Introduction: Strawberry Pink Champagne Cupcakes

By a week from thursday

These are a fun little decadent treat for New Year's or Valentines. After performing many google searches, I found that most pink champagne cupcakes use a boxed cake recipe. This one is from scratch.

Prep & Cook Time: 45 min.
Yields: 24 mini cupcakes or 12 regular cupcakes

You can view the whole recipe with pictures at my blog: www.aweekfromthursday.wordpress.com.

Step 1: Ingredients

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup butter
3 egg whites
1 whole egg
3/4 cup whole strawberries
3/4 cup pink champagne

Step 2: How-to

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Puree strawberries in a blender or food processor. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree.
- In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In large bowl, combine sugar and butter. Mix until fluffy, about 4 minutes.
- Add the egg whites one by one into sugar mixture, then add the whole egg. Beat until creamy.
- Fold in the strawberry puree until well combined.
- Slowly add in all of the flour mixture.
-Finally, mix in the champagne and mix until smooth.

Step 3: Add to Baking Pans

Remember to grease your pans or use cupcake liners. If you plan on greasing your pans, which is the way I did, I recommend using Baker's Joy. It's a cooking spray that has a mixture of oil and flour for greasing.

- Fill cupcake pan with 1/2 of the batter in each slot. These things do rise, so be aware. Mine sort of tumbled over and were top heavy. 

I made mini cupcakes.

Step 4: Baking Time

Bake for 15 minutes. If you make regular sized cupcakes, you might need to add an additional 5 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the cupcake, and once it comes out clean, they're ready.

Step 5: Let Them Cool

This is a really important step before frosting. Take the time to be patient and let these cool. You're going to want to let them cool in the pan for a few minutes before removing them toa  baking rack.

Here's what they look like. They're pink and very moist.

Step 6: Frosting

You're free to use whatever frosting you choose. I used I used this buttercream frosting recipe from Smitten Kitchen. It’s the best out there. Make sure your cupcakes are completely cool before frosting, or else your frosting will melt.

Enjoy your cupcakes!