Now that Christmas has passed 2015 is just around the corner. I made you these almond champagne cupcakes to celebrate!
Ok, if you want to get technical (Megan) they are actually almond sparkling wine cupcakes. We’ll just pretend that they are legit and from Champagne in France.
Anyways, New Year’s Eve! Do you love it? Do you hate it?
Personally, I love it. The idea of a new year is always very exciting to me. I enjoy reflecting on memories and great things from the passing year and looking forward to the new one to come. I get butterflies just thinking about all the amazing things that I want to make happen in 2015!
New Year’s Eve itself is never a particularly extraordinary night or anything; however, I love drinking champagne while wearing something sparkly and singing Auld Lang Syne (also this song & this song) with some fabulous people. It’s amazing.
Have you ever tried the almond champagne from Trader Joe’s? If not, I recommend you buy a bottle (or five) right now, because it is delicious. It is also the inspiration behind these cupcakes (along with this recipe), so you’re going to want to buy at least one bottle to make them.
These almond champagne cupcakes are light and fluffy. The almond flavor comes from the use of almond meal, almond extract, and almond champagne. Don’t worry though, it’s not too almondy, but rather just almondy enough to take a bite and think, “Hey, these are almond flavored! Yum!”
Side note: I’ve never talked about almonds so much in one paragraph before.
To amp up the champagne flavor, champagne is reduced down to a syrup and then brushed onto the tops of the cupcakes and also used in the frosting.
The batter comes together like most cupcake batter does: cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs, and then alternate between adding in the dry and wet ingredients. Easy. While the cupcakes bake and cool you’ll have the perfect amount of time to reduce the champagne, make the frosting, and do the dishes.
After frosting the cupcakes, add some sprinkles. Never, ever forget the sprinkles. Especially on New Year’s Eve.
So there you have it: almond champagne cupcakes.
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ¾ cup almond meal
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup almond champagne
- ¼ cup buttermilk
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ cup + 1 tablespoon almond champagne
- ¾ cup unsalted butter
- 4-6 cups sugar
- Preheat the oven for 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with cupcake papers.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, almond meal, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the almond champagne, buttermilk, and almond extract. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium, 3-5 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition.
- Alternate between adding the flour and champagne mixture to the batter, starting and ending with the flour mixture.
- Pour ¼ cup of batter into each liner and bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
- Add 1 ½ cups champagne to saucepan and heat on medium-high until reduced to 3 tablespoons. Let cool.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the butter, 1 tablespoon of champagne, 2 tablespoon of the reduced champagne, and 3 cups of the powdered sugar. Beat until smooth. Add the remaining powdered sugar ½ cup at a time until the frosting reaches your desired consistency.
- Poke a few holes in the cupcake with a fork. Brush cupcake tops with the remaining tablespoon of reduced champagne.
- Top the cupcakes with the frosting. Add sprinkles and enjoy!
I hope the rest of 2014 treats you well and that you welcome in 2015 with lots of champagne and sparkles and singing and dancing (and cupcakes)!
