Grapefruit Champagne Mimosa Cupcakes
These pretty pink cupcakes are perfect for a champagne toast! Light and fluffy, with bright, citrus-y grapefruit and sparkling wine.
This is a sponsored post, written by me and created in partnership with White Lily Flour. All opinions expressed herein are straight from my heart.
Hello my friend! How was your holiday? Did you enjoy?
Ours was good! Everything went off without a hitch. Lots of good food and Santa brought the kiddos everything they wanted and more.
And now we're gearing up for the next holiday: New Years Eve!
Do you have any fun plans? I think we might be going to a family party, where all the kids and grownups can hang out together and celebrate. But if you are going to be at a grownups-only soiree, I think these pretty pink grapefruit champagne mimosa cupcakes would be the perfect dessert to bring!
I just love grapefruit treats, especially at this time of year. Winter is a great time to enjoy citrus, and you just can't beat that cheerful pink color. Topped with a little sparkling gold disco dust, these cupcakes just scream celebration!
I love to use White Lily flour for all my baking. It's extremely versatile, and great for all sorts of baked goods.
But I especially love it for cake. Because White Lily flour is finer in texture, it creates a light, airy crumb structure, making my cupcakes tall, tender, and moist. This is the White Lily difference, and it's definitely changed my baking for the better!
Your guests will love these pink grapefruit champagne mimosa cupcakes! Bake up a batch for your New Years bash, or they'd be perfect for a brunch or shower too!
Learn more about the White Lily difference here, and be sure to follow White Lily on Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube!
Can't get enough cupcakes? Be sure to follow my "Cupcake Recipes" Pinterest board!
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Ingredients
For the cupcakes
- 2 ½ cups (312.5 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 ⅓ cup (266.67 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (224 ml) neutral-flavored oil, (such as vegetable or grapeseed oil)
- ½ cup (118 ml) freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
- ½ cup (118 ml) champagne or sparkling white wine
- ½ cup (120 ml) buttermilk
- 2 egg whites
- 3 tablespoons grapefruit zest , (zest of 1 grapefruit)
For the frosting*
- 1 ½ cups (354 ml) champagne or sparkling white wine
- 4 egg whites
- 1 ⅓ cup (266.67 g) granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups (340.5 g) unsalted butter, (3 sticks), softened
- ¼ cup (59 ml) freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
- 2 teaspoons grapefruit zest
- a drop of rose pink gel paste color
- gold disco dust, for garnish
Instructions
To make the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a cupcake pan with papers.
- Place the oil, grapefruit juice, champagne, buttermilk, egg whites, and zest in a large liquid measuring cup, and whisk to combine.
- Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry, and mix on medium speed until smooth. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula, to be sure that all the ingredients are well incorporated.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared cupcake pan, and bake for 16 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the thickest part of a cupcake comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Cool completely, then top with frosting and garnish with gold disco dust.
To make the frosting*:
- Place the champagne in a small pot, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Continue to boil until the champagne has reduced to a scant ¼ cup. Cool completely and set aside.
- Place the egg whites and sugar in a large metal mixing bowl and whisk together. Set the bowl over a small pot of simmering water, and heat, whisking occasionally, until the mixture becomes translucent and no longer feels gritty when rubbed between the thumb and forefinger.
- Remove from heat and whip on high speed until the meringue holds stiff peaks. Cool completely (There should be no hint of warmth when the hand is place on the side of the bowl. Place in the refrigerator for 10-20 minutes, if necessary.)
- Add the butter, a tablespoon at a time, while whipping on medium-high.
- When all the butter has been added, stir in the reserved champagne reduction, grapefruit juice, and grapefruit zest.
- Tint with rose pink gel paste color.
I was wondering if the cupcakes could be made the day before and kept refrigerated? Then frosted the next day? Also where do you get the rose gel? TIA!
