Champagne Cupcakes with Champagne Buttercream Frosting

Tomorrow I am going to a friends 30th Birthday party in Huntington Beach on a champagne boat thing. What goes better with a champagne 30th Birthday boat trip than champagne cupcakes? Nothing! This is basically the same recipe I found for white wine cupcakes, just substitute champagne for the white wine. I love how fluffy these cupcakes turn out. Its almost like angel food cake with a little extra kick added in! And yes, I did some of the champagne while baking!

Cupcake Ingredients:

* 2 3/4 Cups Flour
* 3 Teaspoons Baking Powder
* 1 Teaspoon Salt
* 2/3 Cup Butter
* 1 1/2 Cups Sugar
* 3/4 Cup Champagne
* 6 Egg Whites

* Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Line muffin pan with liners (I only needed 18)

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

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

* Add the Flour Mix and Champagne in 3 additions, starting and ending with the Flour.

* Remove batter from mixer bowl and clean it out. (Unless you are cool and have 2 bowls for your mixer, which unfortunately I am not) The batter will be thick.

*Using the whisk attachment beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

* Fold the Egg Whites into the Batter. It will start out really watery looking, just keep gently folding the Egg Whites into the Batter.

* Fill liners.

* Bake for approx. 20-25 minutes. Let cool before frosting.

Frosting Ingredients:

* 3 Cups Powdered Sugar
* 1 Cup Butter
* 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
* 3 Tablespoons Champagne

* Beat Sugar and Butter until smooth. You might want to let it go for a few minutes until it looks kind of like whipped.

* Add Vanilla and Champagne and beat for another minute or two until it looks nice and whipped.

Decorating:

* I decided that since these were for a birthday party and not just whatever as most of the stuff I make is, that I would actually try and decorate these a little and make them cute. I have a box full of sprinkles that I dipped into!

* Enjoy!!