Cupcake Hero: Liquor edition – Strawberries and Champagne

February 17, 2008 at 12:25 pm | In Alcohol, Blog Event, Fruit, cupcakes | 22 Comments

When I set out to make my CH cuppys I knew exactly what I wanted to do from day one. I wanted to make Slow Comfortable Screw Cuppys. I wanted to turn my favorite mixed drink into cuppys. The recipe for the drink is simple … equal parts sloe gin, southern comfort, vodka and orange juice. Notice how it works with the name. Anyway … it sounded like a great idea until I went to the liquor store last week. I got nips of southern comfort and vodka, but couldn’t find the sloe gin. I figured it was just me or that liquor store didn’t carry it so I sent G out Friday night. He actually asked at two different liquor stores and no one had it. wtf? Now what was I going to do?

On to plan B. Wait. I don’t have a plan B. Rut roh. Time to think of plan B. Then it hit me like a load of bricks after seeing CBs chocolate covered strawberries. Strawberries and Champagne. Hehe I had to outdo her strawberries.

I found a recipe for champagne cake on all recipes. Some people said it was a little dense, but others fixed it by using a little more champagne. The recipes that got the best reviews were ones that used a boxed mix and we all know how I feel about boxed mixes. I figured I would just have to give the champagne cake a shot and hope for the best. I have too much baking to do this weekend to have flops because I tried to wing it and make my own.

Originally I was going to fill my cuppys with strawberry and champagne sorbet, but after tasting the strawberries I was using for that I knew I wanted to make some filled with strawberries cooked in champagne and sugar. OMG delicious I could eat them all day long.For the frosting I went with a basic buttercream with chopped strawberries inside.

All in all they make one delicious cuppy. They were a teeny bit on the denser side, but once you put it all together they’re fantastic! You’ll see another post with the strawberries and champagne sorbet and you may even see some more cuppys filled with it, but that’s another post.

Sorry about the crooked pic … oopsies

Champagne Cupcakes (adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup champagne (I used 1 cup)
6 egg whites

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 10 inch round cake pan.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together, and then blend into creamed mixture alternately with champagne.
In a large clean bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into batter to lighten it, then fold in remaining egg whites. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. (I obviously put in cupcake pans … they took around 15 minutes to bake

Filling

Because I used a box of strawberries on sorbet and wanted to use some strawberries for the frosting and G only bought two boxes I didn’t make enough for all the cuppys. So I’m going to guess at the amount that would work for a whole batch. Basically the equal parts champagne and sugar are what matters. Just make sure there is enough liquid for all the strawberries to soak in

16 oz strawberries (aka 1 “box” or whatever you call those plastic thingies they’re in)

2 cups sugar

2 cups champagne

Directions

Chop up the strawberries into smallish bits

Put on stove and bring to a boil. Then turn the heat down and simmer for about 10 minutes until the strawberries are soft and tasty. Drain strawberries from the champagne juice and put them in your hollowed out cuppys.

Frosting

1 cup shortening

1lb confectioners sugar sifted

approx 1/4 cup milk

approx 1/2 – 3/4 of a box of strawberries chopped

Directions

Mix sugar, shortening and milk. Then add in the strawberries. Make sure to mix on low once you add the strawberries so you don’t blend them into mush. Also not that the strawberries will add a little extra moisture so you may need to add in some extra confectioners sugar.

Good luck piping this stuff, you’ll need a huge tip and i was too lazy to cut a new bag that would fit my large coupler and large tip.

22 Comments »

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Damn you… your strawberries look prettier than mine. I hope you lose. nft. LOL.

Comment by CB — February 17, 2008 #

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^ remind me why I’m friends with you

Comment by nikki57 — February 17, 2008 #

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because … I am adorable even when I am vindictive.

Comment by CB — February 17, 2008 #

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Ok, this is totally one of my favorite posts of the week! Yummy, and also… yummy!

Comment by joythebaker — February 17, 2008 #

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That looks so good!

Comment by BBKiddo — February 17, 2008 #

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looks great..i will def make them!

Comment by lovestoeat — February 17, 2008 #

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Yum.

Comment by G — February 17, 2008 #

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send me a batch of those cuppies please! i love strawberries!

Comment by MrsPresley — February 17, 2008 #

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Great combination of flavours. I especially love the filling of strawberries, looks delicious!

Comment by linda — February 17, 2008 #

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Want… now… and I don’t even like champagne!

Comment by lemontartlet — February 17, 2008 #

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Looks delicious! I love how you thought about filling them with the strawberries too. You’re so smart.

Comment by NinaBeth — February 17, 2008 #

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These look so good! I will take a dozen of them please!

Comment by aprilmlove — February 18, 2008 #

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You are all too funny~ I didn’t realize there was so much competition boiling under the cupcake hero madeness. I’m really interested in trying this out- I am also perplexed by the champagne cupcake denseness. Great idea with filling too!

Comment by Tempered Woman — February 18, 2008 #

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MrsPreseley – if I thought they would ship well I so would

TW – Clara and I have a healthy competitive spirit hehe

Comment by nikki57 — February 18, 2008 #

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I’ll have to try these!!! Yum-my!

Comment by doreen — February 18, 2008 #

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Oh man, yum!!!!!!!!!!!!! I <3 strawberries SO much!!!

You’ve been tagged…see my blog!
http://artistsinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2008/02/tagim-it.html

Comment by Alanna — February 18, 2008 #

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TW, me and nikki have to one-up each other in anything, cupcake or not. It keeps us on our creative toes. Thats how our friendship rolls… haha.

Comment by CB — February 18, 2008 #

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O.M.G. I want these in my belly right now!

Comment by Racheypoo — February 18, 2008 #

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Even better the next day!

Comment by G — February 18, 2008 #

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Blast! I knew I should have done a filling! lol, these look amazing! Also, my cupcakes turned out a bit denser than usual as well, I wonder if it has something to do with the alcohol cooking out…
Good Luck!

Comment by Kristina — February 19, 2008 #

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[...] Chai Cupcakes by Airy Fairy Cupcakes Strawberries and Champagne by Crazy Delicious Food Posted by CB, on Friday, February 22, 2008 No Comments, Comment or [...]

Pingback by Weekly Cupcake Collection | All Things Cupcake - The #1 Cupcake Site — February 22, 2008 #

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Your cupcake has been chosen for ATC’s Weekly Cupcake Collection! Click the link to see more. Looking forward to your next cupcake creation!

http://tinyurl.com/3d9htw

(but obviously from your pingback you already knew that! haha)

Comment by CB — February 22, 2008 #

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