Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Okay, so Valentine's Day isn't for another month, but why wait! I love pink and I couldn't resist opening my new Valentine's sprinkles. Plus, my friend is moving away and these are her favorite. I made a new take on my Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes. For this batch I did not use champagne; I did not have any on hand and I wasn't going to buy and open a new bottle for just over a cup. Instead, I used 1 1/4 cups of a Jamaican Breeze wine cooler. This added more flavor than the champagne and still added the light fluffiness with the carbonation in it.


The batter becomes this beautiful light, silky, fluffy, pink, strawberry scented mixture.



I only ever bake one pan at a time on the center rack. I have a small oven, but this is best practice if you do not have a convection oven. If you must bake more than one batch, leave at least one inch of room around each pan and switch position in oven and rotate half way through. Please ignore my messy oven, it would have been cleaned if it knew it was getting a close up.




Once they come out, they are a light hue of pink. If they are golden brown you have cooked them too long.

These are the finished product. I added some strawberry puree to a can of vanilla frosting to make a thin icing. Then, I dipped them in it just enough to coat the tops. Finally, I added various Valentine's Sprinkles. I also left some without icing and just topped them with a dusting of powdered sugar and I think they were my favorite of the whole bunch. They looked like a perfect little tea cake and they weren't over powered by the sweetness of the icing. 



Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes twice they were so good! I first made them as a trial for a new recipe, they were so good, I made them two days later for a jewelry party I was hosting. This picture was the first batch, I didn't have time to capture the second batch. The cupcake is a pink champagne cupcake that I added strawberries to. The frosting is a strawberry champagne buttercream. This frosting was alright, The champagne was a little overwhelming and thinned the frosting out a little. For the second batch I used a strawberry whipped topping with out the champagne. This second topping was easier pipe and safe for the kiddies. These cupcakes (the second batch) are defiantly in my top 5 recipes now and are constantly asked for. The recipe I adapted from All-Time Best Recipes: Better Crocker magazine.

Cupcakes:

1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist white cake mix

1 1/4 c champagne

1/3 c vegetable oil

3 egg whites

4-5 drops of red food coloring

*1 1/4 c strawberries

(*my addition)

1. Heat oven to 350, line muffin pan or line/spray mini muffin pan

2. Combine cake mix and champagne. Add oil, egg whites and food coloring to desired hue. Beat for two minutes. *Fold in strawberries Fill cups 3/4 full.

3. Bake 17-22 minutes until cupcake bounces back from touch. Cool and remove from pan.

Champagne Buttercream:

1/2 cup soften butter

4 c powdered sugar

1/4 c champagne

1 tsp vanilla

4-5 drops red food coloring

*3/4 c finely chopped strawberries

1. Beat all ingredients until smooth and fluffy. Fold in strawberries

*Strawberry Whipped Topping:

8 oz heavy whipping cream

1 c powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

4-5 drops red food coloring

3/4 c finely chopped strawberries

1. Whip cream, food coloring and vanilla until stiff peaks for. Slowly add powdered sugar (I sifted mine into the cream). Beat until fluffy and creamy but before the mixture collapses!! Fold in strawberries.

Frosting/Piping Tips:

~For the first batch I did not attach a tip to the coupler ring. I piped straight from the bag/coupler ring.

~For the second batch I chopped the strawberries much smaller so I could use a large star tip fr piping.

~If using a tip or piping at all, chop strawberries (or any fruit) as small as possible to avoid blocking the piping tip.