Tooty Fruity Sangria Cupcakes

One can only wander through airport bookstores for so long without buying something.  And let's be serious, for me that 'so long' is not really long at all.  While traveling to Hermosa Beach, CA for a work trip, I stumbled upon a Kitson shop with all kinds of odds and ends, thus scoring the amazing cookbook Intoxicated Cupcakes: 41 Tipsy Treats by Kate Legere.  This cookbook is dynamite.  I want to try every single one of the recipes!

Tooty Fruity Sangria Cupcakes
adapted from Tooty-Fruity Sangria Cupcakes in Intoxicated Cupcakes

Cupcakes:
1 16.5oz box yellow or white cake mix
2 3.4oz boxes instant vanilla pudding mix
3/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sangria/red wine
4 large eggs
1 Tbs red food coloring (if desired)
1 cup canned fruit cocktail, drained (I used the 100 calorie version)

Icing:
8oz (2 sticks) salted butter (at room temperature)
2/3 cup chunky orange marmalade
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 Tbs heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange extract
2 tsp sangria/red wine used for cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake baking tins with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, mix all cupcake ingredients together until well combined.  Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter.  Bake for 19-23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.  Let cool in cupcake tin for at least 5 minutes and transfer to wire cooling rack.  Let cupcakes cool completely before icing.

For the icing, cream the butter and sugar together.  Add marmalade and mix until well combined.  Gradually add in the confectioners' sugar and then the remaining ingredients, mixing until everything is well incorporated.  Ice the cooled cupcakes.  I used a bag and tip to ice mine, and the frosting didn't hold as well as I expected.  If this is how you plan on icing your cupcakes, I would recommend placing the icing in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to set before icing.

I chose these as my dessert to take along to a summer barbeque and they were a hit!  The cupcake is moist and delicious while the icing wonderfully compliments the cake.  You could probably even argue that the icing steals the show because it is also just that good.  Seriously.  Make these & enjoy them with a glass of your favorite sangria!  Cheers! 

Indy: Wine & Brews

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to get away to Indianapolis this past weekend to catch up with several of my closest girlfriends from college!  Yay for a well deserved girls weekend!

After grabbing a bite to eat, we spent Saturday afternoon enjoying Easley Winery and Sun King Brewery.  They're both on N. College Avenue, literally right across the street from each other.

At Easley Winery, it was $5 for a ten minute tour and a tasting of seven wines.  Everyone was extremely friendly; they had no problem recommending restaurants for us to do lunch at & mapping out the area too.  Our guide was knowledgeable, interesting, and easy going.  He didn't even mind taking several group pictures (pretty crucial when a group of sorority girls get together, right?!)  Tasting wise, rather than choosing the seven wines you'd like to taste most, Easley divides their wines by "barrels" pairing two per barrel and you chose which wine from that "barrel" you'd like to try when the employee comes by.  I'm not a huge fan of dry wines, so naturally I was more drawn to the sweet wines.  I liked the Sweet Barrel Red and the Reggae Red was a big favorite among all five of us!  We walked away with several bottles.

Across the street at Sun King Brewery, we walked in, showed our IDs, and were handed three tickets for house beer samples and three lids for the seasonal beer samples.  It was pretty packed and had a laid back, awesome atmosphere.  We were able to sample Sunlight Cream Ale, Wee Mac Scottish Ale, Osiris Pale Ale (all house beers;) and Bitter Druid ESB, Foxy Jam Pants, and Batch 888 (all seasonal beers.)  The six beer samples cover a variety of tastes from light, to medium, very hoppy, and even a seasonal ginger beer.  I liked several of them and actually ended up buying a 32oz flip top growler and the Batch 888.  It was super reasonably priced - just over $12 for both the growler and the beer!

All in all, we had a fabulous time.  You should definitely put these on your to-visit list!

Moscato Cupcakes

In another throwback to my Christmas baking spree, pre hospital stay, I baked a batch of Moscato cupcakes with a white chocolate and wine frosting.  At this point, I'd already made the cherry cordial cookies and Kneader's peppermint brownies (which I will post later - also to-die-for) so I needed something light and in the realm of the cake world.  Being that I'm a big fan of Moscato, I settled on these.

Moscato Cupcakes 
(adapted from this recipe)

2/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cup Splenda sugar blend
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt 
2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup Moscato wine
6 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place liners in your cupcake tin.

Cream together butter and sugar.  Alternate between gradually adding in the wine and gradually adding in the dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl, beat your egg whites until they are at the very least heavily foamy.  (The original recipe said they should form stiff peaks, but alas after beating for quite some time I settled with very foamy egg whites.)  Add this to the batter and mix until well combined.

Fill the cupcake trays 2/3 full and bake for about 20 minutes.  This should yield two dozen cupcakes.

White Chocolate Moscato Buttercream

1 1/2 cup butter, softened   
6 oz Baker's white chocolate
2 1/2 - 3 cup confectioners sugar
1 1/2 tsp Moscato
pinch of salt 

Following the directions on the back of the Baker's box, melt the white chocolate in the microwave and then let cool slightly.  (It's imperative to let it cool enough, otherwise the frosting will be runny.)  Cream the butter in a mixer.  Pour in the cool, melted white chocolate and mix well.  Begin gradually adding the confectioners sugar, wine, and salt.  If you reach your desired frosting consistency before 3 cups then go ahead and stop adding.  I don't like working with slightly runny frostings on cupcakes, as it will slide easily, so I tend to add in a bit more sugar than called for and a pinch of salt to even out that extra sugar.

I will admit I was slightly quizzical about combining white chocolate and wine for the frosting, but it definitely works!  And paired with the Moscato cupcake, it's the perfect combination.  Frost you cupcakes & as always, enjoy!