ICE_006: Wine - Mimosa Sunrise Cupcakes

To start the New year off with a BANG, Sandy announced the first 2009 Iron Cupcake Earth challenge ingredient as Wine. It could be sweet, savory, red, white, bubbly...it didn't matter as long as it was wine.

So I chose Champagne...and paired it with oranges for a nice Mimosa Cupcake. Start off the day with a good Mimosa and start off the year with a great Mimosa Cupcake!

Happy New Year!

My recipe is a modification from a post on the Cupcake Project. The original receipe was a modification from one of my favorite blogs, Ooh You Tastey Little Things.

Mimosa Sunrise Cupcake 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.

Poke about 4-5 holes in the top of every cupcake, but not quite all the way to the bottom. You also might want to place the cupcakes on wax paper or a platter as the next step can run over a little.

Champagne Syrup (my modification)
2 cups champagne
2 cup powdered sugar

1pkg of Orange Jello

Bring the champagne, powdered sugar & Jello to a boil and let them reduce about half way. It will thicken up some but will still be liquidy when you are done. Drizzle the syrup over the top of each cupcake. Let it absorb into the cupcake and add more. Keep adding to taste.

Champagne Frosting

It was recommended to use champagne flavoring instead of real champagne, but I didn't have the chance and wanted to make these right away. So I modified this as well but am posting both receipes.

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.You can buy some champagne flavor from LorAnn Gourmet.

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.

My Modified version:

1 cup chilled whipping cream

4 oz cream cheese, softened

4 oz sour cream

4 Tbl Champagne

3-5 Cups of confectioner's sugar

Cream the sour cream and cream cheese together until well mixed. Whip the whipping cream in mixer until soft peaks form. Add the cream mixture and the champagne. Then slowly add the confectioner's sugar until desired stiffness is acheived.

The frosting didn't set up quite like I wanted, so I will be trying the Champagne flavoring next time.

But regardless, the cupcakes are by far one of my favorites! They are moist, flavorful and just down right Yummy!!!

Special thanks for the amazing prizes this month!!

Our January ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:
DOGBONE ART - http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=22042
as well as a pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6057281.
PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!

As an added bonus for January, our friend at SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY SUPPLY will be tossing in another treat as well, http://www.acupcakery.com/index.html.

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; the CUPCAKE COURIER http://www.cupcakecourier.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com. NEW, BEGINNING IN JANUARY; our new friends at UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/ will be providing our winner with one of their cute cupcake attitue t's! Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com .