Pink Moscato Strawberry Cupcakes

Not gonna lie, these cupcakes came about largely by accident. I am in no way a big drinker, although my mom has been trying to get me to drink wine with her since I was a teenager (just a glass at dinner on the holidays I mean!). I went through the normal drinking phase in college but I didn't even like it that much then, just was determined to be cool and what's cooler than a drunk, puking, hungover college girl, right? Er, anyway... I had bought my mom some of her favorite wine (white zin) the other day since I happened to be by the discount wine store (Total Wine) and decided to purchase a bottle for myself. Finally (at 27) I have discovered that if I'm going to drink wine, it has to be white and it has to be sweet. 

Helllooooo Pink Moscato! 

Deciding that I would put on an act that I am the mature adult I think I'm supposed to be, a bought a bottle and cracked it open when I had my parents over for dinner. Unfortunately, I had about a glass and a half which left me with over half a bottle that I had no other occasion to drink and didn't particularly feel like consuming without other mature adults watching to witness my own mature adultness. (In my head, I'm still 16...) 

The next day I came across a recipe for champagne cupcakes. Hmm, champagne. Did I really want to open a bottle of champagne just to make cupcakes? Then I would end up with another half empty bottle ...DUH, LIGHTBULB. Use the leftover wine, dum dum. Problem. Solved. Also I was going to visit my college friend and wine lover who I could shove the cupcakes off on. I do not like to keep my baked goods, like, at all. I actually didn't even eat a cupcake whole, it was rather deconstructed, tasting the batter, the frosting, the filling, and the cake that I cut out of the center to fill them. Anyway, here's the recipe. Just a heads up some of these measurements are approximations as I do a lot of this by taste and I recommend that you do as well!

Cupcakes:

1 box white cake mix

3 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4 cup pink moscato wine

*I actually used funfetti because I didn't have plain white! 

Combine all ingredients until well blended. Divide into cupcake liners and bake at 350 for about 12-15 minutes or until top springs back when touched. 

The best indication to me of a cupcake being done is when you can lightly press the top and not leave a mark as the cake kind of springs back. I also like to rotate the pan half way through the baking time to ensure even baking. These have a little extra liquid in them (the box calls for 1 cup water as opposed to 1 1/4 cup wine) so they may take a few extra minutes. I remove my cupcakes from the pan as quickly as I can using a knife to pop them out to stop them from over-baking from the residual heat in the pan. 

Filling:

2 cups halved strawberries 

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tbls pink moscato

It's strawberry season in Florida! And in fact, I was at the Strawberry Festival in Plant City just a few weeks ago. I had some strawberries that were nearing the end of their usability (that's a nice way of saying they were getting old, right?) and that makes them perfect for this. This sauce could also be used in just about everything... ice cream, yogurt, pancakes...you get the idea. 

This is one of the places where you can absolutely do whatever you want. I cooked the 3 ingredients in a small saucepan until the strawberries were soft and it had simmered for a couple of minutes. I then used a potato masher (yeah, like for mashed potatoes) to mash up the strawberries. You could put this in a food processor or blender to get a very smooth sauce, but for these cupcakes I still wanted to have larger pieces of fruit. Be warned, if you do use a food processor or blender this will be a very thin sauce (you could cook it down further, add a cornstarch slurry or pectin or even gelatin to thicken). I left the sauce slightly tart to balance out the sweet frosting, but you could add more sugar. Allow the sauce to cool completely before using a sharp knife to cut out the center of the cupcakes and fill. The sauce will soak into the cupcakes a bit so I go back and add more filling before frosting. 

Frosting:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted, room temperature butter

3-4 cups powdered sugar

pinch salt

1 tsp vanilla

3-4 tablespoons reduced pink moscato wine

I started by putting the wine in the same sauce pan I used to make the strawberry sauce, brought it to a boil and let it reduce down by about a quarter. This was to give a stronger wine flavor in the frosting without having to add too much liquid and making the frosting runny. Cream the butter and add the salt, vanilla and powdered sugar to taste. Again, this is dependent on how sweet you like your frosting. Add wine until you reach your desired flavor and consistency. Pipe onto cooled and filled cupcakes. 

