Margarita Cake

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo. For Mexicans, it represents the celebration of a battle victory, though I recently found out it is more an American holiday (reason to drink and party) than anything. However, why not use the opportunity for a little celebration and a bit of baking?

What is more recognizable as part of a Mexican meal or celebration than margaritas? Well, it seems it is for us Americans, anyway. So, what better thing to incorporate into baking than that great drink? I have been wanting to make a cake, and set out to find recipes that incorporated margaritas into cake. I found a Betty Crocker recipe for margarita cake online today that called for a crushed pretzel crust, white boxed cake, a cool whip frosting and some margarita fixings added in. Since we are going to be out to dinner with friends tomorrow night (yes, at a Mexican restaurant), I decided to take the cake to work for a change.

As tonight was to be the only night this week that Nick and I had alone, at home, I actually considered getting the boxed mix the recipe called for. However, when Nick found this out, he scoffed. The Sendiks by our house didn't have any white boxed mixes, so that was that. I found a recipe for simple white cake mix on AllRecipes.com and decided to try that. What was going to be a quick and easy cake turned into one of my couple hour baking projects, but I think it was worth it!

First, I pounded the pretzels to mash them into little pieces and crumbs. Then, I mixed them with sugar and butter as directed in the first recipe.


Next, I creamed the butter, made a margarita and mixed the dry ingredients. Then, I mixed them all together, alternating dry and wet ingredients.


The batter turned out frothy, almost like meringue, and it sure tasted good - like margaritas!

I made a couple of cupcakes, as well as the cake, since I was making the cake for work, and knew Nick might not be able to try it otherwise. I doubled the cake recipe so it would fit into my 9x13 pan (rather than the 9x9 pan called for), and had more than enough batter to make a few cupcakes. Nick, being the mathematician, did the numbers and figured out that I could have made 7 cupcakes and still had enough batter for the cake. I didn't feel we needed 7 cupcakes though!

The cupcakes turned out pretty well, the pretzels sticking well in the cupcake. However, the cake was a little dense and the pretzels overtook the margarita taste. The pre-made whipped frosting I used to ice them (so I didn't have to break into the cool whip and not have enough for the cake) did not do them justice; I can't wait to try the cake with the cool whip tomorrow!

*Update* The cake turned out much better than the cupcakes, with the pretzels and the cake being a good combination. The cake is not quite as dense as the cupcakes, and there is much more of it compared to in the cupcakes. You can also taste the margarita more in the cake. The cool whip frosting is light and a nice, airy, sweet, compliment to the slightly salty cake.

I got to work at 10 a.m. and by 11 a.m. most of the cake was gone; I would say that is a successful recipe! If I were to make it entirely as cupcakes, I think I would do something different, like making the pretzels more powdery (Nick's suggestion), or putting more batter into each cup, but I don't think I will mess with the cake version!

Overall, I would say this turned out very well!

There was just enough cake leftover after work so that I could cut a good peice for a picture:

Though I combined two recipes into one, I wound up changing many of the ingredients. Here is my final recipe:

Margarita Cake

pretzel mixture (3 cups smashed pretzels, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 stick melted butter)

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter, at room temperature

4 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla

3 cups flour

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups margarita (1 cup tequila, a dash of orange liquor (or triple sec), lime juice)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Butter a 9x13 baking dish

Press the pretzel mixture into the baking dish

Cream the butter and sugar together and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition

Beat in the vanilla

Sift the flour and baking powder into another bowl

Make the margarita mixture

Beat in the dry ingredients and the margarita mixture, alternating, in 4 additions each

Pour batter into baking dish and bake for approximately 30 minutes, until a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean

Happy Cinco de Mayo!