Mimosa Cupcakes

I love Champagne.  A lot.  Last Christmas, my mom had the brilliant idea of having mimosas on Christmas morning and I think it was unanimous that they should make an appearance again this year.  I really, really like Champagne so when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make it a reality.  Side note: the blog this links to is super adorable, so after checking out the cake you should really look around.  They've got such cute things!

I would like to take this opportunity to point out that I really don't always use mixes when baking, even though three of the recipes I've posted on this blog use them.  It actually drives me nuts to use a box mix, it feels like cheating, but I'm still learning and didn't want to mess with the original recipe too much.  One of these days I'll figure out how to make "cake mix" that's not from a box and when it happens, I'll be a much happier girl.  I know it's weird, but I'm crazy like that.

Moving on.  Since the cake on the website is considerably prettier than I could ever dream of making, at least with my current skill set, I knew I'd be doing a cupcake version.  I couldn't really decide about frosting though.  There are so many choices, but I figured if I was going to buy a whole bottle of Champagne I should try to incorporate at least a little in to the frosting.  I brought my dilemma to Crystal and Kay, a momentary break in working was necessary, to try and get some ideas.  Kay suggested using orange zest or juice in the frosting to make a mimosa cupcake.  I was sold.

Mimosa Frosting

Ingredients

1 stick of butter, room temperature

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon Champagne (a rough estimate, I really just poured some in, wondering how it would taste)

1 teaspoon orange zest (this required about half of a HUGE orange, and a lot of elbow grease from Anna)

I really enjoyed these.  So did the people in my office.  The only adjustments I'd make for next time are to add a bit more Champagne to the cake batter.  I don't think it would really mess with the texture, and when isn't more Champange a good idea?  Plus, the batter gets all bubbly when you add the Champagne.  See?

Also, I only baked my cupcakes for 20 minutes and they were perfect.  That may have more to do with my oven being crazy than anything else; Anna's convinced the kitchen is trying to kill us and I'm beginning to think she's right.  Lucky for us, we're moving soon and won't have to deal with the tiny, evil kitchen for very much longer.