Mimosa Cupcakes

A delicious moist orange cake brushed with an orange champagne syrup and topped with a sparkly champagne buttercream! These cupcakes were made for celebrating!  

Its my birthday! So of course I made cupcakes. It's only natural right? Haha. I have already had two colleagues tell me that "You're not supposed to make cupcakes for your own birthday" but making cupcakes makes me happy. Every year I tell myself that I am not going to make my own cake/cupcakes for my birthday and every year I just can't help myself. I have to create something. This year, I wanted something fun, girly and celebratory! My girlfriends and I love going for brunch. We whenever we are all in the same city. It is one of my favourite traditions and by far my favourite meal. And what is brunch without a mimosa? As you can guess that was my inspiration for these cupcakes. How cute are they?

These cupcakes are a bit unexpected and fun! Who doesn't love a boozy cupcake? A mimosa cupcake just feels like a celebration. You can't help but smile as you eat them. They are a delicious orange cake with a sparkly champagne buttercream frosting. They are the perfect combination of light and airy yet decadent.  The cupcakes are full of orange flavour which is brought out further by the orange champagne syrup brushed on after baking. The syrup keeps the cupcakes nice and moist while adding an additional punch of flavour. The buttercream frosting is a twist on my favourite classic buttercream frosting recipe. You get the perfect amount of champagne flavour coming through.   

Mimosa Cupcakes

Makes 12

Ingredients

1 1/2 c cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c butter

1 c sugar

1 orange ( 2-3 tbsp zest & 1/8 c juice)

1/4 c champagne

1/4 c milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners, set aside

In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, on medium-high speed beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy

Beat in eggs and orange zest until incorporated. Scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in orange juice and champagne.

Add in half of the flour mixture, followed by the milk, then the rest of the flour mixture. Mix until just incorporated

Spoon batter into liners. Fill cupcakes liners 1/2-2/3rds full. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean

Allow cupcakes to cool on wire rack before frosting

Orange Champagne Syrup

Ingredients

1/4 c champagne

1/4 c orange juice

2 tbsp sugar

Directions

In a small sauce pan over medium heat, combine orange juice, champagne and sugar

Allow mixture to reduce in volume by about half or until a thick syrupy consistency is reached

Allow mixture to cool slightly. Using a toothpick poke 6-8 holes in the top of your cupcakes, using a pastry brush, brush a thin layer of syrup on top of each cake

Champagne Buttercream

Ingredients

1 c Butter

4 c Icing Sugar

4-5 tbsp Champagne

Directions

In a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, on medium to high speed beat butter until light and fluffy

Add icing sugar, beat until light and fluffy. Beat in Champagne

Frost cupcakes as desired, top with sprinkles

Funfetti Cupcakes

Funfetti cupcakes always make me feel like a kid again. The sprinkles in the batter really give them that something extra. I love the explosion of colours! I made these cupcakes recently to celebrate a trio of friends' March birthdays. They were quite a hit with everyone at the party. It's hard not to smile when someone gives you a cupcake but its even harder when they are as cheerful as these funfetti cupcakes. Enjoy! 

Funfetti Cupcakes

 Makes 18 Cupcakes

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes

2 c cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 c butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 c sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 c milk

1/2 c sprinkles

For the Frosting

1 c butter, at room temperature

4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

4.5 c icing sugar

2 tsp clear vanilla extract

1-3 tbsp heavy cream

Sprinkles

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners, set aside.

In a medium bowl sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, on medium-high speed cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, scrapping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract. On low speed, slowly the flour mixture alternating with the milk mix until just incorporated. On low speed, mix the sprinkles into the batter. Be careful not to over mix or all the colours will run and turn your batter an unpleasant colour.

Scoop the batter into prepared cupcake liners. They should be about 2/3s full. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

For the Frosting: In a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, on medium to high speed beat together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add icing sugar, beat until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Beat in heavy cream 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.

Frost cupcakes as desired, top with sprinkles

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Crowd pleasing moist red velvet cupcakes with rich and velvety cream cheese frosting

Red velvet cupcakes are a strange phenomenon. They aren’t quite chocolate but they aren’t vanilla either. That being said, there is just something about them that everyone loves. Red velvet is always a crowd pleaser! The combination of the moist cake paired with rich and creamy cream cheese frosting is hard to resist. These cupcakes are some of my most requested by friends and family. Whenever I am unsure of what to make and I ask for suggestions these are almost always near the top of the list (although these might start to edge out red velvet for most requested). Not only do they taste great but they are a beautiful looking cupcake. I love the deep rich red colour against the pale frosting. Of course like most cupcakes these are best topped with sprinkles. 

Red Velvet Cupcake

In my mind, a red velvet cupcake needs to be two things: 

1. Deep Red in Colour

2. Moist

This cupcake definitely hits the nail on the head. To achieve a deep red colour, I used a gel food colouring. I added small amounts of red gel until it reached my desired colour.  Keep in mind, I find that the batter tends to lose its colour as it bakes, so if you want a redder cupcake add more food colouring then you think you need. You can also use liquid food colouring but I find it takes a lot of liquid food colouring to achieve a deep red colour. 

You will notice that these cupcakes use mix of butter, oil and sour milk. This in addition to using cake flour instead of all purpose flour makes for a moist cupcakes. If you do not have cake flour on hand, for every 1 cup of all purpose flour remove 2 tablespoons and replace with 2 table spoons of corn starch. Make sure you sift well to insure the corn starch is evenly distributed. A lot of red velvet recipes call for buttermilk, since I rarely have buttermilk on hand I decided to use sour milk (milk with vinegar added and allowed to sit for 5 minutes or so).  The acidity in the sour milk, along with the additional vinegar in the batter reacts with the baking soda to allow the cupcake to rise. These cupcakes bake up with a lovely little dome. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

This frosting is everything! I think the real reason most people love red velvet cupcake is because of the cream cheese frosting. One of my best friends tells me it doesn’t matter what I make as long as it has my cream cheese frosting. Red velvet, carrot cake, lemon cake she doesn’t care. It’s all about the frosting. This cream cheese frosting is tangy and sweet. 

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Makes: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

1.5 c cake flour

2 tbsp coco powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 c butter

3/4 c sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 c canola oil

1 tsp vinegar

red food colouring

1/2 c sour milk (1/2 c milk + 2 tsp vinegar)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake pan with liners, set aside.

In a medium bowl sift together dry ingredients: flour, coco powder and baking soda. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, on medium speed, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. To the butter and sugar add egg and vanilla. Beat until combined. On low speed, beat in oil, vinegar and food colouring until combined. Add half of the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredients alternating with the sour milk until all has been combined.

Evenly divide batter between cupcake liners. Fill each 2/3s full. Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1/2 c butter, room temperature

8oz cream cheese, room temperature

4 c icing sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1-2 tbsp heavy whipping cream (optional)

Directions

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, on medium speed, beat together butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy (3-5 minutes).

Reduce speed to low and add in icing sugar one cup at a time. Mix until combined. Add in vanilla. Whip frosting on medium - high speed until light, fluffy and pale in colour. If you would prefer a thinner frosting, add in whipping cream until desired consistency is reached. Frost cupcakes as desired.