Pink Champagne Strawberry Cupcakes
Posted by Cupcake Kelly on Feb 20, 2011 in Chocolate, Cupcakes, Fruit | 22 comments-
I really should have made these in time for Valentine’s day but it’s still February so I can still post them! These wold also make really nice anniversary or birthday cupcakes by changing the decorations and cases to fit the occasion.
-
-
A fluffy vanilla cupcake with champagne infused strawberries topped with a champagne buttercream and drizzled with dark chocolate. The frosting is out of this world it’s so fluffy and you can definitely taste the champagne. The cake is really light and moist too.
-
-
The recipe called to fold the chopped strawberries into the batter but I thought this made them a bit soggy. I would suggest filling the center with the strawberries after they’re cooked. I would think that cooking the strawberries would burn off the alcohol on the strawberries.
-
I put heart sprinkles, glitter, chocolate and a strawberry on top making them a little busy but all or any combination of these would look nice.
-
I used a small bottle of sparkling pink rose
-
Pink Champagne Cupcakes
adapted from DC Cupcakes via Oprah (makes about 16 cupcakes)
-
Ingredients
Cake
1/2 cup strawberries chopped
1/2 cup champagne
2 1/2 cups self rising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
115g unsalted butter, softened (1 stick)
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
2 1/4 tsp vanilla
champagne flavoring (optional)
1 1/4 cup whole milk at room temperature (I used semi-skimmed and I’m pretty sure it was not at room temerature)
1 1/4 cup whole milk at room temperature (I used semi-skimmed and I’m pretty sure it was not at room temerature)
-
Champagne Buttercream
230g unsalted butter, at room temperature (2 sticks)
4 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup champagne
-
Chocolate Topping
Chocolate chips melted in the microwave and drizzled on top of the buttercream
-
1. Chop 1/2 cup strawberries into small pieces. Place into a medium sized bowl and pour 1/2 cup champagne over top and let them soak.
-
Chop them smaller than this
-
2. Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C and line muffin tray with paper liners. Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing slowly until combined.
-
-
3. Add the vanilla extract and champagne flavor, if using. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a small bowl. Add one third of the flour mixture, alternating with the milk, ending with the milk and continuously beating. I added some pink gel color at this point but it was too much and ended up hot pink. If you want to add the strawberries to the batter do this now and fold them in.
-
I added my strawberries at this point but the pieces were too big. I would prefer to add it in the center cut into smaller pieces after they’ve been baked
—
—
4. Fill each cup two thirds full and bake for 20-25 minutes. Place on a cooling rack to cool completely.
-
-
5. Make the butter cream by creaming the butter and sifted icing sugar together on medium speed until fluffy. Add the vanilla, milk, salt and champagne and beat on high speed until light and fluffy.
-
6. Once the cupcakes are cool cut out the center and add the champagne infused strawberries and top with a swirl of buttercream.
-
-
7. If desired add a drizzle of melted chocolate and top with a halved strawberry.
LOVE this! They look beautiful too.
^ i agree with the above,
its VERY pretty, and actually the first time ive ever heard of a champagne cupcake
I used a sweet tasting champagne and it tasted fantastic!
I just found your blog and I love it! This recipe looks amazing! Thanks for sharing!
I LOVE the idea of using champagne in a cupcake recipe - fabulous!
These look great. Really pretty and girly
What is the milk mixture that you mention for the batter… It's not in the ingredients except for the frosting? I am very excited about making theses!
whoops! sorry about that. it's 1 1/4 cup whole milk. I used semi-skimmed! Will amend the ingredients list now :-p
This looks sooo sweet and cute and anything like that. 😀 How similar would it taste without the champagne?
You can totally make the cake without champagne flavoring. It will be more a strawberry vaniila cake instead. The champagne soaked strawberries would bring everything together nicely though.
Love this recipe! Am going to try it this weekend. Any tips on where I could locate champagne flavouring in the UK?
Love,
Betty Xx
In the UK you'd probably have to order these flavorings online. However, You can easily omit that as the cake is bake or filled with champagne soaked strawberries (I used it since I had it laying around in my cupboard). The peach champagne cupcakes I made are also fantastic!
http://www.americancupcakeinlondon.com/2011/04/royal-wedding-bubbly-peach-cupcakes.html
Made these this weekend. They were amazing! They're the fluffiest cakes I've made to date. Think it was the fizz, am going to try Gin and Tonic cupcakes next weekend - hopefully the tonic water will add the same lightness.
I omitted the Champagne essence and took your advice of not cooking them with the Strawberries. Instead I soaked the strawberries in the champagne, cored the cupcakes when cooked and squished in the strawberries with a 1/2 a teaspoon of the champagne.
They were just lovely.
Thanks again.
Betty Xx
Hi
How much champagne flavouring should I use?
And should I use it instead of the vanilla or add it aswell?
Many thanks
I put in one dram of champagne flavoring. I used Lorann oils and it's super concentrated stuff! You could either the flavoring or the vanilla. I'm pretty sure I put in both!
Thank you
I made these cupcakes but found they raised up far to much - like mountains and nothing like the level of yours in the photos…
I filled them 2/3 like stated, and also tried filling the 1/2 full…
H
Any tips on how I can keep them fluffy yet have a flat top?
Could I use plain flour instead of self raising?
X
You can absolutely use plain flour. I only use self raising flour because my cupcakes always ended up short and nubby when I use UK plain flour.
Make sure that you've put in the right amount of baking powder (as that will help it rise) and that once you scoop the batter into the cups you put the tray into the oven right away. They will start to rise even if you leave them sit on the counter for 10 minutes. Also check that the oven is the right temperature with an oven thermometer (I think that the hotter the oven more/faster they will rise).
Even if they puffed up too much you can always cut off a little from the top (hopefully the batter didn't spill all over the cases). Once the frosting goes on no one will notice!
How much is one dram in ml?
1 dram is 1/8 of a fluid ounce or about 3.6mL. It's a very small amount of concentrated liquid. Be careful if you're substituting a regular extract to use more. You can also omit it from the recipe and it will still taste great! -kelly
I have just put these on my baking wish list. I made a giant champagne cupcake once but these look gorgeous!
thuz are the best cup cake evver