Key Lime Cake & Cupcakes with Fondant Decorations

So today I decided to go on a key lime binge. I went to the store and picked up a bottle of Nellie & Joe's Key Lime Juice. I wanted key lime something I just didn't know what...Of course I made a key lime pie. But what else could I make with all the juice I still had left over??

So I decided on some key lime cupcakes. At the end of the recipe I had enough batter for and 8 inch round cake so that's how I got the cake too.

I picked a very easy recipe I saw on the Betty Crocker website. You're supposed to use a lemon cake mix but I only had yellow on hand. I think the lemon cake with the lime would have been too tart for me. Here's the recipe if you're interested:

Cake & Cupcakes:
1 box yellow cake mix [Any brand will do, just use one that calls for oil instead of butter]
1 box lime gelatine mix [4 serving package]
1/3 cup key lime juice [I can imagine you can use regular lime juice]

Glaze:
2 cups confectioner's sugar
2-3 tablespoons key lime juice

Preheat over to 350. Lightly spray cupcake pan or use liners and 8 inch round baking pan.
Follow the recipe on the cake box, add lime gelatine, and lime juice. Mix well together in bowl. I used a 1/4 cup of batter for each cupcake. The rest of the batter I put in the round pan. I baked all 3 pans together for about 20-25 minutes. They are done when you can pull a toothpick clean from the center of the cupcakes/cake.

I made the glaze while the cupcakes & cake were baking. Just blend the two ingredients until it comes to a glaze/syrup texture.

Once the cupcake & cake are done you want to drizzle the tops of the cupcakes & cake with glaze. I used about a teaspoon a cupcake and a nice thin coat across the entire top of the cake.

Once cooled I used my own homemade cream cheese frosting that I wish I could share with you but I really don't know how much of what I added. I kind of did it to taste with combination of cream cheese, confectioner's sugar, butter, and a little vanilla. I know I used a whole small container of cream cheese. Sorry, next time I will pay attention so I can share it. In the mean time a store bought cream cheese frosting will do just fine. I added a few drops of lime green extract for the green color and lightly frosted the tops of the cupcakes and cake. I did not do the sides of the cake. I didn't want to over frost the cakes since I would be adding fondant.

I then took some crushed graham crackers for a little something extra and sprinkled over the cake & cupcakes. It's whatever your pleasure in how you stack them or lay them out. My sons actually took a few of my cupcakes while they were cooling and that's why mine is a little small.

This time I decided to try a marshmallow fondant. Here's the recipe I used:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/marshmallow-fondant/detail.aspx

It's much lighter than the rolled butter-cream fondant. And not greasy either. On the downside it's sticky to work with! And they don't tell you NOT TO USE A HAND MIXER! OMG, as soon as I started blending the marshmallows they sucked right up the blenders and inside where the stems connect to the beater. I found it easier to just mix it with my hands. My suggestions would be to use Crisco in the inside of the bowl before you melt the marshmallows and well Crisco'd hands to mix the powdered sugar in. This takes time and patience. I put a lot of confectioner's sugar on my counter top because it was so sticky to work with but with a little time and elbow grease I had another great fondant!

I used various cookie cutters to make my little design. Tell me what you think..