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

Royal Icing Recipe

Its no secret that I love sugar cookies. Their buttery deliciousness and versatility mean that they are one of the most made recipes in my kitchen. However, I didn't always love making sugar cookies. In fact the first time I made them it was a complete disaster. The cookies didn't hold their shape when baked and to make matters worse the royal icing was a runny mess. It was completely frustrating and I felt totally defeated. I even wrote across the top of the printed out recipe "NEVER AGAIN".  Of course I eventually made sugar cookies again. I've learned a lot since first making those unfortunate sugar cookies. 

Royal icing can be intimidating. If you've scrolled through #sugarcookies on Instagram you have no doubt seen the beautiful works of art created by many talented cookie artists. I can spend hours watching cookie decorating videos. They are just so mesmerizing. What those short, sped up videos don't always portray is the amount of time that goes into creating each cookie masterpiece. Every hand painted or hand piped detail takes time. Now multiply that across however many dozen cookies. 

All that being said, you have to start somewhere.  Remember, it's just a cookie. Even it looks awful, it will taste great.  My boyfriend loves the "reject" cookies because it means he gets to sample them before whatever event they are meant for.  If you are new to Royal Icing I would definitely recommend keeping your design simple. The more complex the design and the smaller the detail the larger the margin of error.  

The most important thing in my opinion when decorating with royal icing is the consistency of your icing. If your icing is too thin it will just run everywhere creating a big mess. However, if you are trying to flood (fill) a cookie with a stiffer icing meant for outlining it will take forever and it won't smooth over nicely. Some cookie decorators like to create a stiffer icing consistency for outlining their cookie and a thinner one for flooding. I typically use the same icing for both outlining and flooding. The recipe below is the one I use to outline and flood my cookies. If you'd like a stiffer icing reduce some of the water.  From this base recipe I typically have to add additional water to thin out the icing until my desired consistency is reached. I aim for a 10 second frosting - when you drag a knife through the frosting it takes 10 seconds for the line to disappear. The amount of water I have to add typically depends on the time of year as the levels of humidity can effect your frosting.

Royal Icing Recipe

Ingredients

3 tbsp meringue powder

1/2 c warm water

500g powdered sugar

Directions

In the bowl of stand mixer, combine meringue powder and water. Whisk by hand until slightly foamy

Fit stand mixer with paddle attachment. Add all of the powdered sugar to meringue powder mixture. Cover mixer with a clean tea towel. Mix on low-medium speed for approx. 5 minutes

Add additional water in small increments (half a teaspoon at a time) until desired consistency is reached

Lemon Sugar Cookie Recipe

These lemon sugar cookies have the perfect hint of citrus flavour. They hold their shape when baked making them ideal for cut out decorated cookies.

I make a lot of sugar cookies. In my opinion they are the perfect treat for almost any occasion. I love how versatile they are! Need cookies to celebrate a wedding, a new baby, the arrival of spring - don't worry if you have the right cookie cutter - or a basic cookie cutter and a good imagination sugar cookies have your back. No matter the shape my favourite way to enjoy them is still warm unfrosted from the oven. I love them and all of their sweet buttery goodness! This particular recipe is perfect for spring and summer. The addition of lemon zest gives the cookies a lovely light citrusy flavour. These cookies hold their shape well when baked which makes them perfect for cut out cookies. 

Lemon Sugar Cookies

Makes: 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on size

Ingredients

1 c butter

1 c sugar

1 egg

zest from 1 lemon (approx 1 tbsp)

1/2 tsp salt

2.5 c flour

Directions

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

Add egg and lemon zest to butter mixture. Mix until combine

On slow speed, add in flour. Mix until just combined.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in fridge for minimum 1 hour

Preheat oven to 350F. On a lightly floured surface roll out dough to desired thickness. Cut out cookies using desired cookie cutters and transfer to parchment lined baking tray. Chill cut cookies in fridge for 15 minutes before baking

Bake for 8-12 minutes or until cookie edges are light golden brown

Transfer to wire rack to cool completely before decorating as desired