Champagne Cupcakes With Sweet Champagne Buttercream Frosting

Last week of summer and I spent it with full intention, doing the things I wanted to carry with me into the school year. I finished the essay collection about Southern food history that I had started in June. I reorganized my recipe binder by season as well as category, which made it feel more alive. I made one last big summer dessert: a peach layer cake with peach jam filling and vanilla buttercream, using the last good peaches of the season from the stand on Florida Boulevard. The peaches were beginning to soften and the farmer said this was the final week. I bought two pounds and used every one.

MawMaw Shirley came for Sunday dinner — a week early for her September birthday, just the family, no occasion except being together and eating well. I cooked: smothered chicken with rice and gravy, green beans long-cooked with smoked turkey, the peach cake for dessert. I had told her about the food science workshop and the dark roux paper and she had listened with her full attention. She said, "You found a way to talk about what we do in a language the world will take seriously." I said I was trying to. She said, "You are not trying. You are doing."

After dinner we sat on the porch in the cooling evening — Daddy and Mama inside watching something on television, MawMaw and me in the porch chairs with sweet tea, the street quiet. She talked about her own mother, who she had told me pieces of before but never in this sequence, this length. Her mother had cooked to survive and to give pleasure and to hold a family together through years that required all three simultaneously. The food was never just food. It was never only food. I listened for an hour without speaking. Then she patted my hand and said, "You understand all of it." I hope she is right. I am working to make her right.

The peach cake I made that Sunday was already spoken for — every last slice claimed by family before the evening was half over — but the spirit of it, that feeling of baking something celebratory for someone you love before a season closes, stayed with me long after MawMaw Shirley went home. These Champagne Cupcakes with Sweet Champagne Buttercream Frosting carry that same intention: a little lift, a little sweetness, something that says the occasion matters even when there is no occasion except the people in the room. The buttercream here reminded me of what I had piped onto that peach cake — same softness, same generosity — and I think MawMaw would approve of anything that begins with a celebration and ends with frosting.

Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup champagne or dry sparkling wine, room temperature
1/3 cup whole milk, room temperature
For the Sweet Champagne Buttercream:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
3–4 tablespoons champagne or dry sparkling wine
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Instructions

Prep the oven. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners and set aside.
Whisk the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt until evenly combined. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat softened butter and granulated sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3–4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Add eggs and vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla extract and mix until incorporated.
Alternate wet and dry. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the champagne and milk combined, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix just until no streaks remain — do not overmix.
Fill and bake. Divide batter evenly among the prepared liners, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake 18–20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the tops spring back lightly to the touch.
Cool completely. Allow cupcakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before frosting, at least 30 minutes.
Make the buttercream. Beat softened butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and gradually add powdered sugar, mixing until fully incorporated. Add champagne one tablespoon at a time, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, 2–3 minutes.
Frost and serve. Pipe or spread frosting generously onto cooled cupcakes. Garnish with a light dusting of sparkling sugar or a small edible flower if desired. Serve at room temperature.

Nutrition (per serving)

Champagne Cupcakes With Sweet Champagne Buttercream Frosting — A Little Celebration for the Last Sweet Days of Summer