Strawberry Cupcakes with Champagne Glaze: Picture Perfect Cupcakes

Strawberry cupcakes are perfect for an intimate dinner for two. The champagne glaze gives them that touch of extra romance. No intimate dinner for two to be had? These strawberry cupcakes would also be perfect for a summer BBQ.


Strawberry Cupcake Recipe
I found an award winning strawberry cupcake recipe in the Good Morning America Weekend Edition's' Great American Cupcake Challenge.


Makes 24 cupcakes

• 2 1/2 C cake flour
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/2 C unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 C sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 C buttermilk
• 1/4 C canola oil
• 1 t pure vanilla extract
• 1 C finely chopped fresh strawberries

1. In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer.
3. Add eggs. Mix until smooth and creamy.
4. Add buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Mix until combined.
5. Add flour mixture to butter mixture. Mix until just combined.
6. Stir in strawberries.
7. Fill cupcake liners half way full.
8. Bake at 350 F for 18-20 minutes. Let cool.

Don't Change this Strawberry Cupcake Recipe

Some might say, "It's a finalist in a strawberry cupcake challenge; this is not a recipe to mess with." But no no.. not me. I decided to spice it up some by putting some jam in the middle of the cupcake. For my birthday, my aunt got me this amazing Sarabeth's Mango Strawberry jam. I've been looking for a cupcake to use this stuff in ever since.

While the jam made me happy, which is what it's all about, the testers who didn't know that this was my little addition, all picked out the fact that the jam shouldn't have been there. "The jam makes it too moist." "Is that mango? What's that doing in there?" "What if jam gets on my tux?". OK.. these weren't direct quotes, but that was the gist of it. If you make these, skip the jam, stick with the recipe - you will have happy eaters; particularly if you are able to find fresh organic strawberries.

Champagne Glaze Recipe

I looked far and wide (all the way to page 10 of the Google search) trying to find a good recipe for a champagne frosting. Nothing looked that great. I ended up modifying a white wine glaze recipe to come up with the recipe below:

• 1 stick butter
• 1 C sugar
• 1/4 C water
• 1/4 C Champagne

1. Boil butter, sugar, and water for 3 minutes.
2. Remove from the heat.
3. Stir in champagne and let cool.

When I took the butter, sugar, and water mixture off the stove and mixed the champagne into the hot mixture it was delish and it had a strong champagne flavor. After it cooled on the cupcakes it was still great, but the champagne flavor did become a bit more subtle.


How to Glaze a Cupcake

The trick I learned for glazing a cupcake is dip the cupcake into the pot of glaze and twist the cupcake as you take it out to keep the glaze from dripping off. Coincidentally, dip and twist sounds like a move from my new hip-hop class. I double-dipped (a restaurant faux pas) but very important here to get a nice thick layer of glaze.

Top Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberries

Once everything cooled and dried, I topped each cupcake with a half a strawberry. While I think these are my prettiest cupcakes yet, it almost seems too easy. I didn't have to mess with piping any icing at all. Adding a strawberry seems to be the baking equivalent to taking a picture of a kid or a dog, so easy to do with almost guaranteed viewer satisfaction.

If you Like This Strawberry Cupcake Recipe, try Blackberry Cupcakes

I used this strawberry cupcake recipe to make blackberry cupcakes.