Wine Cupcakes Part 2 - Red Wine MiniCupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Here are the second set of cupcakes that I made in the test run for my friends Wine and Cheese party. I decided to make the red wine cupcakes into mini cupcakes basically because I am not a huge fan of red wine and thought it would be less overpowering in a smaller form. I used a Cabernet Sauvignon because that is my friends preferred type of wine. I chose not to do a wine frosting with these because red wine seems more overpowering than white wine. Whereas the white wine frosting helped enhance the wine taste of the white wine cupcakes, I was afraid red wine frosting on a red wine cupcake would overpower it. Instead I chose a basic cream cheese frosting.

Cupcake Ingredients:

* 1/2 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
* 5 oz. Chocolate (1/2 Cup plus 1 Tablespoon)
* 1/2 Cup Boiling Water
* 1 Cup Unsalted Butter
* 1 1/2 Cup Sugar
* 4 Eggs
* 1 1/4 Cup Flour
* 1 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
* 1 Teaspoon Salt
* 3/4 Cup Red Wine

* In a small heatproof bowl, combine Cocoa Powder, Chocolate, and Boiling Water.Stir until Chocolate is completely melted. Set aside.

* In a separate bowl,  sift together Flour, Baking Powder, and Salt. Set aside.

* In the bowl of your mixer cream together butter and sugar.

* Add in Eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

* Slowly add Flour Mixture to Butter Mixture until combined.

* Add half of the Chocolate Mix.

* Add the Wine, then the other half of the Chocolate Mix until blended.

* Fill prepared muffin pans.

* Bake for 20 minutes and let cool before frosting.

Frosting Ingredients:

* 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter
* 8 Ounces Cream Cheese
* 2 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar
* 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

* In the bowl of your mixer, cream Butter and Cream Cheese until smooth.

* Add Powdered Sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition.

* Add Vanilla and beat on high until Fluffy.

* Since this was just a test run for the cupcakes, I did a basic frosting job with a spoon.

* Enjoy!!