Mimosa Cupcakes

So in honor of Mother's Day, I'm releasing the Mimosa Cupcake recipe early. This recipe comes directly from a super awesome Cupcake blogger in St. Louis - Cupcake Project.

I have made this recipe with some mods... I kept the cake just as it is listed below, used regular vanilla buttercream with champagne instead of milk or water. It wasn't super champagney but I didn't have time to order the champagne flavoring. So I really used a lot of the Champagne Syrup listed below. The icing recipe, as it's presented printed below, I didn't use. I just used my own recipe with aforementioned modifications. Enjoy!!!

Mimosa Cupcake Recipe

I got the mimosa cupcake recipe by making a VERY subtle modification to a recipe for cherry limeade cupcakes on Ooh You Tasty Little Things. The only change I made was to substitute orange concentrate for the limeade concentrate. I'd been wanting to try baking using a frozen concentrate for a while and was happy to find a good recipe.

3 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp frozen orange concentrate
3 eggs
3/4 cup plain yogurt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix together the flour, salt, baking soda and powder and set aside. In a medium sized bowl, cream the butter until smooth then add the sugar and cream together. Once the butter and sugar are creamed add in the orange juice concentrate. Mix in one egg at a time. Add in flour mixture 1/3 at a time. When flour is thoroughly mixed, mix in the yogurt. Batter will be slightly lumpy, but should be smooth kind of like pancake batter. Divide the batter evenly into lined cupcake tins and bake for about 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool.

Champagne Syrup

2 cups champagne
1 cup powdered sugar
Bring the champagne and powdered sugar to a boil and let them reduce about half way. Don't expect it to get thick. It will still be very liquidy when you are done. Poke holes in the cupcakes and drizzle in the syrup. Let it absorb into the cupcake and add more. Keep adding to taste.

Champagne Frosting

The problem with champagne frosting is that you have to add way too much champagne in order to get a strong champagne flavor. This ends up making your frosting runny. The last time I used champagne, I opted for a champagne glaze. This time I decided to go the artificial [insert gasp here] champagne flavor route.

I bought some champagne flavor from LorAnn Gourmet. When I opened the bottle and took a whiff, I was overwhelmed by the aroma of bubble gum. I was disgusted. My husband had to remind me over and over again that this stuff was extremely concentrated and just a few drops would smell / taste completely different then taking in the whole bottle at once. Good thing he was right. However, smell your champagne and think bubble gum, you'll be surprised at the similarities.


1 cup chilled whipping cream
8 oz mascarpone
2 to 3 cups confectioner's sugar (depending upon how thick you prefer frosting)
8 drops of champagne flavor (use an eye dropper)
Whip up whipping cream in mixer until soft peaks begin to form. Fold in mascarpone. Then, while mixing over low speed, slowly add the confectioner's sugar one cup at a time, being careful not to over whip frosting. Mix in the champagne flavor.

What's the Orange Stuff in the Middle of the Frosting?

The orange stuff is just a little orange zest I used for decoration to add a bit of zing.