Fiscally Chic

Raspberry Champagne Cupcakes

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I promise this blog won’t be all serious, all the time.  So to lighten things up, I thought we’d talk about something a little sweeter. A little pinker. Yes, we’re talking about cupcakes!

For my sister-in-law’s bachelorette party day, I was in charge of bringing cupcakes. These could either be purchased or baked. Didn’t matter. Seeing that I love baking and had some free time, the obvious decision was to bake them. At first, I was all gung ho and thought I would make everything from scratch. The morning of the party. (oops) As the clock was ticking, it was either bake them from scratch and show up late; or play it safe, use a box mix, and arrive at brunch on time.

Box mix won. Though I don’t think it mattered. I substituted some sparkling wine for the water in the mix and the cake became light as air. As if every bite was a sip of champagne. And the frosting tasted like raspberry frozen yogurt. Bring these to any event and you’ll get an automatic invite for next time.

Raspberry Champagne Cupcakes
Original recipe can be found at Gimme Some Oven

Cupcake
I used white cake mix and followed the recipe on the box except for substituting about 3/4 c of the water for champage/sparkling wine. The original recipe suggested using a champagne on the sweeter side.
Frosting

  • 3 1/4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 tablespoons champagne, at room temperature
  • A few tablespoons of raspberry preserves (with or without seeds, I love Smucker’s)

    With an electric mixer on low, beat the butter until it starts to get fluffier. Then start adding the powdered sugar one cup at a time. Taste it every time. That way you can make it as sweet as you want and probably won’t use as much sugar. Mix on low until well blended, and then on medium for another two minutes.  Add vanilla and champagne, beating on medium for another minute. Add a couple of spoonfuls (to taste) of raspberry preserves.

    The additional raspberry preserves may make the frosting a little thinner, so add a little more powdered sugar to thicken things up. If this frosting is too thick, add a little more champagne. 

    You can buy the cupcake liners from Bake it Pretty