Grape Cupcakes Topped with Wine Whipped Cream

Grape Cupcake Man says, "I love grape cupcakes!" Grape Cupcake Man also says, "I need you to lick the Muscat wine whipped cream frosting off of my grape cupcake face - it's blocking my eyes!"

When I first made Grape Cupcake Man, my in-house food photographer refused to take the photo: "It's just too weird." Perhaps I did go a bit overboard, but I wanted to use the whipped cream and I didn't want to hide the grapes like I did here:

Clearly, Grape Cupcake Man was the only choice.

Regardless of how you frost the grape cupcakes (or if you frost them at all), these grape cupcakes are a perfect choice to serve while sitting outside with a bottle of wine, grapes, cheese, and nuts. Enjoy!

Grape Cupcake Recipe

I found a most appetizing recipe for a grape cake on the Desert Candy blog and decided to convert it to grape cupcakes. I have included the recipe with my modifications below. The main change I made was to add some ginger and pineapple flavor to replicate the tastes found in my recent punch recipe.

Makes 12 cupcakes

• 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/2 t ground ginger
  
• 1/4 t baking soda
• 1/2 C Muscat wine
• 1/2 C pineapple juice
  
• 3/4 C sugar
• 4 T (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted
• 4 T (1/4 cup) extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 C red seedless grapes

1. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and ginger into a medium-sized bowl.
2. Combine wine and pineapple juice in a small bowl.
   
3. Whisk 3/4 cup sugar, butter, and olive oil in a large bowl until smooth.
   
4. Whisk in eggs.
   
5. Add flour mixture alternately with wine/juice in 3 additions each, whisking just until smooth after each addition.
   
6. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full.
7. Sprinkle grapes over batter.
8. Bake at 400 F for 20 minutes or until top gets slightly brown.
   

Muscat Wine Whipped Cream Frosting Recipe

This Muscat wine whipped cream frosting went perfectly with the cupcakes, but it worked nicely as a dip for grapes. Yum!

• 1 C Muscat wine
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1 C heavy whipping cream

1. Bring wine and sugar to a boil in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan.
2. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer for about thirty minutes.
3. Remove from heat and bring to room temperature.
4. Whip heavy whipping cream until it looks like whipped cream.
5. Add 1/3 C of the muscat wine syrup you just made.
   

Note: Use more whipping cream or less syrup if you want a thicker frosting.