Pink Champagne Cupcakes

In honor of Allison Wiley's (now Marble) recent wedding, where I dined on a delectable Pink Champagne Cupcake, I decided that I was going to attempt to make some of my own. Conveniently timed was a birthday in our LifeHouse, so I graciously took on the task of preparing cupcakes to celebrate. This birthday proved to be the perfect excuse to try out the Pink Champagne Cupcake recipe that I found on Pinterest. **These would be a PERFECT treat for any loved one on Valentine's Day!**

Here is a list of everything that you will need:

For the Cupcakes: 

1 Box White Cake Mix

1 1/4 cup Champagne

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 egg whites

4 drops red food coloring

For the Frosting:

1/2 cup softened butter

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

1/4 cup Champagne

4 drops red food coloring

Making the Cupcake Batter

Before You Begin: Gather all of the ingredients above and attach the flat beater (used for all-purpose mixing) to your mixer to mix the batter for the cupcakes. 

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line your muffin pan with cupcake liners.

I think its a must that you use "Pink" cupcake liners for "Pink" Champagne Cupcakes.

Step 2: Stir the cake batter and the champagne together until well blended.

Please disregard the empty frame in the background. Yes, we did get it for a wedding present.
Yes, we have been married for 6 month. Don't judge me. 

I left my mixer on the "Stir" setting until they were well blended. 

Step 3: Add the egg whites, vegetable oil, and food coloring. Mix on medium speed for approximately 2 minutes.

Step 4: Distribute the batter evenly to your previously lined muffin pan.

Step 5: As you can tell from the picture above, I made a mess when putting the batter into the muffin pan, so make sure that you wipe all excess batter off of the pan to avoid burning it onto your pan (and a burning smell!) while the cupcakes bake.

Nice and Clean. 

Step 6: Insert the cupcakes into the oven and bake at 350 degree for 17-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. **Mine only took 17 minutes**

Making the Cupcake Frosting

Step 7: While the cupcakes are in the oven, it's time to start preparing your frosting! First up, change the flat blade on your mixer to the wire whip in order to ensure nice and fluffy icing!

Step 8: Gather and measure all of your ingredients for the frosting. 

Step 9: Combine all ingredients into the mixing bowl and mix on medium speed for approximately two minutes. 

Yum. 

When your icing is done, it should look nice and fluffy like this.

** This icing actually makes a thick and fluffy icing that is ideally for pairing with a fancy icing bag that allows you to pipe the icing on in a very pretty way. As you'll see as you scroll down, I don't own one of those fancy things, so my cupcakes aren't as pretty as they potentially could be. Oh well. Maybe next time? Today, I was able to master baking a fancy cupcake. Next time, I'll master icing the fancy-schmancy cupcake. :)

Step 10: When the cupcakes are done, pull them out of the oven and insert a toothpick or gadget of choice (I got an awesome "Cake Tester" as a wedding gift and its perfect as we don't keep toothpicks just laying around the house!).

Step 11: Once the cupcakes are deemed done, leave them in the muffin pan for 10 minutes to cool.

Good News, the Cake Tester came out Clean!

Step 12: After the cupcakes have cooled for 10 minutes in the pan, transfer them to a wire cooling rack and let them cool for an additional 30 minutes before attempting to ice them.

Step 13: Ice and garnish those babies however you choose!!!

Ta-Da! All Done and ready to go!

These were super simple and when I was able to finally take a bite of one, I was satisfied with how delicious they were! The original recipe without all my step-by-step pictures can be viewed here.

Enjoy!