Whether you’re short on time, or maybe you’re not the best baker, using store-bought cupcakes can be the perfect shortcut you need! While store-bought cupcakes are not the best cupcakes on the market, you can easily transform both the flavor and look of them with just a few ingredients. The best part? They take significantly less time than making them from scratch!
I also made a video to go along with this blog post! Make sure to check it out here:
Disclosure: There are Amazon affiliate links provided in the post below. If you click on any of the Amazon links and make a purchase, I do get a small percentage of the sale which helps me pay for my ingredients and my website. I genuinely use anything that I link, and I want to make it easy for you to find these ingredients and kitchen tools, too, if you want to utilize them!
Mimosa Cupcakes:
- Remove any sprinkles from the frosting and place them into a small bowl. Then, carefully remove frosting from the cupcakes and placing it in a separate bowl. Make sure to keep any frosting that gets cake pieces in it away from the rest of the frosting. This is because we do not want those cake pieces inside of the frosting when we re-pipe it onto the cupcakes.
2. Make a quick mimosa mixture that is 1 part champagne and 1 part orange juice. For these cupcakes, I used a 1/4 cup, or 2 ounces, of champagne and a 1/4 cup, or 2 ounces, of orange juice. This amount of mimosa mixture was way more than I needed for 3 cupcakes, but that meant that the cupcakes got some and then I got some too!
3. Use a fork to poke some small holes in the cupcakes. Make sure that you do not make too many holes because the cupcake could potentially fall apart. On the opposite side, make sure to not make too few holes because you want to make sure the cocktail flavor is spread throughout the cupcake.
4. Spoon some of the mimosa mixture onto the cupcakes. I typically add 1-2 teaspoons and then check the look of the cupcake. If it looks too moist, stop here. If it still looks a tad dry, add another spoon or two of the cocktail and check again. Just make sure that you do not add too much because I’ve made that mistake and, while still very tasty, they practically fall apart as you try to eat it.
Note: If you happen to have an extra cupcake, use that as your tester to figure out how much mimosa to add to the rest of the cupcakes.
Note: The tops of these particular grocery store cupcakes were actually pretty firm so I had a little trouble getting the cocktail to soak in. If you have the same issue, I recommend cutting off the top center of the cupcake. That way, the inside of the cupcake will be more exposed and the cocktail will soak in better. And as long as you do not cut all the way to the outside of the cupcake, the frosting will completely cover this cut top.
5. Next, add the buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M piping tip. You can use a different one, but this tip is my go-to for simple projects. Pipe a rosette on top by starting in the middle and then making a tight spiral on top of the cupcake. There is not enough buttercream to do it for every cupcake, but you can also pipe a nice multi-layer dollop on top of one or two cupcakes as well.
6. Finally, sprinkle on some white sparkling sugar sprinkles, and then using a food brush to tap on some orange edible glitter for a simple, but gorgeous decoration!
Some supplies used in the making of these cupcakes:
Margarita Cupcakes:
- Remove any sprinkles from the frosting and place them into a small bowl. Then, carefully remove frosting from the cupcakes and placing it in a separate bowl. Make sure to keep any frosting that gets cake pieces in it away from the rest of the frosting. This is because we do not want those cake pieces inside of the frosting when we re-pipe it onto the cupcakes.
2. Use a paring knife to cut out the centers of the cupcakes. Make sure that you do not cut all the way to the bottom of the cupcake.
3. Mix together a quick liquor mixture that is 1 part tequila to 1 part triple sec. For these cupcakes, I used 1 ounce of tequila and 1 ounce of triple sec. Then, use a fork to poke some holes in the cupcakes. Just like with the mimosa cupcakes, make sure that you do not make too many or too few holes.
4. Spoon some of the liquor mixture onto the cupcakes. Of course, start with 1-2 teaspoons and then check the look of the cupcake. If it looks too moist, stop here. If it still looks a tad dry, add another spoon or two and check again.
Note: For the lime component, you could skip cutting out the centers of the cupcakes and easily add lime juice while making your liquor mixture and call it a day, or you can add a lime curd filling. Lime curd is super easy and incredibly tasty, which is exactly why I like to use it when making margarita desserts
5. Add some of the lime curd to a piping bag and pipe it into the center of the cupcakes. While you can spoon the filling into the center, using a piping bag is cleaner, easier, and faster.
6. Pipe buttercream rosettes onto the tops of the cupcakes using a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M tip. Then, add some white sparkling sugar sprinkles and green sugar sprinkles. I tried doing some patterns with the sprinkles, kind of like an ombré effect, but my favorite cupcake ended up being a simple mixture of the two sprinkles added on top of the cupcake.
Some supplies used in the making of these cupcakes:
Note: While I did not use the exact green sprinkles listed above, I would have definitely used them if I owned them at the time of making these cupcakes.
Thank you for checking out this post! If you make these cupcakes, let me know how you enjoy them!
