Champagne Cupcakes with Pomegranate Champagne Frosting
Ingredients:
Champagne Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup champagne (will be reduced)
Champagne Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 tbsp champagne (from reduced champagne above)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Pomegranate Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup pomegranate juice to be reduced (or 1 tbsp of plain juice)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Directions:
Champagne Cupcakes:
In a small saucepan over medium high heat, bring 1 1/2 cups of champagne to a bowl. Reduce heat to medium, and let it simmer 7-10 minutes. (Once the champagne had been reduced to almost half, I poured it into a measuring cup every now and then until it was 3/4 cups.) Transfer it to your freezer while preparing the cake batter.
Do the same thing with the pomegranate juice. (You can do them at the same time if you want.) To remove the seeds and juice them, I did this minus the sugar. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the pomegranate juice to a boil.
Lower the heat to medium/medium-low and let it simmer for 5-7 minutes. (I did the same thing with the champagne - just kept measuring it until it was a little less than 1/4 cup. You only need 1 tbsp for the frosting. Feel free to use store bought, and reduce or don’t reduce.) Store juice covered in the fridge.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake pan with paper liners.
In one bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
In another bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until incorporated and fluffy.
Add the egg whites and vanilla, and mix well.
Add half of the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture. Remove the champagne from the freezer and measure out 1 tbsp. (I just put it in a tiny cup in my fridge.) Add half of the champagne to the butter/sugar mixture. Mix until flour and champagne are incorporated.
Repeat with second half of flour and champagne.
Scoop cake batter into the cupcake pan and bake for 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick can be inserted into the center of a cupcake and it comes out clean.
Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
Champagne Frosting:
In a medium sized bowl with a handheld mixer, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy.
Add champagne and mix well.
Add half the powdered sugar and mix on low until mostly combined. Then mix on medium/high until fully incorporated. Repeat with the second half of the powdered sugar.
Store frosting in the fridge while you whip up the pomegranate frosting.
Pomegranate Frosting:
In a medium sized bowl with a handheld mixer, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy.
Add pomegranate juice and mix well.
Add half the powdered sugar and mix on low until mostly combined. Then mix on medium/high until fully incorporated. Repeat with the second half of the powdered sugar.
Swirl-Frosting:
Here’s how I do this. You’ll need a large cup, a piping bag (I used a 16 inch), and a large star decorating tip.
Snip off the end of the piping bag and position the tip. Put the bag in the cup and fold the edges down over the cup.
You have the champagne frosting (make sure it’s not too hard from sitting in the fridge) and the pomegranate frosting. Using a rubber spatula, add a scoop of champagne frosting to the bag by scraping the spatula on the edge of the cup. The frosting should sort of stay there, maybe slide down a little.
Do the same thing with a scoop of the pomegranate frosting on the other side of the cup. Repeat.
Once all the frosting has been added to the bag, pipe away!
Recipe courtesy of Beth Cakes.com
