Pink Champagne Cupcakes with Extra Fluffy Frosting
Pink and gold is a favorite color combination of mine. In fact, blush pink has always been my favorite color and was my wedding color. I just love how feminine and girly it is because I am a true girly girl. When gold is added it just elevates the pink to absolutely elegant status. Pink and gold colors also look stunning in food as you can see in today’s Pink Champagne cupcakes with extra fluffy frosting.
Pink and gold makes these cupcakes beautiful, and adding pink champagne makes them sumptuous. It looks and tastes like you bought them at an expensive bakery. This is the perfect recipe to pull out for a holiday party. Don’t feel limited by pink and gold thinking you can only use it for a bridal shower or a group of friends. These are festive and absolutely perfect for the holiday season. Bring them out at a holiday cocktail party. You will impress your friends and yourself.
These pink champagne cupcakes require little more than a box cake mix and a bottle of pink champagne. I recommend Barefoot’s Pink Champagne because it is a fruitier and sweeter champagne. Basically, you swap out half the water for champagne in the cake mix- easy. Champagne is also used in the whipped frosting which is really yummy! The pink champagne adds only a light champagne taste which is perfect. I also highly recommend enjoying a glass of the pink champagne while you are making the cupcakes 🙂
The frosting is the highlight of this recipe. A fellow dinner party guest gave me her method for making a basic frosting which I now use in any frosting I create. Do you remember the song “Whip it Good”? Well, think of that song when you make the frosting because the trick to the super fluffy frosting is whipping the butter- whip it real good. Don’t skimp on whipping here- seriously. I turn on my Kitchenaid and let that butter whip for a good 15 minutes. If you need something to do, then go clean your bathroom or read a novel while you wait. You want the butter light and fluffy.
Furthermore, turning on your hand mixer for 5 minutes won’t cut it here. Not only do I use hand, stand, and stick mixers in the kitchen, but I use them in my workshop as well for creating products such as whipped body butters, and all mixers are not created equal. A stand mixer adds A LOT more volume to your product than a hand mixer. And while we’re at it, a stick mixers/blender is just a poor choice for this and will result in flat frosting. Use the stand mixer here for the extra fluffy frosting.
Ratio of butter to powdered sugar is another key here. Basically, 1 cup of butter for each pound of powdered sugar. Yes, it’s a lot of butter, but it’s what makes the frosting super fluffy and it tastes so yummy! This is not the recipe to skimp on the butter, so use the full amount. I have not tried this with margarine and don’t plan to, so I can’t promise the same results if you substitute ingredients or decrease amounts.
A last note about the pink champagne, the champagne flavor is light in the cupcakes, and no, you will not be in a drunken stupor by eating one. Barefoot makes a delicious light and fruity pink champagne, so get something in that category for best results. Plus the bottle is pretty.
Pink Champagne Cupcakes with Extra Fluffy Frosting
Ingredients
Pink Champagne Cupcakes
- 1 Box of white cake mix plus whatever ingredients are needed to make it according to box directions
- 1 Bottle of pink champagne (you will not use whole bottle)
- 1-2 drops Pink or red food coloring
Fluffy Pink Champagne Frosting
- 2 Cups of butter (4 sticks) at room temperature (don't soften or melt in microwave)
- 2 Lbs. of powdered sugar
- 1 Drop of pink or red food coloring
- 4 tbsps. Pink champagne
- Optional: gold balls, sprinkles, spray, etc.
Instructions
Champagne Cupcakes
- Make up one box of white cake mix as directed on box except substitute the water in the cake mix recipe with half pink champagne/half water. For example, if your cake mix calls for 1 cup of water then add 1/2 cup water + 1/2 cup champagne. (see note below)
- Add 1 drop of pink or red food coloring for a blush color. Don't overdo it on the food coloring if you want blush pink. One to two drops should be plenty.
- Place paper muffins liners in muffin pan.
- Fill each muffin paper approximately two-thirds full.
- Bake as instructed on box.
- Frost with fluffy pink champagne frosting (below).
Fluffy Pink Champagne Frosting
- Put butter in a stand mixer and turn on high and let whip for 15 min., occasionally scraping sides to make sure all butter is incorporated. Don't skip this step.
- After butter is whipped and fluffy start adding the powdered sugar, continuing to whip.
- Intermittenly add pink champagne as well. I needed 4 tbsps. of champagne for the right consistency, but you can eyeball this.
- Continue to whip and add 1-2 drops of red or pink food coloring.
- Turn of mixer and fill a piping bag or ziploc bag with frosting.
- Cut off about 1 1/2 inch from one corner and use to pipe frosting onto cupcakes in spiral fashion as seen in photos.
- Decorate as desired.
Notes
Photo featured here in Brides online publication!
Enjoy!
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