Champagne Cupcakes!

I was looking through foodbuzz.com to gain inspiration for new types of cupcakes to make.  And then (dramatic pause here), I found cupcakes with (another dramatic pause) champagne!  I've had a bottle of champagne in my house for a couple of months and thought with the end of the year, it would be really festive to bake with it.  Okay, I just wanted to see how the whole baking with champagne would go.  It definitely adds quite the sweetness to the cake.  Wow.  Prepare for the sugar rush!  I made them in a "regular" sized cupcake pan, but think these would be great as mini-cupcakes due to their sweetness.  I did add in a pastry creme filling; however, I found that it didn't enhance the cupcakes the way I thought it would.  Frankly, I had people either loving the filling or being the dreaded lukewarm about it.  So, for this recipe, I omitted it. 

Cupcake:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup champagne or prosecco

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla.

In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup champagne and 1/2 cup sour cream (mixture will fizz).

Then add the flour and champagne mixtures alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Batter will be thick.

Fill cupcake tin about 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 15 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool.


Frosting:


1 cup plus 1 tablespoon champagne or prosecco
1 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Place 1 cup of champagne in a small saucepan. Simmer over medium-high heat until reduced to 2 tablespoons (will be lightly browned). Transfer to a small bowl or condiment cup and allow to cool.

Then in a large bowl with an electric mixer, combine the butter and powdered sugar until fluffy.  The add the reduced champagne plus the remaining 1 tablespoon champagne.  Mix well.  Frost the cupcakes and enjoy!