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Topped With Honey

Baking, Recipes, Food Photography

Sparkling Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

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Whip up a batch of these elegant Sparkling Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes this Valentine’s day! They are fluffy, moist, and full of your favorite bubbly. In addition, they are topped with a strawberry champagne buttercream for a little extra booze on top as well. They would also be great for bridal showers, a fun night with friends, or just any time you want some dessert with your champagne.

How many of you have dressed up your champagne by dropping a strawberry in the glass? I definitely have! I also somethings do this thing where I mash up the strawberries and pour them in to make a strawberry mimosa-esque type of drink. Seems a little strange but a prime boozy brunch move. 😉

Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

It is February, and with Valentines day quickly approaching, what could be more romantic than strawberries and champagne? It’s simple, elegant, and a perfect flavor pairing. As you’re dreaming up what Valentines desserts you want to bake up this year, I’d recommend you give these strawberry champagne cupcakes a try!

However, these are in no way limited to a Valentine’s day dessert. They’re perfect for any celebration! Bridal showers, girls night, guys night, birthdays, New Years Eve, just wanting a dessert to go with champagne….the possibilities are endless!

Strawberry champagne cupcakes are fluffy, moist, and the best part is you can absolutely taste the champagne. Depending on what type of bubbly you use, you’ll get different flavor notes in your cupcakes, which I think is just so cool!

To further add some booziness and romance to this dessert, the cupcakes are frosted with a strawberry champagne buttercream, which gets a beautiful pink color from the use of freeze-dried strawberries. Sound good? Keep reading to learn how to make them!

Ingredients for Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

This recipe yields around 14 cupcakes, so you’ll need 1-2 cupcake pans. Three of these 6-cup pans or two 12-cup pans will get the job done. Or…just make really big cupcakes and make a dozen instead of 14.

You can also make a non-strawberry version of this cake by checking out this classic champagne cupcake recipe.

For the cupcakes, you will need:

  • Strawberries: you can use fresh strawberries or frozen strawberries. If frozen, thaw before using.
  • Sparkling wine or champagne: see section below for recommendations
  • All-purpose flour
  • Cake flour: using a bit of cake flour in the batter helps give a very light and fluffy texture, which is reminiscent of how light and fizzy champagne is. However, if you do not have cake flour, then all-purpose flour is fine.
  • Baking soda and baking powder
  • Fine sea salt
  • Vanilla extract
  • Unsalted butter
  • Granulated cane sugar
  • One large egg and one large egg white: make sure both are at room temperature
  • Buttermilk

For the frosting, you will need:

  • Unsalted butter
  • Powdered sugar
  • More champagne
  • Heavy whipping cream or milk
  • Vanilla extract
  • Freeze-dried strawberries: this is what gives the frosting that beautiful pink color
  • Sea salt

What Type of Champagne to Use?

There are plenty of options to choose from for what to use in this recipe! And here’s the main criteria: use something you like. The reason I say this is that the cupcakes will contain flavor notes from whatever bubbly you choose.

It also doesn’t have to be Champagne! You see, while champagne has turned into a catch-all word for sparkling wine, it is actually a specific sparkling wine from the Champagne region in France. Prosecco, cava, sparkling moscato, pink moscato (shout out to all the Barefoot Bubbly Pink Moscato that I drank back in the early days of college haha), or any generic sparkling wine will work! Using a Pink Moscato or sparkling Rosé will also give these a lovely pink color.

I personally have loved baking with bubbly that falls into the medium-sweet end of the flavor spectrum. Something that’s not too dry, but also not the sweetest bottle money can buy. I find that these usually add a nice fruity sweetness to the cupcakes. I also like using Prosecco since it’s both fruity and floral.

Also, disclaimer, I am not a sommelier.

Where to Buy Freeze Dried Strawberries

Freeze-dried strawberries are what gives the buttercream frosting for these champagne cupcakes a beautiful pink color. While it may not seem like the most common ingredient, they’re actually relatively easy to find! Here are a few places where you can find them:

  • Trader Joes: look near the dried fruit and nuts
  • Target: also near where they have dried fruit and nuts. They’re sold under Target’s own brand Good & Gather.
  • Wal-Mart: Sold under the Great Value brand.
  • Whole Foods
  • Online at Thrive Market: you will need a membership, but if you love health food, then it’s worth it!
  • Check in the dried fruit aisle of your favorite grocery store as well! You may just be able to find them there.

