Champagne & Cupcakes/Beer & Mancakes

It’s always been a little dream of mine to host a Champagne and Cupcakes themed party -- it’s just so girly and sophisticated sounding.  Of course, most of the girls in my life have men in their lives so I decided to make it a coed party and making some “mancakes” for the boys.  My original thought was to pair the “mancakes” with beer and the elegant cupcakes with champagne but on the day of the party I decided to shake things up a bit by paring one of our cupcakes with both champagne and beer and decide which we enjoyed more.  

The menu included both savory and sweet cupcakes -- the savory ones were really fun to make up and I realized that you can pretty much turn any food into cupcake form.  

Sweet Cupcakes:

Sparkling Champagne Cupcakes - paired with Champagne and/or Frambroise

Sprinkle-Dipped Yogurt Cupcakes - paired with Stone IPA

Dulce de Leche Filled Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Icing - paired with Chocolate Stout

Mini Raspberry Cheesecakes - paired with Champagne and/or Frambroise 

Savory Cupcakes:

Pizza Cupcakes

Buffalo Chicken Cupcakes

Veggie and Goat Cheese Cupcakes 

As for the decorations, I created a fabulous and easy to make ribbon and streamer chandelier.  I simply cut out a ring of very sturdy cardboard and taped various lengths of ribbons and streamers to it.  When I had my desired effect, I used fishing line to create a way to hang it from the ceiling.  I loved it so much I left it up for a few days -- so festive!  

I also made some glittered frames to denote the Savory and Sweet cupcakes on the table.  These were plain old wooden frames from AC Moore ($1.00!) that I covered in glue and glitter.  They really made a nice sparkly {cheap} statement!  I found I didn’t need much more in the decorations department because the cupcakes arranged on various platters were so beautiful on their own.

Now on to the recipes!

Sparkling Champagne Cupcakes

from Sprinkle Bakes

Cake:

1/2 c. butter, softened

1 c. granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 3/4 c. flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 c. sour cream

1/2 c. champagne

Pastry Cream Filling:

1/2 c. heavy cream, divided

1/2 c. champagne

2 tbsp cornstarch

5 tbsp granulated sugar

1 whole egg

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.  Add vanilla and mix. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.  In a medium sized bowl, whisk champagne and sour cream.  Combine flour and champagne mixture alternately, beginning and ending with flour.  Batter will be thick.  Fill cupcake papers with 1/4 cup level measures of batter.  Bake 17 to 22 minutes.  Set aside.
2. Whisk cornstarch in 1/4 c. heavy cream, set aside.  Combine remaining heavy cream, sugar, and champagne in a saucepan.  Bring to boil then remove from heat.  Beat whole egg and egg yolks into cornstarch/cream mixture.  Pour 1/3 of boiling champagne mixture into egg mixture, whisking constantly.  Return remaining champagne/cream mixture to boil.  Pour in hot egg mixture in stream, whisking constantly.  Remove from heat and beat in butter and vanilla. Let cool.  Place filling in a pastry bag fitted with a thin piping tool.  Insert piping tool into each cupcake and fill with filling.

Champagne Frosting:

1 c. plus 1 tbsp champagne

2 sticks butter, softened

2 1/2 c. confectioners sugar

1. Place 1c. champagne in saucepan.  Simmer until reduced to 2 tbsp.  Cool.
2. Cream butter and sugar until thick and fluffy.  Pour in champagne from saucepan and additional 1 tbsp champagne.  Frost and decorate with pastel dragees.

  

Sprinkle Dipped Yogurt Cupcakes

from Crumbs and Cookies

These low-fat beauties are chewy and moist -- more like a muffin than a cupcake -- but perfectly sweet and adorably cute!

1 c. cake flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 c. sugar

1 egg

3 tbsp unsalted butter

1/2 c. yogurt (I used plain Greek yogurt)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Line mini muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Whisk dry ingredients together
3. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add in the egg and vanilla extract and beat to combine.  Add in half the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated.  Add in all the yogurt, mix to combine and mix in the rest of the flour mixture until streaks of flour have disappeared.
4. Portion out batter into prepared muffin tin and bake for about 7 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out with moist crumbs attatched

Salted Butter Icing

1 1/4 c. confectioners sugar

1 stick of salted butter

extra salt to taste

Beat butter until light and fluffy.  Gradually add the confectioners sugar and mix to moisten before increasing the speed to high and beat until pale and fluffy.  Add in extra salt if needed.

