Champagne Cupcakes

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and a happy New Year! I took a little bit of time off to recoup from the stress of finals and my first semester as a nutrition major. Thankfully, I made all As this semester, and I had my first day of classes today. If you have champagne left over from your New Year celebrations, then I have two perfect recipes to use that up for you: champagne cupcakes and champagne marshmallows (which will be up tomorrow)! For Christmas, I received a Bamboo graphic arts tablet so I can begin work on designs for recipe cards and other baking-themed projects! What cooking-related items did y'all get for Christmas?

We brought in the New Year quietly at my house. I was asleep by 12:30! Also, Jeremy and I's 3 year anniversary also landed at midnight, so we went out to eat at a fantastic place in Charlotte called The Cowfish. As their name suggests, they serve both sushi and burgers, and they are AMAZING. We got The Motherload as an appetizer, which features a slice of every fish available on their menu! ! I ate several things I knew (octopus, clam, yellowtail, tuna, salmon, shrimp) and tons of things I didn't. I had no trouble downing everything on the plate except the raw shrimp and the tempura battered prawn-big shrimp-crawfish thing. I took a bite of it, and the legs came off in the mouth and all I could think about what that it looked like I was eating a spider, and I freaked out a little. Before you go though, be aware that they have an extremely large menu. It wouldn't be a bad idea to browse the menu online before you went.

I used a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop to accurately measure out the batter. I usually overfill the papers, but I managed to do pretty well this time! 

Please excuse my cupcake tins; I scrubbed and scrubbed, but I just need new ones. 

I dyed the icing pink for funsies. White icing on a white cupcake is no fun! From my experience with piping bags, I've been using plain large ziplock bags with a tiny slit cut out of the corner. It works great, and cleanup is a snap (I mean, you just throw the bag in the trash).  

I know, I know. This isn't a champagne flute. BUT the cupcakes wouldn't fit in the flute, and this looked sooooooo much cuter :) 

This is my favorite photograph I've taken in a long time. I'm going to submit this post to Food Gawker, cross your fingers that I make it in!


Champagne Cupcakes
from Ambrosia

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt

1/2 cup champagne/sparkling wine

For the Frosting

1 cup, plus 1 tablespoon champagne/sparkling wine

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions

To make the cupcakes, begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F, and line 16 cupcake wells with paper liners.  Cream together the unsalted butter and granulated sugar together in the bowl of a standard electric mixer, beating together until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure to beat well after each addition, and scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally.  Add the vanilla extract and beat in well. 

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  In another bowl, combine together the Greek yogurt and champagne, and whisk well (the mixture may fizz initially).  Alternately add the flour mixture and champagne mixture to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (I did 3 and 2 additions).  Mix only until just incorporated, taking care not to overmix.

Divide the cupcake batter evenly among the prepared cupcake tins (the batter will be thick!) using a 1/4 cup measuring cup.  Tap the cupcake tins against your counter or other hard surface to get rid of air bubbles.  Bake the cupcakes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.   Remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly in the tins, and then remove to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

  

While the cupcakes are baking, begin to prepare the frosting.  In a small saucepan, bring to a simmer 1 cup of champagne over medium-high heat.  Simmer the champagne until it has reduced to 2 tablespoons (this took me between 20-25 minutes).  Allow this to cool completely. In the bowl of a standard electric mixer, combine the butter and powdered sugar, and beat together until completely light and fluffy. Add in the cooled 2 tablespoons of the reduced champagne, and the remaining 1 tablespoon champagne (straight from the bottle), and mix in completely.