Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

The following recipe is a The Cupcake Nerd original. 

Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting

For the cupcakes:

2 ½ cups cake flour

1 tbsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 ½ sticks (12 tbsp) unsalted butter at room temp

2 cups sugar

¾ cup strawberry champagne

¼ cup milk

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tsp strawberry extract

¼ oz pink food coloring gel

6 egg whites

For the frosting:

1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter at room temp

1 8 oz package of cream cheese at room temp

1 vanilla bean

1 lbs powdered sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Place paper liners in cupcake pans.

Mix together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) in a medium bowl and set aside (always add dry to wet!).  Cream together the butter and sugar in a stand mixer until fluffy.  In another bowl combine wet ingredients (champagne, milk, and extracts).  Add the dry and wet ingredients alternately to the mixing bowl slowly.  Mix in the pink food coloring to desired color.  Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until they form soft, fluffy peaks and fold into the cake batter in batches.  Spoon 1/3 cup of the batter into each cupcake liner.

Bake 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Hint: they should be springy when you press lightly on their tops.  The fun part about champagne based cupcakes is that when they come out you hear a popping bubble sound.  This recipe should yield 24 cupcakes.  Place all cupcakes on cooling racks as soon as they are at a touchable temperature.
You probably will need to wash your mixing bowl while the cupcakes bake if you are using a stand mixer, because frosting is a lot easier to make in the stand mixer than by hand.  Make sure you get the food coloring washed off!  Begin the frosting by creaming the butter and cream cheese in your mixer.  Cut the vanilla bean in half length wise and use a sharp knife to scrap the inside to get all of the little pieces.  Add to mixer along with 1 tsp pure vanilla extract.  Slowly add the powdered sugar.  If you go too quickly or add too much at a time you will end up dusting the kitchen in sugar.  Pipe onto cupcakes or use a knife.
To decorate like I did in the pictures use a Wilton #1M tip and piping bag and swirl onto cupcakes.  Top with silver ball sprinkles and fresh strawberry slices.

Red Velvet Cafe

Right now I'm going to do a quick shout out to a recent find: Vegan Red Velvet cake from the Red Velvet Cafe, here locally in Las Vegas.  I was at Whole Foods and noticed this healthy, local treat in the bakery area.  I can't describe what the buttercream frosting tastes like on this, but let's just say that lacking butter doesn't hurt this treat one bit.  Someone like me who is lactose intolerant is in for a real treat without any problems.  Plus, they use all natural and organic ingredients!

Mini no bake cupcake bites

I got this great product the other day.  It's a cute little cupcake shaped mold designed to make perfect sized mini cupcake pops.  It's made by My Little Cupcake Pop.  You can find it for sale on Amazon too.  So following the instructions I used 1 package sandwich cookies (OREOS!) ground up by a food processor, or in my case my magic bullet shaken up and down, mixed by hand with 1 8oz package cream cheese.  After rolling into balls and chilling this delicious treat is then molded, chilled again, and dipped in candy melts (I used Wilton, kinda tastes like white chocolate).  Now, being in the girly mood I was I made mine cupcake bites in pink and white with heart sprinkles, but you should see her website and all the great ideas!  Can't wait to make Halloween ones!  One recipe makes 22 of these bites, and trust me, one mini cupcake is enough at a time!  My boyfriend described it as tasting like an "Oreo brownie".  Yum!  The mold makes it all easier.

New apartment bake sale

So I'm safely and happily living in Las Vegas now, home of 4 Whole Foods Markets, Trader Joe's, and numerous wonderful healthy options for ingredients.  A week ago my apartment complex had a bake sale for Making Strides against Breast Cancer.  I'm always willing to bake for a good cause and made my Red Velvet Cupcakes and Homemade Vanilla Cream Cheese Icing.  Instead of tinting the cupcakes red, I did pink, and piped a cute pink ribbon on the top also in cream cheese.  This is a great way to make something simple, fresh, and delicious to share at a bake sale or any good cause.  Package them up two to a plate and you have instant success!  Wilton piping tip #12 round for the base frosting layer and #104 petal tip for the ribbon.