Champagne Cupcakes-An Engagement Celebration!

 My son and his girlfriend got engaged over the holidays!  Yahoo!! Our family has been anticipating this for some time, and we're very excited to say the least.  We were  having a little engagement dinner with them last week, and I knew that I wanted to make special cupcakes, Champagne Cupcakes.  I  saw  on squirrelbakes  blog, that she had made Pink Champagne Cupcakes and brushed them with additional champagne, before frosting.  Good, I would do that, but I would use Brut champagne, not pink.

So I set to work to  make these wonderful cupcakes. Everything was going fine, the egg whites whipped stiff peaks. but when I went to fold them in the batter, the egg whites de-stabilized or deflated to almost liquid egg whites again.  I wanted to cry.  I kept my composure and I did what anybody web savy does, when they have a question, I googled, "Can I re-whip egg whites?' I promptly found that the egg whites need some type of acidic component to stabilize the egg whites.  Beat in the cream of tartar the recipe calls for, or, if not specified in the recipe, 1/4 teaspoon per 2 egg whites of cream of tartar OR lemon juice OR vinegar, midway through whisking. This is helpful to stabilize them and keep them from liquefying again. I love Google!!! However, now I had to start over bringing 6 eggs to room temperature, very important, separating the whites from the yolks, and whipping these egg whites into stiff peaks, adding the appropriate amount of vinegar, midway. My egg whites were perfect this time and didn't de-stabilize!   So, four hours later I had Champagne Cupcakes.  I'm glad that I made these cupcakes the day before the dinner.  than the next day I had to frost them. I wanted the pretty pink colored cupcakes that I saw on squirrelbakes blog, but, oops, I got too much red food coloring in the frosting, so they are a darker pink.  These cupcakes were definitely a labor of love, and definitley special and delicious..  Here is a picture of the happy couple! 

 Champagne Cupcakes 

3 cups cake flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup butter, softened

1 and 1/2 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup champagne

6 egg whites, room temperature **

additional champagne for glazing

 Frosting:

3 and 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

1 cup butter, softened

3 tbsp  champagne

4-5 drops red food coloring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease or line two cupcake pans and set aside. In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy in a large bowl.. Alternate adding flour mixture and champagne to butter mixture. In a large, clean, bowl beat egg whites**. Midway through beating, add 1/4 teaspoon per 2 egg whites of cream of tartar OR lemon juice OR vinegar.. This is helpful to stabilize the egg whites.  Continue beating egg whites, till stiff peaks form.  Be careful not to over beat, or egg whites will de-stabilize.  Fold in 1/3 of the whipped egg whites and mix thoroughly. Add in remaining egg white mixture till combined. Fill cupcake liners with 1/4 cup of batter and bake for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove and let cool completely on wire rack. Once cupcakes have cooled, gently poke 8-10 holes in cupcake using a toothpick. Using a pastry brush, glaze the cupcakes with extra champagne.

For frosting, beat butter till creamy. With mixer on low, slowly add in sifted confectioners' sugar. Once all sugar is incorporated beat on high for 3-5 minutes or until smooth and fluffy. Add in champagne and mix till incorporated. Fill a pastry bag with frosting and decorate cooled and champagne glazed cupcakes. Enjoy!

Adapted from  and squirrelbakes.com.  and allrecipes.com