Champagne Cupcakes - to make 12

200g plain flour

150g caster sugar

150g butter

75ml fruity Champagne - I used Prosecco from the supermarket

3 egg whites

1.5 teaspoons baking powder

0.5 teaspoon salt

250g icing sugar, 125g butter, 125ml Champagne for the frosting 

Paper cupcake cases and baking tin

Wire cooling rack

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and prepare a cupcake tin with paper cases/liners.

2. Cream the butter and caster sugar together for the cake mixture.

3. In another bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. In batches, mix the flour with the creamed butter and sugar, alternating with a little of the 75ml Champagne each time and starting and finishing with the flour.

4. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they stand up in stiff peaks. Fold a third into the cake mixture and then carefully fold in the remainder. 

5. Fill each cake case two thirds full. Bake the cakes for about 20 minutes. 

6. You can test whether the cakes are done by sticking a skewer into the centre. When it comes out clean, the cakes are cooked to the correct consistency. Remove the tins from the oven and put the cakes on a wire rack to cool. 

7. To make the frosting, simmer 125ml Champagne in a small pan until it reduces to about 1.5 tablespoons then leave to cool. Mix the butter and icing sugar, together with 1 tablespoon of room temperature Champagne and then add the cooled, reduced fizz, to make buttercream.




 8. If you want your cupcakes to look a bit prettier than my efforts, use a piping bag and large star nozzle to pipe swirls of buttercream onto each cake. I had high hopes for the presentation of the test batch but couldn't find my piping set! I've swirled a dollop of frosting on each cake instead, topped with an edible gold or silver pearl...