Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes: A Sweet Ending to Twenty Eleven.

It's amazing how quickly a year will fly by. So many wonderful things have happened this year! My husband and I were married, a day that will exceed any other moment in my lifetime. After 3 years of being in a miserable job, I finally landed a new one that I couldn't be happier about.  I made strides in my goals to become a healthier me (despite all the sugar i consumed!) Needless to say, I'm thankful for 2011 and what it brought me and taught me. I'm eager to see what 2012 has in store. I wish you and yours all the best for the upcoming year!

To close out the end of a very inspiring and successful baking year, I wanted to share a champagne cupcake I made to celebrate the new year that has rolled in. I'm a huge fan of the bubbly and I thought it would be great to try in a cupcake. I chose a slightly sweeter champagne and went with strawberry.  The cake is light and airy from only using folded egg whites in the batter, it reminded me of wedding cake. And I love wedding cake. I finished it with a strawberry champagne buttercream that was the perfect combination of tangy and sweet. The cupcake was delightfully delicious and the perfect way to ring in the New Year! (or ANY celebration!)



Strawberry Champagne 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 + 1 tbsp cup champagne (I opted for Andre' Strawberry but you can use any kind)
6 egg whites


The How To:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a cupcake pan with liners.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. (3-4 minutes)

In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt together, and then blend into sugar mixture alternating it with the champagne. (flour, bubbly, flour, bubbly, flour!)

Beat egg whites with a mixer until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it, then fold the remaining egg whites into the batter. Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake for 20 minutes.

Strawberry Champagne Buttercream Frosting

3 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons champagne, at room temp


With an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter. Mix on low until well blended and then on medium for about 2 minutes. Add vanilla and champagne,  beating on medium for another minutes. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

I added some hot pink food coloring gel to make the icing a light pink to match the color the actual champagne was. (took about 2 small squeezes to get it the color I wanted.) I sprinkled some white cupcake pearls to make them purrrttty.

The resolutions I made for the new year were simple: Do good. Seek peace. Be kind. Kick booty. Less sugar. (We'll see how the last one pans out!)

Happy 2012 Everyone! :)