This post has been a long time in the making. For one thing, I had intended to make a mimosa-inspired coffeecake for New Year’s Day this past holiday season, but as is the case with many people (or so I suspect), I was overly ambitious in estimating what I’d have time/energy to do and ended up having to ignore half of my holiday to-do list. C’est la vie. Secondly, I’d been meaning to take the plunge into self-hosting with my blog since last summer, but life kept getting in the way. After wrapping up my teaching responsibilities for the year (yay grading! …said no instructor ever) and checking an oral PhD exam off my list this past week (whew!), it seemed as good a time as ever, and so…(drumroll please)…this post is the first to be published on the newly self-hosted putonyourcakepants.com!
Thankfully, the boyfriend is far more tech-savvy than I am, and he has been incredibly helpful in making the transition. Hopefully you’ll bear with us as the dust settles; things should be more or less functional, but if you notice anything wonky, please let me know! And if you’re an email or WordPress follower, you don’t need to worry about re-subscribing or changing anything. That has all been taken care of for you!
Now, let’s talk about food! This coffee cake is inspired by the quintessential brunch cocktail, the mimosa. The cake is bursting with orange flavor, thanks to a trifecta of orange zest, orange juice, and orange extract, with just a hint of cinnamon. The champagne flavor is much subtler, but the champagne’s fizziness renders the cake delightfully light and spongy. The alcohol itself bakes out of the cake, but there are a couple of tablespoons in the icing—obviously, no one is going to get tipsy from that, but I figured I’d throw in a warning in case you want to hoard the cake for yourself are concerned about the kiddies. (Believe me, you’re going to want to hoard it!)
This mimosa coffee cake is the perfect way to make any morning more festive, to celebrate the end of a school year (or just the end of another week), a graduation, a birthday, or that holiday that is just around the corner…Mother’s Day! Even though I didn’t get around to sharing this with you for New Year’s, there’s still plenty of time to go out and grab the ingredients to make it for Mother’s Day. Happy (early) Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup dairy-free margarine, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise (light is fine)
- 1 teaspoon orange extract
- zest from 1 orange
- 2 tablespoons orange juice (about 1/2 orange)
- 6 tablespoons champagne (I used a rosé, but feel free to use whatever you like, as long as it’s still bubbly!)
- 4 tablespoons dairy-free margarine, melted
- 1/2 cup all-purpose OR white whole wheat flour
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons champagne
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-inch springform pan.
- Prepare the topping: in a medium bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Pour in the melted margarine and mix with a fork until all the dry ingredients are coated and small clusters form. Set aside.
- Combine the dry ingredients for the cake: flour, baking, soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing in between each one. Add the mayonnaise, orange extract, orange zest, and orange juice to the margarine/sugar/eggs mixture and stir until combined. Stir in the dry ingredients. Pour in the champagne and fold gently (by hand) until just combined.
- Transfer the batter into the prepared springform pan. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Prepare the icing: mix together the powdered sugar and champagne until smooth. Stir in the orange zest. Drizzle over the cake, once the cake has cooled slightly.
Congratulations! On your oral exam, self hosting, end of the semester… What a lot of huge accomplishments! I don’t know how you do it. If anyone deserves this incredible looking mimosa coffee cake it’s you.
Aw, thank you! It all probably sounds more impressive than it actually was…at any rate, my “secret” is taking lots of naps 😛
YAY! Congrats on the jump to self-hosting! Champagne in coffee cake?? YUM. Plus it’s appropriately celebratory 😀
It really is appropriately celebratory (plus, we got to drink the majority of the bottle that was left over from baking!) 🙂
Congrats – what a lot of successes 🙂 I really like the idea to put orange zest on the top of this one. Looks delicious!
Thank you! I was on the fence about putting orange zest in the icing, but I’m so glad I did.
This WOULD be delicious for Mother’s Day…!
Indeed! I hope you get a chance to try it 🙂
I LOVE
oops, I think I got so excited, I just typed ‘I love’ and hit enter 😛
I love this cake!!! Been looking for a fun but light cake to make for a birthday 🙂
And congratulations on the self-hosting! I’ve been thinking of moving to one for for ages but it scares me! I’m inspired now 🙂
Your comment(s) made me laugh – thank you! I hope you get a chance to try it!
You definitely have earned a big slice of this cake! Congrats! It looks delicious. I can’t wait to try it for myself.
Lucy
http://www.thetwosavingsisters.com
Thanks! Let me know how it goes if you get a chance to make it 🙂
Definitely going to give this beauty a try! 🙂
I hope you do! Thanks for stopping by!
Oh this looks so delish!!! Yum!! I need to make this now!
-Rechael
http://adaydreamlove.com/
Thanks! Let me know what you think if you try it.
Wow, this looks so delicious! I adore the name of your blog 🙂
Haha, thank you – I’m glad you like the blog name 🙂
How creative! A nice twist on the classic mimosa 🙂
I think I like eating mimosas even more than drinking them 😉
Mayonnaise?! Hah! Also, it’s always funny here in the UK to see ‘coffee cake’ not actually being coffee-flavoured. This sounds nicer 😉 LOL!
You’re right – the name “coffee cake” is bit misleading in that way! And yes – I know baking with mayonnaise may sound a little weird, but it’s a great substitute for ingredients like sour cream or Greek yogurt if you’re trying to keep things dairy-free!
oh my goodness, this is the BEST idea I’ve ever heard of!!! an absolute dream for Mother’s Day – Pinned!!!! x
Thanks so much! I hope you get a chance to try it 🙂
I love coffee cake, I can’t get enough of the moist cake and crumble topping….yum! And this version looks especially delicious with a hint of citrus!
I always save some of the topping for last, since that’s my (and probably everyone’s) favorite part 🙂
This is such a fun idea! Mimosas are my favorite thing about Mother’s Day 😉
Thanks, Allie! I hope you get to enjoy one (or several) this weekend 🙂
This sounds so delicious! Wish I had a piece right now;)))
Thanks! Let me know what you think if you try making it!
Aaah I migrated my blog from blogger to wordpress self-hosted a few years ago and it was so stressful, but the best decision ever! I hope you enjoy all the fun things that self-hosting has to offer! This cake looks delicious…I could never, ever say no to coffee cake, and this one is totally up my ally!
Switching over hasn’t been too bad so far (*knocks on wood*), but it would have been much more frustrating without my boyfriend’s help, so I’m very thankful for that! I hope you get a chance to try the coffee cake! We just finished ours tonight and already miss it…
yes please!
Couldn’t agree more!
This looks unbelievably delicious! I love coffee cake and mimosas so it’s pretty much a dream going on here. I have been thinking about switching to self-hosting too. Was it a difficult transition? I’m just afraid I’m going to mess up a bunch of stuff, haha. Any advice?
Sounds like you should definitely try this coffee cake at some point, then! The transition wasn’t as difficult as I had anticipated – but then again, I wasn’t the one doing the heavy lifting! There is a lot of information available online about how to format various elements, so if you have a clear idea of what you want things to look like/do, it should be manageable. The “happiness engineers” at WordPress are very helpful as well!
Oh my gosh, wow! What a great variation on coffee cake – normal cinnamon can get a little boring, but I’m sure no one would be bored with this one!
Thank you! And you’re right – no one will get bored with this coffee cake, because it won’t be around long enough for that to happen! We were practically fighting over the last piece.