Nothing says summer like Key Lime Pie.  Growing up my favorite summertime memories always include fresh seafood (yay for growing up on the Gulf Coast) followed by a cool slice of Key Lime Pie.

When I was perusing Pinterest and saw this Pin for Key Lime Cupcakes from My Madison Bistro, I knew I had to give it a try.

Key Lime Cake Pops

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cups cake flour (for cake pops, use regular flour)
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 stick (½ cup) cool unsalted butter
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 ½ tablespoons key lime juice
1 tablespoon key lime zest
1 drop green food coloring paste
¾ cup buttermilk

Icing:
1 stick cool unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 ¼ cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon key lime zest

First of all, I had no idea there was such a thing as "cake flour" and it took us forever to even FIND the stuff.  It is not by the flour - but over by the cake mixes.  Go figure.

Also, cake flour works great for the cupcakes, but makes the cake pops a bit too fluffy to really stay on the sticks - which is why we used a piping bag with a huge round tip to put the icing on the top like we did the cupcakes, instead of dipping them like regular cake pops.  Regardless, they taste AMAZING.

Oh, and My Madison Bistro said to sift the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt three times... I don't OWN a sifter, so I didn't do this part.   I also don't own a mixer (hey, I am no chef - I am learning to cook here) so I just mixed everything by hand.  I KNOW.  My shoulder may never be the same.

MoscatoMom's Directions:

Batter

Mix all dry ingredients first while your Tween daughter slaves over zesting the itsy bitsy key limes... do you know how much a tablespoon is of zest?!!  (What?  Are you surprised we don't have a zester? Come on people) She did one, and then when she read on that she would need another whole tablespoon for the icing... well, thankfully she is a good sport.

Slowly mix in wet ingredients and mix well.  In the original directions it says the batter will look curdled, however mine didn't... that could be because I was sans mixer....

Cake pops: Spoon batter into your Babycakes Cake Pop Maker and cook for about three and a half minutes - until batter is done but outside is not too brown.  Fork onto a cookie sheet and run into the refrigerator for about an hour.

Cupcakes: Spoon batter into your Babycakes Cupcake Maker and cook about 6 minutes - also until center is cooked but outside is not too brown.  It may take breaking into one for a taste test (bummer, right?) to make sure they are done all the way through.  Fork onto a cookie sheet and run into the refrigerator for about an hour.

Icing

Again, this is probably much easier with a mixer because mine was not "fluffy" at all, but like real icing, which we love.  I also added WAY more powdered sugar to thicken it up.  You can't have too much powdered sugar, right?.....RIGHT!   Mix all of the ingredients until well blended and put into a large icing bag with a large round tip, and ice each cupcake or cake pop.  Top with green sugar sprinkles or key lime zest (notice I used sprinkles... I think the Tween was icing her shoulder...) Put finished cakes and pops into the refrigerator to set (and because... well... key lime is always better cold.)

ENJOY!