Pink Champagne Cake and Cupcakes

What a great Mother's Day gift if I do say so myself!  Pink Champagne Ombre cake or cupcakes.  First I started with the cake.  I had been wanting to make an ombre cake so I used a box cake mix to practice with.  I used Pillsbury but you can use any one.  Instead of the water called for on the box just use pink champagne.  Now how easy is that!

I used Andre.  You can find it at your local store and it's really cheap.  As you can see it is almost all gone.  This is one drunkily cake as my friend Susana said.  (hehe)

I made a three layer cake and then made cupcakes with the rest of the batter.  I colored each layer with different shades of pink using Wilton gel color. 

Then frosted each layer and crumb coated which is just adding a thin layer of frosting on the outside. 

Starting at the bottom with the darkest pink, I used a 1m Wilton tip to make roses and end with the lightest color on top. 

Now isn't that a pretty cake and so easy!  I ran out of frosting at the very top but you didn't see that right?  :)

 

Look how pretty the inside looks with the three different color ombre layers. 

 

 

 

 

Let's get to the cupcakes.  I had enough batter left over to make about 8 cupcakes.

I found a recipe for a filling I wanted to try.  I wish I could remember where I found it so I could give them credit but hopefully they will forgive me.  Yes I know I should write these things down or save the website. 

I box vanilla pudding
1/4 cup pink champagne
1/2 cup milk
Whisk together one minute.  Set in refrigerator for 5 minutes.

Using my neat little gadget from King Arthur Flour I made a hole in the center of the cupcake and filled it with pudding, then place the top back on.

Now they are ready for frosting.  3 different tips.  2D Wilton tip for rose.  Wilton 22 for rosettes and Wilton 1m for bigger swirl.  Topped with edible dragon flies and butterflies from Sugar Robot Inc. on Amazon.com.

Any buttercream frosting will work just add 1/4 cup pink champagne and 1/4 cup milk along with butter and a pinch of salt, confectioners sugar.

You could have a glass of pink champagne with your cake or cupcakes but I literally used the whole bottle.  Happy "drunkily" Mother's Day! 

If you'd like to order a cake or cupcakes, I would make them from scratch but they would still contain pink champagne. Of course you could have a pink cake with no liquor but what fun would that be?   $35 for a cake.  Cupcakes 6 for $15 or 12 for $30.  281-804-3032. 

Thanks for sharing in my adventures!  Happy Mother's Day to everyone!   Deana :)

Gluten Free Coconut Lime Cupcakes

I have a favorite coconut cupcake recipe that I have used before that I got from simplyrecipes.com so I decided to use Bob's Red Mill gluten free all purpose flour to make this cupcake gluten free.

It's easy to find at your local Kroger store in the healthy food section.  Most recipes suggest adding xanthan gum to any gluten free flour so I also bought Bob's Red Mill at Kroger.  This is quite expensive but you only need a little so it will last a long time.

The batter seemed really thick but I thought I'd bake them and see what happens.  They came out crumbly more like a biscuit.  This recipe didn't have much sugar either which might be great for a biscuit, not so much for a cupcake.

As you can see they didn't look that good.  I didn't even bother tasting them.  Into the trash for that batch.  In all fairness I will give Bob's Red Mill flour another chance but maybe in another recipe.  I'll let you know next time I try it. 

So next I tried another recipe from Barefoot Contessa.  Her recipe was for 24 but I only wanted to experiment with 12 just in case so I cut the recipe in half and used King Arthur gluten free flour this time.

Here is the recipe I used.  I made some changes of course.  The original recipe called for buttermilk but I already had coconut milk from the other recipe so I just used that instead. 

Gluten Free Coconut Lime Cupcakes
1 1/2 sticks butter, room temp
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, room temp
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1 1/2 cups gluten free King Arthur all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup shredded coconut
3/4 tsp. xanthan gum (this was Bob's Red Mill)
2 Tbsp. King Arthur cake enhancer (optional)

Preheat to 350.  Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy about 5 minutes.
Add eggs one at a time just until incorporated.
Combine sifted flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, xantham gum, and cake enhancer in one bowl.
In another bowl, combine well stirred coconut milk, vanilla and almond.
Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients then 1/2 of the coconut milk mixture alternating with wet and dry ending with dry.
Just until incorporated.  Do not overbeat.
Fold in shredded coconut. 
Fill cupcake liners 1/2 to 3/4 full. Bake 18 to 22 minutes.
Done when toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool for a couple of minutes then transfer to wire rack for cooling.

Ahhhh, much better!  They smelled divine too!

I decided to frost them with a lime cream cheese frosting and then sprinkled with toasted coconut and a lime slice on top. 

Making toasted coconut is so easy.  Just sprinkle a thin layer of coconut on a baking sheet at 300 in the oven for about 10 to 20 minutes.  I didn't want mine too dark so I just toasted for about 12 minutes. 

Recipe for Lime Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 sticks unsalted butter (room temp)
2 8 oz. cream cheese (not room temp)
16 oz. powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
2 limes zest and juice
lime slices for decorating

Combine all ingredients and start frosting.  I used Ateco 867 tip for this one. 

Now you're probably wondering how these taste!  Well you will have to order some for yourself or come by and help me eat these before they are all gone. 

Thanks for sharing in my adventures! 

Until next time, Deana :)