Sparkling wine & vanilla cupcakes with sparkling wine buttercream frosting

Few days of the year are more special than New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and there’s nothing better than a glass of sparkling wine to celebrate them. Well, almost. Because for me, the combination of sparkling wine and a sweet little treat in the shape of a cupcake is the best thing.

These cupcakes are flavored with vanilla and sparkling wine and they are beautifully fluffy, moist and soft.

They are topped with a plump, sweet buttercream that is also flavored with sparkling wine, which adds a subtle acidity and tangy flavor to the cupcakes that balances their sweetness and makes them unique and utterly addictive.

I wish you a happy, healthy and creative 2017! Happy New Year, friends!

Sparkling wine & vanilla cupcakes with sparkling wine buttercream frosting

Use a sweet (not dry) sparkling wine of your choice. I prefer one made with Muscat grapes which I find is more suitable for these cupcakes but you can also use Prosecco or Champagne.

Yield: 17 cupcakes

Ingredients

for the cupcakes
220 g all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
115 g unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into small pieces
200 g caster sugar
2 medium-sized eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
115 g sour cream, full-fat
120 ml sweet sparkling wine (I used Muscat sparkling wine)

for the buttercream frosting
250 ml sweet sparkling wine (I used Muscat sparkling wine)
230 g unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into small pieces
120 g icing sugar

Special equipment: stand or hand-held mixer, fine sieve, cupcake pan, paper liners, piping bag with nozzle of your choice, dragees/sprinkles to decorate your cupcakes


Preparation

for the cupcakes
Line your cupcake pan with paper liners.
Preheat your oven to 175°C.

In a medium-sized bowl, sieve the flour together with the baking soda, baking powder and salt, using a fine sieve. Set aside.

In the bowl of your stand mixer (or in a large bowl) add the butter and sugar and beat with the paddle attachment (or with a hand-held mixer) on medium-high speed until you have a creamy, fluffy and light mixture. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well on high speed after each addition to incorporate them fully. Then, beat in the vanilla extract.
In another medium-sized bowl, add the sour cream and sparkling wine and whisk with a wire whisk (the mixture will fizz a little).
With your mixer working on low speed, add and incorporate into the butter-sugar-eggs mixture the sieved dry ingredients and sour cream-sparkling wine mixture alternately, starting and finishing with the dry ingredients (three portions of the dry ingredients and two portions of the sour cream mixture). Mix only until combined, otherwise the cupcakes will be tough.

Empty the batter into the paper lined cupcake pan, filling each cup by 2/3.
Bake the cupcakes on the middle rack of the preheated oven for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Check them for doneness after 15 minutes because not all ovens are the same.

Note: The recipe yields 17 cupcakes. If your cupcake pan has fewer cups, bake the cupcakes in two batches.

Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack. Once the cupcakes have slightly cooled, remove them carefully from the pan and onto the wire rack to cool completely.

The cupcakes need to be completely cool before they get frosted otherwise the buttercream will melt.

for the buttercream frosting
While the cupcakes are cooling, add 235 ml of the sparkling wine (of the 250 ml, reserving the 15 ml for later use) in a small saucepan. Place it over a medium-high heat and simmer the wine until it is reduced to 2 tablespoons.
Empty it into a small bowl and place in the refrigerator to chill.

In the (clean) bowl of your stand mixer (or in a large bowl) add the butter and icing sugar and beat with the whisk attachment (or with a hand-held mixer) on medium-high speed until you have a creamy, thick and fluffy mixture. Then, pour the reserved 15 ml of sparkling wine and the chilled 2 tablespoonfuls of reduced sparking wine in the bowl and beat until incorporated.

Using a piping bag and nozzle of your choice, pipe the frosting on top of each completely cooled cupcake and decorate with dragees/sprinkles. If you don’t have a piping bag, you can frost the cupcakes using a palette knife.

The cupcakes are best eaten the day you make them or the day after, but you can keep them for up to 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The frosting will firm up in the fridge.