Champagne and Raspberry Jubilee Cupcakes

I rarely have the time or the organisational skills required to bake and do posts for holidays and occasions e.g. Halloween, Valentines day, Thanksgiving ... you get the gist. I'm also not that into the royal family - though I do love the extra day of holiday they've given us two years in a row; thanks Queenie! - so it is against all the odds that I actually baked something in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee! Okay, so it's a couple of days late, but who's counting? Plus, this was actually ready yesterday but it was a sad day so posting a celebration recipe wasn't something I really felt like doing.

I dedicate this post to Onada; whose favourite books are 'The Other Boleyn Girl' and a book on Marie Antoinette, is mildly interested obsessed with the royal family, owns a Kate and Will wedding souvenir mug, and never tires of telling me that if she were queen, she'd send me to the tower as my indifference to the royals constitutes treason. Thank goodness she's not queen!

Since I had an open bottle of champagne and have been wanting to try this recipe from Cuckoo's Bakery in Edinburgh via Stylist Magazine, it was the perfect occasion. I'm as indifferent towards champagne as I am the royal family - I'll drink it but I'd never ask for it - but these cupcakes make champagne taste good! You can't taste the champagne in the soft, delicate cake once they've been baked but the flavour is clear in the filling and the frosting. Clear, but not overwhelming and it helps to temper down the sweetness of those two elements of the cupcake. It is an amazing cupcake! Maybe my favourite cupcake I've ever made!

As you can see, I tried to do the red, white and blue of the British flag but without much success. My cakes turned out pink rather than red and my blue is sky blue rather than navy. Ah well, who cares with cupcakes so good!

 Ingredients

160g unsalted butter
160g caster sugar
170g plain flour
2 1/2 tsps baking powder
3 large eggs, room temperature
3 tbsps champagne

125g unsalted butter at room temperature
275g icing sugar, sifted
4 tbsps champagne

8 tbsps raspberry jam
4 tbsps champagne

1. For the cake: Preheat oven to 180C / Gas Mark 4 / 350F. Line a cupcake tin with 12 cupcake cases
2. Cream the butter and sugar for two minutes using an electric mixer
3. Crack the eggs into a jug and lightly beat them, add the champagne to them
4. Combine the flour and baking powder in a bowl and add to creamed butter and sugar mixture
5. Add the egg and champagne to the bowl
6. Mix them at a medium speed for two minutes, scraping down the bowl as necessary
7. Divide the batter among liners and bake for 18 minutes. Insert toothpick to test. They are ready if the toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and leave to cool on a rack
8. For the buttercream: Place the butter into a mixing bowl and mix with an electric hand mixer until soft and whippy, about 2 minutes
9. Sift the icing sugar into the bowl and slowly blend with the mixer. Increase the speed of the mixer slightly and beat together for 4 to 5 minutes, scraping down the side of the bowl as necessary
10. Add the champagne and mix everything together for a further one minute at a slow speed
11. Filling: Mix the raspberry jam and champagne together in a bowl
12. Using an apple corer (or just a regular knife as I did), core out the centre of each cooled cake
13. Using a teaspoon, fill the cored out cake with the champagne jam mixture and replace the cored out sponge back into the cake (You'll probably have to cut off most of the sponge from the middle and only put the cored out top back onto the cupcake)
14. To decorate: Frost each of the cakes with a palette knife or piping bag and nozzle. Decorate with your favourite sprinkles, a cocktail firework or a fresh raspberry.