A Box of Chocolates (Strawberry, and Champagne) - Happy Valentine's Day

Milo's Bonbons three-ways for Valentine's Day! Now if I could just get that to arrive in my next Birchbox . . .

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Meringue Buttercream: An oldie but a goodie.

Champagne Cupcakes with Champagne Buttercream: Another repeat, this time with Martini & Rossi Asti to really deliver the sweet champagne flavor. I think the Swiss meringue buttercream had a stronger champagne flavor and a sturdier texture as I reconstituted the meringue powder with the sparkling wine directly, instead of using water.

Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes with Frangelico: These chocolate cupcakes have a Frangelico-infused chocolate ganache filling and frosting. Frangelico is a hazelnut liqueur, and the folks at BevMo! tell me that you should chase a sugar-coated lemon slice with equal parts Frangelico and vodka. Apparently this "Chocolate Cake" shot is a real winner. While that remains to be tested, I can say that Frangelico does magically evoke chocolate, and is a great addition to dark chocolate ganache.

Prosecco & Chambord Cupcakes - Happy New Year!

My original plan to gift cupcake assortments for the holidays didn't quite pan out. Milo's Bonbons went on a brief hiatus while we relocated, and baking supplies were packed away. But, we're back for 2012!

These mini champagne cupcakes are made with Prosecco, with half of the cupcakes topped with champagne Swiss meringue buttercream, and the other half topped with Chambord Swiss meringue buttercream.

Champagne Cupcakes
Makes 20 cupcakes (or 50 minis)

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (or 3 cups + 1 Tbsp. cake flour for a finer texture)
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2/3 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup champagne (or in this case, Prosecco)
• 6 egg whites

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
3. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together, and then blend into creamed mixture alternately with champagne.
4. In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into batter to lighten the batter, then fold in remaining egg whites. 
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (or 10-12 for minis), or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
   

Champagne Cupcakes - Happy Valentine's Day

Okay, I admit that there now appears to be a trend in my most recent postings . . .

But I had to try making these cupcakes after seeing a version of them on Cupcake Wars. The cake here is a variation on a standard white cake recipe with about 3/4 cup of Chandon Extra Dry Riche sparkling wine added. I think the sweeter the champagne (or sparkling wine), the better this cupcake is, although dessert wines would probably be overdoing it. When looking up other bakers' attempts at champagne cupcakes, there were many suggestions for adding strawberries or using strawberry flavored wines. However, I can tell you that a simple, standard champagne works perfectly well, and I was thrilled with how light and subtly sweet this cupcake was.

To get some berry flavors in there, I topped the cupcake with Chambord buttercream. For those of you who are new to Chambord, I discovered this raspberry liqueur in a magazine ad—the kind that has the "open here and smell" panel that usually accompanies perfume ads. Since then, I have been obsessed with this liqueur's delicious scent! Chambord alone doesn't add sufficient coloring (unless you're going to use the entire bottle . . .), so I added a dab of pink food coloring. Then I topped with some sanding sugar and white pearls. Sparkly, sprinkled pink cupcakes aren't normally my style, but hey, it's Valentine's Day.