Optional Decoration: I made these roses with a little pink and green fondant. Roll a pea sized amount of pink fondant into a strip and thin out slightly. The simply roll the fondant up and cut of the excess. I made the leaves using a small ruffled flower cutter cut in half. 

   The Verdict

My friend Brittany (the recipient) said: oh man, Danielle, they were soooo yummy and moist (the strawberry inside was ridiculous and you make the best icing EVER)! I finally un-stuffed myself long enough to eat one. I think I might have another...

Sounds like a rave to me! 

Love and Cupcakes, 

Danielle

My Pastry Story

I did it. I just did it. I made my first ever batch of Swiss Meringue Buttercream. And it was intense. I was intense. That's how I get when I'm baking, and especially when I'm attempting something I've never done before and am intimidated by. I get easily freaked out when I think I'm not doing something right, and I'm quick to give up, throw the mess away and fling myself onto my bed crying, Disney-princess-style.

I am supremely lucky that I have a husband who reminds me to breathe, and takes the cakes out of the oven while I'm whisking the egg whites, and gives me a hug when I didn't ruin it and he finally gets a taste.

Confession: I didn't go to pastry school. I have no formal pastry training (even though I work as a pastry chef assistant)

Nope, I went to a plain old state college (UCF, Go Knights!) and got the easiest degree I could think of (hospitality management). I started working in restaurants at 16. By the time I was ready for college,  I had come to the realization I would rather rip of my fingernails than work a boring office job ever (thanks to a foray into human resources at a hospital) and restaurants was where I had to be. Oh, sweet, naive 18-year-old Dani. Thought I'd get my degree and own my own restaurant by 23 (ha!).

I did get my degree in 3 years (as I said, easiest degree ever!) and then lo and behold discovered that the restaurant business is HARD, and not nearly as fun as it had been when I'd been a young, cute hostess at a popular restaurant where people bribed me to get a good table. Crappy hours (nights, holidays and ALWAYS weekends), bad pay, difficult guests and co-workers, endless drama (restaurants are tiny, real-life soap operas). But I loved it. I still love it. I still dream of my own restaurant, and I'm glad I didn't get one at 23, because inevitably I would've failed. And, it led me to pastry.

I started baking when I was old enough to stand on a step stool and stir cookie batter. My mom was not a big baker, and so for every holiday and birthday she passed the job to me. And while I always enjoyed it, for some reason it just never occurred to me to pursue it as a career. My second job out of college was at a cute breakfast/lunch cafe in a ritzy area. I started as a server but moved up to managing. We had a small bakery, and always had a part-time baker on staff (although they never seemed to last or do that great of a job). I think it was after we lost the 3rd or 4th one in a year that I told the owner that I always baked at home and instead of hiring yet another baker, I'd give it a shot. She agreed, and that's where my pastry story really starts.

The restaurant had a few signature pies and quiches on the menu that we always had to have, but other than that, the owner gave me free rein. I was like a kid in a candy store. I made everything I could. Cupcakes, cakes, pies, cookies, cake pops, even a gingerbread house. And most of what I made came out great, and people loved it, and it finally hit me that I could really do this. I started baking at home, reading blogs, watching youtube videos, playing with fondant...After two years at that restaurant, it was time for me to move on. As much fun as I was having baking, it was too much as I was also helping manage the restaurant, like I was working 2 jobs. I ended up applying at both Sea World and Disney World, and while I got calls from both, only Sea World interviewed me and gave me a job. However, 3 months later Disney called and asked if I was still interested. Umm...yes! I showed up to my interview and thanks to my Internet research I was able to adequately answer the technical baking questions (what is proofing? what is tempering?) and I also had a little portfolio of my work. They offered me the job, and that's how I started making desserts for 2000 people a day.

I've learned so much in the past few years but I still have a lot more things to master. Swiss meringue buttercream was one of them, and it feels great trying something new and getting it right. I'm hopeful that one day I won't be scared of frosting.