A gooey, homemade blackberry jam spilling out of a light, fluffy cupcake and a cava-spiked buttercream. Oh, and the rest of the bottle that is now open and must be finished… Happy New Year to me!!
The quote goes something like: “I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food!” I’ve always loved the concept of booze in cupcakes. This year, on the holiday edition of Nailed It! there was an episode where the bakers substituted champagne for eggs. Now…I didn’t go that route here, but I knew that there would be no better way to kick off the new year than with some champagne cupcakes.
Pinterest had a plethora of options to choose from, but I started here: https://www.stylist.co.uk/life/recipes/champagne-and-raspberry-cupcakes/36695
I decided to change it up a little and use blackberry instead, because while I love raspberry and champagne together (I certainly have bought a whole pint of raspberries just to float a few in my glass of bubbly), I thought the blackberries would have a beautiful color spilling out of the cupcakes. Also, blackberries were on sale. What can I say? I’m practical.
Of course, I also couldn’t be content with store bought jam! (Actually, I totally could have, but Target didn’t have the brand I like…) I decided to go the no-pectin jam route, because I didn’t have pectin on hand. One cup of mashed berries (that was two 6-oz containers with 12 berries handpicked to decorate later), a cup of sugar, and a teaspoon on lemon juice brought to a boil, then reduced the heat and cooked for 10-12 minutes. Seven minutes in, the baby woke up from her nap. I put her bottle on the warmer, ran to get her, then came back to take the jam off of the heat to cool and hopefully thicken.
When it finally cooled completely, I was not thrilled with the consistency. It was a little runny to be a cupcake filling. No worries, though! I popped it back onto the heat for another 5-6 minutes and tried again. Apparently, non-pectin jams are pretty finicky and take some practice to know when they are done. This time, however, after it cooled, it was a nice consistency. It was just slightly tart, and I knew it would perfectly offset the sweetness in the cupcakes. Well done, me.
Next nap time, I baked the actual cupcakes, following the recipe pretty much perfectly. I used cava instead of actual champagne, but I doubt that made a bit of difference. I’m being weirdly specific by even pointing it out. Here’s a photo of my mise en place, which has always felt impractical and like I dirty up too many dishes this way, but in actuality, when you’re weighing everything out and having to come up with things to take pictures of for a blog, it’s pretty helpful. Please note my liquid measuring mini beakers. I adore them.
Don’t tell the CDC, but I absolutely licked the beater when I was done mixing. The batter was light and fabulously buttery. I didn’t really get the champagne flavor, but I was afraid to add any more in case it messed with the texture. Next time, I’d try adding more or making a reduction from the champagne to increase the flavor potency.
I filled the cups like the recipe said: divide among 12 cupcake liners. There was WAY too much batter for that. I added what I already thought was going to be too much, then just baked the rest as mini cupcakes. As expected, the cupcakes blew up in the oven! When I pulled them out, they did shrink back a little, but on most of the cupcakes, I got that unattractive overhang instead of neat, uniformed tops that I like and that are attractive to decorate. The mini cupcakes (which I baked for 10 minutes instead of the 18 for the full cupcakes) actually came out much better. I should have trusted my instincts on that one! Oops!
At this point, I was also a little bit over measuring my butter in grams, so I opted for a simple buttercream recipe of two sticks of butter, a pound of powdered sugar, and 1/4 cup of the cava. I whipped the butter until it was silky, added the sugar in small scoops, then added the champagne at the end. It was perfect! I may not be able to say the same for my piping skills, but hey…I was in a rush to decorate since the baby was finally asleep and I wanted to follow suit! Shout out to my husband for reminding me I should have a glass of champagne in the picture!
Final verdict, however, I think the idea of champagne cupcakes was far more exciting than the reality of them. All the components were good, but I don’t know that it was a cupcake I’d make again. Perhaps if I’d used a sweeter sparkling wine, the flavors would have come through more. Also, still not a huge fan of white cake. Chocolate cake is definitely more my speed. Little bonus, though–I have leftover blackberry jam. Maybe tomorrow I ought to make some homemade biscuits…
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