Our New Year's Eve Champagne Cupcakes Recipe Is The Perfect Way To Celebrate

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Champagne has long been associated with New Year's Eve, a tradition that turns out to have been heavily promoted by a New York restaurant in the 1930s. No matter the genesis, though, it looks to stay part of our celebrations. For recipe developer Katie Rosenhouse, "Champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries [are] definitely my favorite way to ring in the New Year." This year, however, she's come up with a less intoxicating treat that won't go flat in the fridge: New Year's Eve Champagne cupcakes. (These, like champagne pancakes, are also an excellent way to use up leftover sparkling wine once the holidays are over.)

"These cupcakes may have Champagne in the mix, but they're also just fun and satisfying, [both] presentation-wise and with their balanced flavor and moist, fluffy texture," says Rosenhouse. She explains that reducing the sparkling wine, besides lowering its alcohol content, will also give it a more acidic flavor that contrasts nicely with the super-sweet frosting. Strawberries and strawberry frosting help add a decorative touch, along with some tangy-sweet flavor of their own.

The cupcake batter is made with vegetable oil, eggs, sour cream, granulated sugar, vanilla, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and Champagne or sparkling wine. For the frosting, you'll need butter, powdered sugar, fresh strawberries, and a little more Champagne (which you'll already have reduced for the cupcakes).

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Line a standard muffin pan with 12 cupcake liners. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk to combine the oil, eggs, sour cream, 1 cup granulated sugar, and ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste.

Add flour, baking powder, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, baking soda, and ¼ cup Champagne and whisk until smooth.

Scoop or pour the batter into cupcake liners, filling about ¾ of the way.

Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until the cupcakes spring back to the touch.

Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

In a small pot, simmer ¼ cup Champagne over low heat until reduced by about half. Once reduced, set aside to cool.

Prepare soak: In a small jar or container, stir to combine the remaining Champagne (about ¼ cup) with remaining ¼ cup sugar.

Poke cooled cupcakes lightly with a fork all over.

Brush soaking liquid evenly over the cupcakes.

Prepare the Champagne frosting: Beat ¾ cup butter in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until creamy.

Add 1 ½ cups powdered sugar, the cooled Champagne reduction, and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt until smooth and fluffy. (Add a splash of milk if needed if the texture is too thick.)

Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a star tip, then beat remaining ¼ cup butter in the same stand mixer bowl.

Add the remaining 1 cup powdered sugar and diced strawberries. Beat until combined and creamy.

Use a measuring spoon or scoop to scoop out the center of each cupcake.

Pipe or spoon in strawberry buttercream to fill.

Pipe a ring of Champagne buttercream over the top of each cupcake.

Serve the Champagne cupcakes as-is, or decorate them as desired with strawberries, white chocolate-covered strawberries, festive sprinkles, or edible luster dust.

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One way to change up these cupcakes starts with the Champagne. There's no need to use the capital-C kind, since for baking purposes, a more affordable domestic sparkler will work just fine. (The one pictured here comes from California, not the Champagne region of France.) You can even use non-alcoholic sparkling cider or grape juice, since both would reduce to a similar syrup while their bubbles would give the batter a lift. 

Another possible tweak involves either omitting the strawberry filling or flavoring it with a different kind of fruit, such as raspberries or blueberries. To make these cupcakes for a different holiday, such as Valentine's Day or Mother's Day, you could also add some red food coloring to the batter to tint it pink. It's also possible to add cocoa powder to the frosting to make cupcakes reminiscent of those chocolate-covered strawberries so strongly associated with both holidays. For a lighter frosting, you could try whipped cream, which freezes beautifully. As for the toppings, feel free to use a sprinkling of crushed, freeze-dried fruit instead of fresh or go with colored sprinkles, shaved chocolate, or even small cookies.

There are a number of different ways that these cupcakes can be prepared in advance. They should last up to three days in the refrigerator once baked and frosted, so feel free to make them a day or so before you need them. It's also possible to freeze them for longer storage, which you might want to do if you're baking them after New Year's to use up any opened and half-drunk bottles. Frozen cupcakes can either be unfrosted or frosted, but in the latter instance, you may want to flash-freeze them uncovered to set the frosting before storing them in a plastic container.

Whether you're preparing the cupcakes a day or a month ahead of time, it's best to wait until the last minute to apply any decorations. Sliced strawberries, if frozen, tend to be watery upon thawing, while colored sprinkles left in a moist environment might bleed into the frosting so you wind up with a look that's more muddy than festive.

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