Strawberry Margarita... Cake?

I wanted to make something fun to celebrate my parents' birthdays this year. They like to order Margarita's when they go out and my roommate had once made Margarita flavored cupcakes so that's where the idea began.

I started with a Margarita Cupcake recipe from recipegirl.com and altered it along the way to come up with this delicious Strawberry Margarita Cake w/ Lime buttercream icing.

Here's what I came up with. Pretty simple and very yummy...

Cake:
9 oz liquid Margarita mix (a little more than 1 cup)
3 oz tequila (a little less than 1/3 cup - I used Patron)
3/4 oz Grand Marnier
1 box Strawberry cake mix
3 large egg whites
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 Tbs lime zest

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease two round or oval 8"-9" cake pans.

1. Whisk together the margarita mix, tequila & Grand Marnier in a small bowl. According to RecipeGirl: Measure out 1 1/4 cups for the recipe and drink the rest over some ice ;)

2. Blend cake mix, egg whites, vegetable oil, lime zest & 1 1/4 Margarita mix from step 1 into a large bowl. Blend on low for 30 seconds and then medium speed for 2 minutes.

3. Divide the cake batter evenly into 2 greased cake pans and bake according to cake mix package instructions. (About 20-25 min.) Let cakes cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove them to a rack to cool completely.


Lime Buttercream Icing:
(crusting/medium consistency)
1 cup vegetable shortening
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp water
1 Tsp grated lime zest
1 lb powdered sugar
1 Tbsp Wilton Meringue Powder
1/8 Tsp salt

1. Cream shortening, lime juice, water and lime zest in a large mixing bowl.

2. Gradually add sifted powdered sugar, meringue powder & salt and mix on medium speed for a few minutes - until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed together.

Yields about 3 cups of icing... plenty to ice and decorate a 2 layer 8" cake!

I used the Cricut Cake machine to cut the Happy Birthday decoration.