Week 17: Pink Champagne Cupcakes

Sadly two friends will be moving to Kansas at the end of the month.  Since they have been members since the beginning of the club, I wanted to do a cupcake to honor to them.  When I think of Amanda and Chance, all I can think of it is Amanda and her pink studio.  So I went through my Pinterest cupcake board and came across the pink champagne cupcakes and thought this is perfect.  Pink reminds me of Amanda and the champagne is to toast them on the best of luck in their future!

Lately the shopping for ingredients has become a learning experience.  This week was finding sweet champagne and I don’t know much about champagne!  Since in NH you can buy beer and wine in the food store, I thought it would just be easier to purchase the champagne will food shopping, and yeah it took me 5-10 minutes to pick one.  Of course none of them were labeled sweet the only difference I could see was the price!  Thankfully I have an iPhone and was able to search what I thought was a sweet wine, Brut, but was totally wrong as it’s a very dry champagne. In my 5-10 minutes, I learned a lot of champagne and did end up with sweet champagne!

I got the recipe from Girly Obession: http://www.girlyobsessions.com/2012/01/baking/pink-champagne-cupcakes-champagne-buttercream-frosting-sparkly-pink-goodness/?_inv_out=9741&_inv_cp=4196017

Pink Champagne Cupcakes:

Yields: 24 Cupcakes

For cupcakes
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
6oz butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
6 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups sweet champagne

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. In a bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside. Separate the eggs and discard the yolks. In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar with a paddle attachment for 5-7 minutes, until light and airy. Slowly add vanilla extract and whites, scraping the bowl as needed.

Add the sifted dry ingredients 1⁄2 cup at a time to the creamed butter, alternating with 1⁄2 cup portions of the champagne (be careful as the champagne will bubble!). Scrape in between additions. Repeat until all ingredients are used. Divide the batter into cupcake liners, about 3/4 of the way full.

Bake at 350˚F for 20-25 mins, or until the cake is springy to the touch. (The cupcakes will not get brown around the edges)

For buttercream frosting
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1/2 lb (2 sticks) butter, softened but still cool
1/2 c champagne

Combine eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt and 1/4 cup of the champagne in the bowl of a standing mixer. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water, being careful not to let the bowl touch the water. Whisk gently and heat the mixture until it is thin and foamy and registers 160˚ on an instant-read thermometer.

Beat the egg mixture at medium-high speed until light, airy, and cooled to room temperature. (Bowl should only be slightly warm to the touch, about 5 minutes.) Reduce speed to medium and add the butter 1/4 stick at a time. Mixture might start to look curdled but it will smooth out with additional butter. After all the butter is added, add the remaining champagne, increase speed to high and beat for 1 minute, until light and fluffy. Can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.

*These cupcakes were good, though the cake was very heavy in my eyes.  I did enjoy the icing though! :)

Love always, aloterlla :)