Tips for Making Champagne Cupcakes

  1. Don’t overmix the batter: Are you tired of hearing me say this on every single cake recipe yet? It’s so important though! Fold the flour in until it is just combined.
  2. Use warm or room temperature ingredients: While it may be tempting to pull a bottle of bubbly out of the fridge, it’ll actually be better if it is at room temperature. Cold ingredients don’t mix very well into cake batter and will impact the cupcakes’ texture.
  3. Test for doneness: to test whether the cupcakes are done, there are two ways. The first is to stick a toothpick in the middle and see if it comes out clean. The second (and my preferred method), is to gently tap the tops, which will bounce back once done.

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments section as you bake!

Did You Make This Recipe?

If you did, then I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to leave a comment, rating, or take a picture and share it with me on Instagram @toppedwithhoney. Looking forward to seeing your elegant strawberry champagne cupcakes!

If you’re not ready to bake yet, no problem! Hover over any image in this post (tap if you’re on mobile), and then click the pin icon in the corner to save for later.

Have fun baking! And feel free to explore some other cupcake recipes here.

Let’s also connect on Instagram and/or Pinterest!

Sparkling Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

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Sparkling Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes minutes
cooling & frosting time 45 minutes minutes
Total Time 1 hour hour 25 minutes minutes
Servings 14
Have your bubbly and eat it too with these sparkling strawberry champagne cupcakes! Moist and fluffy strawberry cupcakes made with half a cup of bubbly and frosted with a strawberry champagne buttercream frosting.

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

  • ½ heaping cup strawberries, fresh or frozen
  • ⅓ cup buttermilk, shaken
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • ¾ cup granulated cane sugar
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • 1 large egg white, at room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ½ cup champagne or sparkling wine

Dry Ingredients

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup cake flour*
  • 1¼ tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp fine sea salt

Strawberry Champagne Buttercream

  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • ½ cup freeze-dried strawberries, crushed into a fine powder
  • 1 tbsp heavy whipping cream or whole milk
  • 1 tbsp sparkling wine or champagne
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a cupcake pan (or two) with liners. This recipe yields around 14 cupcakes.
  • Purée the strawberries in a blender or food processor.
  • Pour the buttermilk into a liquid measuring glass or other heatproof bowl and microwave it for 10-15 seconds until just warm. Then, stir in ¼ cup of the strawberry purée and vanilla extract. Set this aside for now.
  • In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream with butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy (approx. 3 minutes). Then add the egg, followed by the egg white, beating until creamy and combined.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk together the two flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Pour half of the dry ingredients into your mixer and gently mix until almost combined.
  • Then, pour in all of the buttermilk mixture, then the champagne, and then continue beating on medium-low for 10 seconds. After that, turn off the mixer, add the remaining dry ingredients, and use a flexible spatula to fold everything together until the flour is just combined.
  • Scoop the batter evenly between the cupcake tins, filling to ¾ full. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until cupcakes are set. You can test this by gently tapping the tops, which will spring back once done.
  • Let the cupcakes cool for 10 minutes in the pan before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.
  • To make the frosting, beat the butter and powdered sugar together on low speed to combine them. Then, add the freeze-dried strawberry powder, heavy cream, champagne, vanilla, and salt and beat on medium-high for 4-5 minutes, or until very light and fluffy.
  • Frost the cupcakes are garnish with more freeze dried strawberries. Enjoy!

Notes

*if you do not have cake flour, you can substitute all-purpose flour
Did You Try This Recipe?Mention @toppedwithhoney or tag #toppedwithhoney! on Instagram

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Comments

  1. B.Bohte says

    September 26, 2024 at 5:17 am

    I made this recipe and the cupcakes we delicious!! I decided to make a second batch, and doubled the amount of strawberries used in the batter. I knew it was a risk, but went for it. They turned out SO good. If you want a very light strawberry taste, the original recipe is still sooo good… I just wanted even more strawberry flavor! Thank you for sharing this recipe! 🙂

    Reply

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