Champagne cupcakes
As I mentioned in the Strawberry cupcake post, I made 6 dozen cupcakes for a cousin’s graduation party. I wanted to try the champagne cupcakes since they seemed fitting for the celebratory occasion.
The cake was deliciously moist and had a great texture. The frosting did as well. I couldn’t really taste a strong champagne flavor but hubby said he really could. They were definitely a hit.
Champagne Cupcakes – from Crazy about Cupcakes
2/3 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup champagne
6 large egg whites, at room temperature
Preheat oven to 350. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.
In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.
In a separate medium bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Blend the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with champagne.
In a large clean bowl, beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold one-third of the egg whites into the batter until blended, then fold in the remaining egg whites until well blended.
Fill the cupcakes liners 3/4 full. Baker for ~20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pan.
Once completely cooled, brush 1 Tbsp of champagne onto the tops of the cupcakes.
Champagne Frosting – from Crazy about Cupcakes
3/4 cup vegetable shortening
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 Tbsp champagne
4 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
In a large bowl beat the shortening and butter until combined. Add the champagne. Slowly add the confectioners sugar and beat until smooth.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy these. It had all my favourite flavours, so I thought they would be delicious but I had a feeling whilst making they were going to be too sweet, and they were.
Also the base definitely needs increasing as half the mix barely covers the bottom of the tin and with two wet elements it needs to be sturdier. Whilst the side pieces all stayed together the middle ones were just a gooey mess.
But still didn’t detract from the biggest issue – far too sweet. (And I have plenty a sweet tooth!)
Lovely blog though! (Sorry, hate leaving negative feedback! I just wouldn’t want someone else to have the same issues. Also, tinned pumpkin is quite pricey in the UK so wouldn’t want others to waste money on a recipe that doesn’t work)
beantownbaker — December 26th, 2013 @ 11:02 am
Sorry to hear this recipe didn’t work out for you… Thanks for the feedback.
I’m going to try these. I think Brits don’t generally eat things as sweet as we do and I read the recipe and it doesn’t seem as if it has too much sugar, but I am going to double the crust recipe because it does seem as if it is a bit scant, plus I’m going to make a double batch. Tell me, do these have to be stored in the fridge? I see the note to put in fridge to set. Are they too soft at room temp? If so, do you think not adding the milk to the dulce de leche would take care of that? I’m bringing them to an event and there will be no refrigeration available.