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Mimosa Cupcakes

December 31st, 2008

Mimosa Cupcake – soft, fluffy orange cupcakes with Mimosa truffle topping and decorated with candied orange zest. Price available upon request.

bring on the bubbly!

I love the taste of freshly squeezed orange juice. I also love sucking on orange wedges. However, I just found this article that says that habitually sucking on orange, lemon and grapefruit wedges will result to a loss of the front teeth enamel because of acid erosion. Yikes! Since, I don’t habitually suck on those juicy wedges, I guess my pearly whites are safe.

2009 is nearly here and I was thinking of what cupcake to make to celebrate this momentous occasion. Champagne came to mind. What’s more appropriate to escort out the old year and usher in the new one than sipping some bubbly? I tried a recipe called New Year’s Eve Pink Champagne Cupcakes. I don’t know if I did something wrong—the description promised a light cupcake but mine turned out dense, almost pound cake-like. I am not of the dense cake camp so this cupcake did not appeal to me at all.

While Googling for information on champagne, some results showed Mimosa. Now what is a Mimosa? A Mimosa is a cocktail of freshly squeezed orange juice and champagne. The ratio of champagne to orange juice varies from recipe to recipe, sometimes depending on personal tastes. Some call for two parts champagne to one part orange juice or vice versa or equal parts of champagne and orange juice.

So why not a Mimosa cupcake? The Cupcake Project has a recipe that I think has been making the rounds of cupcake blogs everywhere—I’m sure it tastes great. However, I concocted my own. I adapted one of my recipes into an orange-flavored one. I contemplated on adding orange extract but in the end, I just added lots of orange zest which is really a powerhouse of a flavoring besides being more natural than the commercial extract.

The cupcake tasted heavenly—it was fluffy and tender— and the citrusy aroma just permeates the air. The children in our house liked them so much that nothing was left for me to frost so I had to bake another batch. The Mimosa truffle topping I made has a subtle hint of champagne—it does not stand out but one can definitely taste it.

For the final touch, I chose candied orange zest. The recipe I followed stressed that “if any pith remains on the peel, scrape it away” so scrape away I did. The resulting candy was a joy and it delivers a happy burst of sunshine to the taste buds. I was quite proud of this feat as I never imagined myself making candied zest.

I would add this cupcake to my list of favorites. To me, oranges bring happiness and champagne evokes celebration and that’s what this cupcake reminds me of.

Candied Orange Zest from The Cake Bible

3 oranges, thick skinned
1 c sugar
1 c water
1 tbsp corn syrup

Peel the oranges with a sharp knife; avoid any white part of the peel when doing so. Cut the peel into julienne strips. Place in a heavy saucepan of boiling water, reduce to simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Drain; rinse with cold water. Place in the same pot as it was cooked in and add in the sugar, water and corn syrup. Bring to boil stirring constantly, then stop stirring. Add in the zest and cover with a tight fitting lid. Reduce to simmer and cook over low heat for 15 minutes without disturbing. Remove from heat and allow to cool in pan covered. Refrigerate the candy in syrup in airtight container. Store up to a month.

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a champagne by any other name . . .

Nowadays, a true champagne is one that is produced in the Champagne region of France. All others that employ the same method of fermentation are called sparkling wines. Sparkling wines produced in various parts of the world have their own designations: Spain, cava; Italy, spumante; (Italian sparkling wines made with muscat grape is called DOCG Asti); South Africa, cap classique; Germany, sekt.

Entry Filed under: All About Cupcakes,Fruit,Recipes,Truffle,Wedding Cupcakes,Wine and Spirits