Recipe: Sparkling Champagne Cupcakes

We need to have a talk.  THE talk.

You see, when a man and a woman love each other and are in a caring, committed relationship.

Sometimes...they do things.  For each other.  With each other.  To each other.

Special things.



For instance...they might pick a day.  A random day.  A day that means nothing.

(Usually somewhere around, oh say, February 14th.)

And they'll mutually agree that on that day, the man will buy the woman flowers.  And chocolate.  And she'll giggle and throw things at him and accuse him of trying to make her fat.

And then they'll take to the streets and pervade our restaurants with their cooing and their googly eyes and their hand holding.

Finally, when all the cooing and hand holding and weird eye stuff is over.  They'll go home and do more stuff.  More special stuff.

Maybe.  If the man is lucky.



And us single ladies?

We are also going to be doing special things.

We are going to be pounding tequila shots like it's our job.  Getting tattoos that say "LOVE SUCKS" across our lower backs.  Putting all of our cookbooks into bed with us so that it seems like, maybe, for just one uncomfortable hard-covered-book-edge-in-our-back night, we are not quite so alone.

Or not. 



Maybe we'll just celebrate our single-lady-ness.

Toast to ourselves on a champagne cupcake.

Make a wish on a sparkling wine star.

Or just be grateful that, not only can we make ourselves happy, but we can also whip up a pretty damn fine cupcake.  We are serious catches.  And anyone would be lucky to have us.

Amen.

--

The best thing about these cupcakes is that they can be enjoyed on just about any occasion, by single and non-single ladies and gentlemen alike.  I know because I tested them amongst my family on New Year's Day, when we had a single lady, a single man, a married couple, and a 15-year-old-who-thinks-she's-28-and-spent-the-whole-evening-texting-her-boyfriend present.

They were dubious of this whole champagne cupcake filled with champagne pastry cream and topped with champagne buttercream business.  But they were pleasantly surprised.  

I used a pink champagne for my cupcakes and I really liked the fruity notes it added to the buttercream.  You can use whatever champagne you want, but just make sure it's something that tastes good because the flavor will come across in the pastry cream and buttercream.

For more addictively delicious baked goods, check out my guest post on Pham Fatale!  If you're looking to wean yourself off of a lemon poppyseed Costco muffin addiction...or even if you're not...these are the cookies for you!

Sparkling Champagne Cupcakes
Makes 17, adapted from SprinkleBakes

Ingredients

Cake

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups AP flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup non-fat Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup champagne, prosecco, or any sparkling wine

Champagne Pastry Cream Filling

• 1/2 cup heavy cream, divided
• 1/2 cup champagne or prosecco
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 5 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 whole egg
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla

Champagne Frosting

• 1 cup plus 1 tbsp champagne or prosecco, divided
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

Instructions

For the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and mix. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside.  In a medium sized bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup champagne and 1/2 cup Greek yogurt (mixture will fizz and bubble a little).  Add flour and champagne mixture alternately, beginning and ending with flour.  Batter will be thick.
3. Fill cupcake papers with 1/4 cup level measures of batter.  Bake for 17-22 minutes.  Set aside to cool completely.

For the filling:

4. In a medium bowl, whisk cornstarch in 1/4 cup of heavy cream. Combine the remaining heavy cream, sugar and 1/2 cup champagne in a saucepan; bring to a boil then remove from heat.
5. Beat the whole egg and egg yolks into the cornstarch/heavy cream mixture in the stand mixer.  With the stand mixer on, slowly pour 1/3 of boiling champagne mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so the eggs do not cook.  Return the remaining champagne/heavy cream mixture to a boil.  Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens.  Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.
6. Cut a divot into the top of each cupcake and fill with pastry cream.  Trim the cut-out cake pieces flat to make a "lid" and place on top of the filled divot.

For the frosting:

7. Place 1 cup of champagne in a small saucepan.  Simmer over medium-high heat until reduced to 2 tablespoons.  Transfer to a small bowl or condiment cup and allow to cool.
8. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, cream softened butter and powdered sugar together.  Once the frosting is thick and fluffy, pour in the reduced 2 tbsp. champagne plus  1 tbsp. champagne from the bottle and mix well.
9. Frost the cream-filled cupcakes and decorate.

I am submitting these to Bake with Bizzy!