Champagne Cupcakes

Happy New Year!

Can you believe another year has passed and that it's 2011? We had fun ringing in the new year with some of our best friends. The night started off with a potluck style dinner, and I made these cupcakes as the dessert. These had a nice light taste and texture to them, and you could really taste the champagne but it didn't overpower the cupcake. These cupcakes would be wonderful for any celebration. This is another successful cupcake recipe found on Homemade by Holman.

For the cupcakes, you will need:
*2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
*3 tsp baking powder
*1 tsp salt
*2/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
*1 3/4 cups sugar
*3/4 cup champagne, sweeter tasting such as asti or spumante
*1/2 tsp vanilla extract
*6 egg whites

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with paper liners. (I made 21 cupcakes)

2. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine.

3. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions of champagne combined with vanilla.

4. In a clean bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until they hold stiff peaks. Fold in about 1/3 of the egg whites to lighten the batter then gently fold in the remaining egg whites.

5. Transfer batter to cupcake liners, filling each about 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

6. Cool about five minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled completely, frost with buttercream champagne frosting listed below.

For the frosting, you will need:
*1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
*1/2 tsp vanilla extract
*3-4 cups powdered sugar
*3 tablespoons champagne

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter on medium high speed until smooth and fluffy.

2. Add vanilla extract and about three cups of powdered sugar. Mix on low speed to combine.

3. Add in champagne and mix on low to incorporate. Increase speed to medium and beat about one minute to whip frosting. If frosting appears to be thin, add additional powdered sugar as necessary to reach desired consistency. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.