Champagne cupcake recipe time!

STRAWBERRY CHAMPAGNE

Candied Strawberries:

•  1/2 cup sugar

•  500g strawberries, hulled

Champagne Cupcakes:

•  1 1/2 cups cake flour

•  1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

•  1/4 teaspoon salt

•  125g unsalted butter

•  1 cup sugar

•  1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

•  3 egg whites

•  1 cup rose Champagne

   

Strawberry Filling:

•  Leftover simple syrup from candied strawberries

•  About 1/2 cup rose champagne

•  2 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

•  500g strawberries, hulled

Champagne Buttercream:

•  250g butter, room temperature

•  3 cups confectioners’ sugar

•  1/2 teaspoon vanilla

•  Pinch of salt

•  1/4 cup rose champagne

Make the candied strawberries:

In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring sugar and 1/2 cup water to boil, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat; let cool completely. Preheat oven to 90 degrees C. Slice strawberries lengthwise as thinly as possible. Dip slices in cooled syrup; place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Reserve syrup. Bake until dry but still bright red, about 3 hours. Immediately transfer chips to a wire rack to cool completely.

Bake the cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 176 degrees C. Place cupcake liners in a muffin tin. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and beat in egg whites one at a time. Beat in flour mixture and champagne in three alternating additions, starting and ending with dry mixture. Pour batter into tins and bake 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Make the strawberry filling: 

Take the remaining simple syrup and pour it into a measuring cup. Add enough champagne to get to 1 cup (you’ll need about 1/2 cup). Pour mixture back into the pan and cook over medium-high heat until the mixture is reduced by about half. Whisk in cornstarch and allow the mixture to thicken. Pour into food processor bowl and allow to cool. Add strawberries and pulse until combined.

Make the champagne buttercream frosting: 

Beat butter in bowl of stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add confectioners’ sugar 1 cup at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla, salt, and champagne; beat until frosting is creamy.

Assemble the cupcakes: 

Using a small paring knife, cut a small cone from the top of each cupcake. Fill with a heaping teaspoon of filling. Using a pastry bag fitted with a star tip, pipe the buttercream onto each cupcake, swirling decoratively. Finish them off with a couple of candied strawberry chips, and serve.

Makes 18 cupcakes.

CHOCOLATE CHAMPAGNE

Champagne Cupcakes:

•  1 1/2 cups cake flour

•  1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

•  1/4 teaspoon salt

•  125g unsalted butter

•  1 cup sugar

•  1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

•  3 egg whites

•  1 cup fruity white Champagne

•   

Chocolate Filling:

•  Lindt chocolate ball

•  Lindt chocolate squares

Champagne Buttercream:

•  250g butter, room temperature

•  3 cups confectioners’ sugar

•  1/2 teaspoon vanilla

•  Pinch of salt

•  1/4 cup fruity white champagne

Bake the cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 176 degrees C. Place cupcake liners in a muffin tin. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and beat in egg whites one at a time. Beat in flour mixture and champagne in three alternating additions, starting and ending with dry mixture. Pour batter into tins and bake 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Make the champagne buttercream frosting:

Beat butter in bowl of stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add confectioners’ sugar 1 cup at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla, salt, and champagne; beat until frosting is creamy.

Assemble the cupcakes:

Using a small paring knife, cut a small cone from the top of each cupcake. Fill with a Lindt ball. Using a pastry bag fitted with a star tip, pipe the buttercream onto each cupcake, swirling decoratively. Finish them off with chocolate squares, and serve.

Makes 18 cupcakes.

These are really the best cupcakes i have tasted in a long time. Give them a go.

Recipes adapted from http://www.20somethingcupcakes.com/2012/02/strawberries-and-champagne-cupcakes/ 

Death by chocolate flop?

Being over worked and very tired, getting home a bit late and realizing I still have to bake about 24 cupcakes, my body kicked into over drive mode. It was almost as if my body was just moving, but my mind was already asleep. So it was a friends last day at work and she wanted something chocolate, she loves chocolate, so the baking cogs starting turning and my mind went on a whirl wind of ideas.

Naturally I make a killer chocolate icing, so that has to top this cupcake, and in the middle a creamy chocolate filled ball, and little chocolate chips inside this beauty and I thought, bob’s you’re uncle. But being so tired I totally forgot to add baking soda to a very trusted chocolate cupcake recipe. And to top it off I added twice the amount of baking powder. And as I put these beauties in the oven I realize this crucial fact. Oh boy now I start stressing, thinking my word am I going to stand here the whole night? Now I have to remake and re-bake more cupcakes. So I pour myself a glass of wine and wait for 20 minutes to be over.

With bated breath I pull them out of the oven, they look perfect, almost oozing chocolaty goodness. This being form the chocolate chips in the batter which created little pockets of chocolate. I let them cool, and immediately try one...surprise surprise, they are thick, moist and crunchy on the outside. My word it tasted like a love affair between a cupcake and a chocolate brownie! YES it’s a brownie cupcake, pure perfection, from what was supposed to be a complete flop...