High Altitude Champagne Cupcakes

High altitude champagne cupcakes, frosted with silky champagne buttercream, and topped with gold sugar pearls, sparkling sugar and edible gold leaf for a touch of glamour. These cupcakes are so soft and fluffy, with a wonderful champagne flavor from using champagne in the cake batter and champagne reduction in the buttercream. The perfect champagne dessert for a New Year’s Eve party!

You might also love this high altitude champagne cake, pink champagne cake, and grapefruit champagne granita.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Perfect for the Holidays. Make these festive champagne cupcakes for Christmas or New Year’s Eve to accompany glasses of bubbly champagne, or even for a wedding, anniversary party or bridal party.

Soft, Moist and Fluffy. I used my champagne cake as a starting point when creating these cupcakes, and everyone who has tasted the champagne cake has raved about the flavor and texture. The fizzyness of the champagne lightens the cake batter, making an incredibly soft, tender, light and fluffy cake with a delicate champagne flavor.

High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• Cake Flour. Cake flour, rather than all-purpose flour, makes a very soft, tender crumb that’s just irresistible.
• Granulated Sugar. Adds sweetness and moisture.
• Baking Powder. Leavens the cake, making it rise.
• Coarse Kosher Salt. Balances the sweetness.
• Champagne. Adds moisture, flavor and sweetness. The bubbles contribute to the light and airy texture of the cake.
• Vegetable Oil. Adds moisture and keeps the cake soft and fluffy.
• Eggs. Structure and richness.
• Vanilla Extract. Flavor.

Buttercream

• Champagne. By boiling the champagne first to reduce it down to a syrup, you’ll concentrate the flavor so that you can use it to flavor the buttercream without watering it down.
• Butter. I use unsalted butter, but you can also use salted if you like.
• Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the buttercream.
• Meringue Powder. Adds stability.
• Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
• Decorations. To decorate my cupcakes, I used coarse white sparkling sugar, gold sugar pearls, and edible gold leaf.

Instructions

Cupcakes

• Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line your muffin pan with 12 paper liners, and lightly spray the bottoms of the liners with non stick baking spray.
• In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
• Add the champagne, oil, egg, egg white and vanilla, and whisk for about 10-15 seconds until smooth and well combined. The batter will be fairly thin.

• Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to measure the batter into the muffin pan, filling each cup no more than 3/4 full.
• Bake the cupcakes for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for several minutes, then gently remove the cupcakes from the pan and set them on a cooling rack. Cover the cupcakes loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting.

Buttercream

• For the champagne reduction, pour the champagne into a saucepan and set over medium heat. Simmer until the champagne is reduced to about 1/4 cup. Cool completely to room temperature.

• In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for one minute, until smooth.
• With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar, the meringue powder, and vanilla. It will be clumpy. Add the cooled champagne reduction.
• Increase the speed to medium, and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl several times, until very light and fluffy.

• Fit a piping bag with tip 1M, fill with the buttercream, and pipe the buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes.
• Decorate with the sparkling sugar, sugar pearls and edible gold leaf.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I make non alcoholic champagne cupcakes?

If you want to make this cake without champagne, try substituting another fizzy, bubbly liquid, such as Sprite, Ginger Ale, or a non-alcoholic sparkling beverage.

What is edible gold leaf?

This article by The Spruce Eats is full of helpful information.

Why do I need to make a champagne reduction for the buttercream?

To get the most champagne flavor into your buttercream without adding excessive liquid, you’ll need to make a champagne reduction. This simply means that you’ll be boiling the champagne down to let the water evaporate, leaving behind a concentrated champagne syrup.

What kind of champagne should I use?

There’s no need to buy an expensive bottle of champagne for your champagne cake, unless you really want to splurge. I’ve made champagne cakes with both Korbel and Martini & Rossi brands, which are pretty affordable and add wonderful flavor to the cake. A sweet champagne, rather than dry, adds the best flavor.

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