Cheers to Cupcakes

So the cupcake recipe testing continues. I think I'll choose two different cupcake flavors for the wedding and am pretty certain that one of those will involve alcohol as a main ingredient. Champagne cupcakes seemed all to perfect for the recent Hallmark Holiday.

My mom got me these cute cupcake liners. Thanks Mom!

I think the exciting part about these cupcakes is the fact that you know they have champagne in them, not that you can actually distinguish the champagne taste. I ended up brushing the tops of the cooled cupcakes with more champagne before frosting to add a little more flavor. The texture of the cake is the best part of this recipe but if you are wanting to bake cupcakes with any form of wine, I would suggest going with these red wine cupcakes as the wine taste will stand out a bit more.

Champagne Cupcakes
from Gimme Some Oven
Makes about 20-24 cupcakes

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup champagne (the sweeter the better)
6 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add flour mixture to butter in three installments, alternating with champagne.

In another large clean bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into batter to lighten it, then fold in remaining egg whites. Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Champagne Buttercream
3 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp champagne, room temperature

With an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter. Mix on low until well blended, and then on medium for another two minutes. Add vanilla and champagne, beating on medium for another minute. If you are piping the frosting on, you may need to double the recipe.



Grading...

Cupcake: A
Notes: It has a slight "fermented grape" flavor but the texture was the best part of this recipe. The cake was firm, yet moist. They baked up in to beautiful domes and didn't dry out.

Frosting: C
Notes: Eh, nothing to write home about. You can't really taste the champagne, it mostly just tastes like regular-old buttercream.

Wedding Contender: C
Notes: I liked the cake and would like to try variations on it's flavor. I'm not sure if I'm up for the egg white folding in mass production but I could really tell how nicely it effected the texture of the cake. The frosting was easy but nothing special.