To decorate:  Apply a thin layer of icing on each cupcake and fully dip in sprinkles of choice

Dulce de Leche Filled Cupcakes with Ganache Icing

1 box chocolate cupcake mix, prepared as per directions

1 (15oz) can dulce de leche 

1 small bag salted peanuts, crushed

1 bag mini caramel cups

Ganache Icing:

Place 8 oz coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate in medium bowl and set aside.  Combine 1 c. heavy cream, 2 tbsp light corn syrup and 1/4 sick butter in saucepan.  Cook over medium until hot, not boiling.  Pour cream over chocolate and stir.  Let cool completely.

1. Prepare chocolate cupcakes according to package instructions.
2. Place dulce de leche in a pastry bag fitted with a filling tip.  Insert filling tip into each chocolate cupcake and pipe in dulce de leche.
3. Dip each cupcake in cooled ganache icing.  Sprinkle with peanuts and mini caramel cups.

Mini Raspberry Cheesecakes

from Instructables

Cheesecake:

8 oz packages cream cheese

4 eggs

1 c. sugar

1/3 c. heavy whipping cream

1 tbsp and 1 tsp flour

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

raspberry jelly

fresh raspberries for garnish

Cream Cheese Whipped Cream

2 and 2/3 c. heavy whipping cream

3 tbsp cream cheese, softened

Graham Cracker Crust

1 c. graham cracker crumbs

1/3 c. butter, melted

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1 tsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Graham cracker crust:  In a small bowl, mix together the granulated sugar, brown sugar cinnamon, and graham cracker crumbs.  Add the butter and mix well.  Set aside.
2. Make the cheesecake:  In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and cream cheese until well blended.  Add the heavy whipping cream and mix until combined.  Add the eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition.  Stir in the lemon juice and vanilla extract.
3. Assemble:  Preheat oven to 325.  Place cupcake liners in a mini cupcake/muffin pan.  Place 1 tbsp of the graham cracker mixture at the bottom of each cup, pressing it into the bottom of the cup gently.  Then place 1 tsp of raspberry jell in the center of each of the crusts.  Next, fill each cup 3/4 full with the cheesecake mixture.  Place the pan in the oven and bake 8 to 10 minutes, then turn the heat down to 275 and continue to bake for 12 to 16 minutes, or until the tops of the cheesecakes are golden.
4. Make the whipped cream:  Put the heavy whipping cram and cream cheese in a medium sized bowl.  Using an electric mixer, beat the mixture on high for 2 minutes, or until a dense and thick whipped cream forms.  Cover and fridge.
5. Once the cupcakes are done, let them cool completely.  Put the whipped cream in a frosting bag with a size 13 closed star frosting tip and pipe onto the cheesecakes.  Top with a raspberry.

Buffalo Chicken Cupcakes

Spread out a tube of refrigerated pizza dough on a flat, clean surface.  Combine 2 c. of chopped chicken with 1/3 c. Frank’s Red Hot, 1/4 c. blue cheese crumbles and 1 shallot, thinly sliced.  Evenly spread chicken mixture on pizza dough, roll up and slice like cinnamon buns.  Place each roll in a greased muffin pan.  Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes until browned and bubbly.

Pizza Cupcakes

Spread out a tube of refrigerated pizza dough on a flat clean surface.  Spread 1/3 c. of tomato sauce on dough.  Top with any assorted pizza topping you wish -- pepperoni, sausage, peppers, onions, etc.  Top with mozzarella cheese, roll up and slice like cinnamon buns. Place each roll in a greased muffin pan and bake at 425 for 15 to 20 minutes until browned and bubbly.

Veggie and Goat Cheese Cupcakes

Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray and place a wonton wrapper in each cup.  Spray each wonton wrapper.  Bake at 425 until browned, about 5 minutes.  Chop assorted veggies (I used mushrooms, zucchini, bell peppers, squash, onions) and saute with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Combine 4oz cream cheese (softened) with 4oz goat cheese (softened).  Place cheese mixture in pastry bag.  Fill up each wonton cup with veggies and pipe cheese mixture on top.