Do you ever have leftover champagne from New Years and have no idea what to do with it? Yeah, me either. Is leftover champagne even a thing? 😉 However, if you’re looking for a “fancier” type of dessert, this one is sure to please, and you can use an inexpensive bubbly to make them. I made these for New Years Eve this year, and they were a big hit. I was looking for something different and fun, and these accomplished that perfectly.

Cake Ingredients:

• 2 sticks butter (room temp)
• 1.5 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 1 whole egg
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup champagne (the sweeter, the better – Spumante works well)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

Cake Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 350F.
• Cream the butter and sugar until smooth.
• Add egg and egg whites and beat until just combined.
• Add flour and sour cream and mix well.
• Add vanilla, baking powder, and baking soda and mix well.
• Add champagne and mix well.
• Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
• Fill each cup with batter about 3/4 of the way full.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Icing Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter (room temp)
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 3 or 4 Tbsp of champagne

Icing Preparation:

• Mix the butter and shortening until creamed.
• Add powdered sugar and mix well.
• Add champagne 1 Tbsp at a time until the icing is creamy and workable.
• Remove the cupcakes from the oven, let rest for a couple of minutes, place on a cooling rack, and let cool completely before icing.

Optional decorating:

• Use a Ziploc bag with the corner cut off the create the little icing spikes, or use cake decorating tips if you have them.
• Top with sprinkles if desired.

If you want to make these with a boxed cake mix, that’s probably okay, too. Just add champagne instead of milk or other wet ingredient. I’ve never done it this way, but, in theory, it should work.

You can decorate these however you like, of course. I tried to make mine resemble fireworks (as well as you can make icing and sprinkles resemble fireworks, anyway). At any rate, they are festive. Mission accomplished.