Hey Susan, sorry for the late reply! We had some travel over the holiday season. You can definitely refrigerate the cupcakes. That's no problem. I bought the gel via Amazon, there's a link in the recipe card. Hope that's helpful!
I went wrong on the icing somewhere! The egg and sugar mixture was completely cool, and I added the butter correctly but even before I added liquid it seemed too 'wet'.. so when I added the grapefruit juice and champagne reduction, it was even worse. It tastes AMAZING but the texture of the icing is not right. Any ideas?
Yes absolutely- I have a few thoughts on what might have gone wrong. Firstly, I would try popping everything into the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes. It almost always starts out a bit loose for me as well, but a quick chill is often all it needs to come together properly. If that doesn't work, then I'd take a look at how the meringue was before the butter started going in. Could it hold stiff peaks? If not, was it whipped long enough? Sometimes if there's some residual grease on the bowl or whisk, it can prevent the meringue from whipping up properly. Any trace of yolk in the whites can do the same thing. Hopefully these tips are helpful to you Sam!
I had the same problem as Sam. Tried it twice and tried your tricks and it still just curdled. I can't figure out why or how to make it not curdle.
Sorry you had trouble Karissa! Swiss meringue can be tricky and it almost always looks curdled just before it comes together. Did you notice the curdling before or after the champagne was added? If it was before, then you just have to keep whipping. It needs to whip a LOT! It often looks curdled just before it smooths out, so just let it keep on going. If it looked smooth but then became curdled after the champagne went in, it's probably because there was just too much moisture and the champagne should have been reduced more. It wants to be thick, almost like a syrup, in order to prevent that happening. I hope these tips are helpful!
What a fancy cupcake! These would work for Valentine's Day too!
They absolutely would! Thanks so much Laura!
These are so beautiful, Allie! Grapefruit is such a great winter flavor, and one that is generally very underplayed, too. That little dollop of pink frosting is perfect for Valentine's Day, too!
Thank you so much Julie! I totally agree with you about grapefruit being underutilized. And that vibrant color is so necessary when the weather is dreary!
These couldn't be any cuter. I love the idea of grapefruit in cupcakes!
Thank you so much Jessie! We really enjoyed them 🙂 Hope you're having a great weekend!
Where did you find the beautiful gold forks?
Hey Kathryn! They were an ebay find- but I've seen similar sets on Etsy too!
oh, they look beautiful and so tasty! i am a big fan of grapefruit. do you think it would also work with the same amounts in classic orange too? grapefruit is not an option with some medications is all and i know my friend would love these. i'll eat the grapefruit batch haha as i will definitely make these.
Thank you so much Annabelle! I think you could easily swap the grapefruit out for any other kind of citrus. Let me know how it works out!
Such a lovely combo of flavors! Grapefruit + champagne sound so good together. I have spring fever today, and these would make for a major mood booster!
I'm glad you had a nice Christmas! Happy New Year!!! 🙂
Happy (belated) New Year to you too Sarah! I hope things warm up for you soon!
These cupcakes are so perfect for New Year's, Allie! Love them!
I'm so glad! Thank you so much Brina!
Cupcakes have never sounded so perfect! These are genius and they are clearly just what my New Year needs!
Allie, those cupcakes look so neat and beautiful! And the color of that frosting! Wow!
This looks amazing!! Do you think that there is some way to make these without the wine in them??
Thanks, Kirsten
- http://hellofromthemiddleofnowhere.blogspot.com/
I have the same question. 🙂 I wonder if we could use sparkling grape juice & still get the grapefruit flavor coming through?
Sparkling grape juice would make a great substitute as well! You could also just leave it out of the frosting entirely, and sub in an equal amount of buttermilk in the cake. Hope that's helpful! Thanks for the great question Holly!
Hey Kirsten! You could absolutely leave out the sparkling wine. For the frosting, I'd recommend omitting it entirely. For the cupcakes, you can just sub it out for additional buttermilk. Good luck & I hope you enjoy!