Raspberry Pink Champagne, Gourmet Style

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JUMP TO RECIPE

This particular cupcake is truly near and dear to my heart. From my husband and my impromptu tiny wedding to a fan favorite at our daughters first birthday this delicious dessert has shown up in our lives in some of the most significant moments.

I do have to mention that the inspiration came from our amazing wedding cake made by (formerly) Your Sweet Expectation a specialty bakery based out of Rohnert Park in California. And the recipe foundation itself was inspired by this recipe from "My Cake School" for this pink champagne cake. From there the recipe was adjusted a bit and grown on to create these beautiful floral filled cupcakes frosted with a decadent raspberry buttercream frosting. I personally love that the syrup from the raspberry compote gives it a gentle pink hue that worked so well for the roses and hydrangeas frosted on the cupcakes.

Our wedding cake by Sweet C's Cakeshoppe (formerly Your Sweet Expectations). In Sonoma County

For this recipe I used Korbel Brut Rose Champagne but if I wanted to go dry for this recipe I would probably go with the Töst Rose. To really add that color flare and deepen the pink of the sponges I ran over to Michaels and grabbed some Rose food coloring and added that into the batter. To really add some fluff to the cupcakes, I like to separate the egg yolks from the whites, and blend the egg whites to soft peaks, before folding it into the cupcake batter.

These treats are most definitely a labor of love, they take time and energy. At they same time they are pretty simple step by step. though you can expect to spend about an hour (or 3 with a little one) between the cupcake, filling, and frosting, they are so worth it. They are strong in their flavor which makes it harder to go back for seconds, even if you really want to!

THE CUPCAKES!

These cupcakes are a combination of sponge, compote, and frosting, the most important part is of course debatable. My husband would argue it's a dense buttercream frosting that makes the cupcake, and I on the other hand love to concentrate on the sponge. I've learned a lot through trial and error in the last few months here. With some help from the world wide web including Sally's Baking Addiction and various cupcake decorating accounts on Instagram I've learned the methods for a great sponge and a great buttercream flower!

To make a delicious and puffy sponge that is well mixed I made sure that I cream the sugar and butter together before incorporating the wet and dry ingredients. When I'm getting those wet ingredients together, I made sure to separate the egg white and the yolks, those yolks get thrown in with the rest of the wet ingredients and the egg whites I set aside until the batter is done and mixed in. After the batter is about ready to go into the liners, I blend the egg whites to soft peaks before gently folding them into the batter. After the egg whites are incorporated the batter is poured from a 2/3 cups into the baking tin.

While those are baking I get to making the compote, a simple mix of raspberries, lemon juice, and sugar that's cooked down for 5-8 minutes. I like to strain the raspberries and the juice from the compote to ensure that the filling isn't too wet, or else the sponge soaks up that juice. Once those sponges are out of the oven and cooled a bit they're ready to be cored out. I used a standard pairing knife to cut out circles at first, the $10.00 for the cupcake corer was completely worth it with the number of filled cupcakes I've been making. I invested in the Norpro Cupcake Corer it's so simple and yet so effective, and makes things so much faster. After all those cupcake sponges are cored, all that's left to do is spoon in the compote before all the fun frosting.

Now, for the frosting, distraction moment here, have you seen a 50 lb bag of powdered sugar? It's amazing, it's larger than a 50 lb bag of concrete and yet, it somehow feels lighter. I've gotten amazing feedback on my buttercream and truly, I've stopped going off of recipes and just started going off of what's in my brain. Of course I'll still have the recipe below, but this is going to be easiest to do with a stand mixer. I was fortunate enough to get a hand me down Kitchen Aid mixer from my brother that I've been using up to this point. I'm sure that this is something that can be done by hand, I just haven't figured out how.

With the stand mixer, I put one cup of butter in the mixer with the paddle attachment and let it mix on medium speed for a couple minutes. Once the butter is gathering smoothly on the sides of the bowl I set the speed to low and slowly add in the powdered sugar. Don't worry, I only add 3 cups, not 50 lbs, that would be insane. Once the powdered sugar is fully blended and incorporated I take the raspberry syrup from the compote 1 tbsp at a time and add it in. It usually only takes 2-3 tbsp to get the color and the flavor that I want. Once that's all set up, I get to pipe the flowers, yay!

I've personally got into to habit/meditation of piping roses on these sweet treats. Since I use a regular size cupcake tin I like to add the drama with a Wilton 125 piping tip to get those roses on the sponges. Sometimes I do need to make a double batch of the buttercream frosting to make sure there's enough coverage between the base frosting and the floral additions. At the end of the day I'm always happy with the turn out and I love to see how things have improved.

The fun two images above are an example of a bouquet that I put together for a baby shower. It was the second attempt at making a cupcake bouquet so I'm looking forward to continuing to work and refine this trade.

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Pink Champagne Cupcakes

with Raspberry Compote

and Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

Sponge:

• 1.5 cups flour

• 1/2 Cup softened butter

• 1 Cup granulated sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 3 room temp eggs

• 1.5 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 cup pink champagne

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

• 1/4 cup water

• Red food coloring

Compote:

• 2 cups raspberries

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 2-3 tbsp lemon juice

Buttercream frosting:

• 3 cups powdered sugar

• 1 cup butter

• 2-3 tbsp raspberry syrup from compote

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a cupcake tin.

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl together leaving out the sugar. In a separate bowl mix together the wet ingredients separating the egg whites to a separate bowl. set the butter to the side.

Take the butter and sugar and add to the stand (or bowl for hand) mixer and mix for about 2-3 minutes until incorporated and creamy. Add the wet and dry ingredients into the bowl with the creamed butter and sugar, alternating between wet and dry ingredients until they are all mixed in and you have a smooth batter.

whisk the egg whites either in a stand mixer or with a food processor or hand blender  (I use the Cuisinart Hand Blender) with a whisk attachment. Once soft peaks form, pour the egg whites into the batter and gently fold them in until they are fully incorporated. Use a 2/3 cup measure to fill the cupcake tins between 1/2 way and 2/3 full. Once filled bake for 18-22 minutes checking for doneness with a toothpick.

Compote:

Add the raspberry, sugar, and lemon juice in a small pan on medium heat stirring on occasion for about 5-8 minutes. Once the raspberries are cooked down and surrounded by a wet syrup, strain the syrup and raspberries into separate bowls.

Buttercream Frosting:

Add the cup of softened butter into your stand mixer or bowl and set to medium mixing for about a minute. With the stand mixer (or hand mixer) on low speed, add the powdered sugar in small amounts, adding more as the previous bit is fully incorporated and adjusting the speed as necessary to encourage full incorporation.

Once all of the powdered sugar is fully incorporated and you have a nice creamy buttercream frosting, keep the mixer on low speed and add in the raspberry syrup 1 tbsp at a time until you have the color and flavor that you want.

Assembly:

Once all parts are finished up

Sponges - core out all the cupcakes, you can set the extra materials to the side for another project, or to just munch on.

Once the sponges are cored, spoon the compote into the center about 2/3-3/4 full.

Frost the cupcakes with the raspberry buttercream frosting and/or pipe your flower on top of the sponge, recommending the 125 Wilton if you want to pipe a rose.