

Buttercream

And for the buttercream, a double batch of vanilla American buttercream is perfectly fluffy and pipeable for the tops of your cupcakes.

Instructions

Lime Curd

• Follow this recipe for lemon curd, substituting lime juice and zest instead of lemon. Refrigerate until well chilled and thickened.

Cupcakes

• Preheat the oven to 350 F, and line a standard cupcake pan with 17 paper liners.
• In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally, until very light and fluffy.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, and scraping the bowl down, then add the vanilla.
• In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.  Use a large spatula to stir in any remaining streaks of flour.
• Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling them no more than 3/4 full.
• Bake the cupcakes on the center oven rack for about 18 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

TIP: Note that the recipe for graham cracker cupcakes bakes up very flat and level, so the cupcakes do not have a domed top.

Buttercream

• In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth. (In hot weather, I recommend substituting shortening for half of the butter for better stability.)
• With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar by spoonfuls, the meringue powder and salt, and mix to combine. It will be thick and clumpy.
• Add the vanilla, and increase speed to medium (#6 on a Kitchen Aid mixer), and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl several times, until light and fluffy. Only add the milk if needed for consistency (usually only necessary in colder weather).

Assembly

• Use a cupcake corer or knife to remove a small piece of cake from the center of the cupcakes. (Since these cupcakes aren’t domed on top, they’re not very tall, so don’t push the cupcake corer all the way down, or you’ll take too much cake out of the middle.
• Fit a piping bag with tip 1M, and fill with buttercream. Pipe a “ring” of buttercream around the edge of the cupcake.
• Use a spoon (or another piping bag) to fill the centers of the cupcakes with the lime curd.
• Sprinkle the tops of the cupcakes with more crushed graham crackers or leftover cake crumbs from removing the centers.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I use fresh or bottled lime juice for the lime curd?

Fresh key limes can be hard to find, so I usually use regular limes for both the juice and the zest. You can also use bottled key lime juice or lime juice to make the lime curd.

Is lime curd supposed to be green?

No, it’s really not. Its natural color is pale yellow, due to the egg yolks and butter.

Can I use store bought lime curd instead?

Yes, you can use a jar of lime curd from your grocery store for the filling.

What piping tip did you use for the buttercream?

I used tip 1M.

Do these cupcakes need to be refrigerated?

These cupcakes need to be refrigerated. Homemade citrus curd tends to soften a little too much when stored at room temperature, so keep the cupcakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Let come to room temperature for about an hour before serving.

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