Cupcake Throw Down!

My office recently decided to have a “Cupcake Throw Down”.  Cupcakes were judged on four categories: taste, texture, creativity, and appearance.  Inspired by Valentine’s Day, I decided to go with a romance theme:  Strawberries and Champagne Cupcakes. 

I’ve made strawberry cupcakes in the past using a box mix, but I wanted to step it up a bit and incorporate fresh strawberries.  I pureed fresh strawberries with a Brut champagne and a bit of lemon juice.  I cooked the puree on the stove to reduce it and really bring out the strawberry flavor.  In the recipe I substituted the reduced strawberry puree for the water.  I also added a few drops of food coloring to color the batter pink. 

While the cupcakes were baking, I started on the champagne frosting.  I used a buttercream frosting recipe but instead of using milk I used the Brut champagne and champagne extract as my liquid.  I found the champagne extract on Amazon.  It’s a great substitute if you want the flavor without using the alcohol.  The combination worked out very well.  The frosting had a nice sweetness followed by a subtle tartness. 

Once the cupcakes cooled, I frosted them and garnished with gold dust to make the frosting shimmer for a champagne effect.  A few of them I decided to garnish with dark chocolate curls because why not?  I was going to use semi-sweet chocolate squares but they were too large.  

Even though I didn’t win the competition (there were some really good entries), my co-workers did like the flavor combination and texture.  So I will consider that a win in my book!