{Chocolate Covered Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes}

I know I have been slacking in the cupcake department, but I got a little sad when my dentist told me to stop eating cupcakes. Pffft, what does she know anyways! So, today I bring you a Valentine's treat that I have been fantasizing over for the past month: Chocolate Covered Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes! I got the idea to make these when we kept neglecting a bottle of Champagne in our fridge. I finally said, "Fine! I'll put them in some cupcakes!" And I did!

I started off my baking by covering some strawberries in chocolate with my hubby. It was a fun way for us to cook and spend time together. So we just melted some white chocolate and some semi-sweet chocolate in a homemade double-broiler (which is just a heat resistant bowl sitting in a pot of boiling water, but not touching the water!). Then we carefully dipped the strawberries in chocolate and drizzled them with the other chocolate with a fork. We let them sit on cookies sheet covered with parchment paper. Easy peasy!

Next comes the cupcakes. I got the recipe from Georgetown Cupcakes (also known as DC Cupcakes if you watch their show on TLC) who made these Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes for New Year's Eve for Oprah. I was really stoked to find a recipe by them because I absolutely adore their shop and their cupcakes are delicious. We frequent their cupcake shop often because it's right by my work. (I truly think Georgetown Cupcake is the only perk to living here.)

Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes:
1/2 cup fresh strawberries, diced
1/2 cup good Champagne (the one I had on hand was really dry, but choose whichever champagne you like, sweet or dry)
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 stick of unsalted butter, room temp
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs, room temp
2 1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean
1 1/4 cups whole milk, room temp

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line 2 cupcake pans with paper liners.
2. Dice up 1/2 cup of fresh strawberries and soak in 1/2 cup of Champagne. Set aside.
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
4. Place the unsalted butter in the bowl of a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer. Add the sugar; beat on medium speed until well incorporated.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing slowly after each addition.
6. Combine the vanilla extract, vanilla bean seeds and milk in a large liquid measuring cup.
7. Reduce the speed to low. Add a little of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then gradually add some of the milk mixture, beating until well incorporated. Continuing alternating the addition of the flour and milk until all the ingredients are included. (Always start and end with the dry ingredients!)
8. Gently fold in the diced Champagne-soaked strawberries, just until incorporated.
9. Scoop batter into baking cups and bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Since I really wanted to capture the chocolate covered strawberry aspect in this cupcake, I chose to do two different chocolate butter creme frostings that match my chocolate covered strawberries that I made earlier. I followed this recipe that I posted a few weeks ago and made a white chocolate and a semi sweet chocolate butter creme frosting.

Once my cupcakes were cooled, I covered 12 with the chocolate frosting and 12 with the white chocolate frosting. Then to make it look pretty I topped with opposite covered strawberries. They were so pretty I didn't even want to eat them... But I did! And they were DELICIOUS.

Now, go make these for your sweetie! Just because Valentine's Day is over doesn't mean you have to stop treating your loved ones to yummy baked goods! <3

My favorite chocolate cupcake recipe ever.

Earlier this year, I ran across this amazing (complete understatement) recipe for what the website called "Guinness Gasm" cupcakes. I made them for St. Patty's Day and my life has been a million times better ever since. The recipe, essentially, is a chocolate cake with a buttercream frosting, but the kick is that the cake has Guinness Stout in it and the frosting they use has Bailey's Irish Cream Liquor in it so it is like an Irish Car Bomb in cupcake form! To be honest, this is my "go-to" chocolate cake because it's delectable! I am going to put the recipe on here for you all, but I highly suggest going to the website itself and reading their recipe because whoever wrote it has an incredible sense of humor.
Cupcakes (makes 24):
1 cup Guinness
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and line your cupcake trays. You can make normal or mini-sized cupcakes.
2. Chop the butter into squares, doesn't have to be perfect it just helps it melt faster, and throw them into a sauce pan over medium heat. Add the Guinness and let it come to a simmer (this helps cook off the alcohol, but not the stout flavor).
3. As the butter and beer are simmering, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt into a large mixing bowl.
4. After the butter and Guinness have simmered, remove from heat and add the cocoa powder. Let this cool for a minute.
5. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and sour cream together with an electric mixer until smooth. Combine this mixture with the cooled butter and Guinness concoction.
6. Combine the creamy chocolate Guinness goodness into the bowl of dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt) you have set aside. Gently stir until all is combined.
7. Fill your cupcake trays, each cup should be 3/4 of the way full.
8. Bake the cupcakes for 15 minutes.
9. Allow the cupcakes to cool before frosting them!

Frosting:
3 to 4 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup room-temperature, unsalted butter
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream

1. Put the butter in a bowl (or your electric mixer) and beat it until it's some sort of fluffy.
2. Mix in the confectioner's sugar one cup at a time.
3. Finally, add in the Bailey's one tablespoon at a time until it has enough flavor for you.
4. Frost your delectable chocolate cupcakes once they are cooled.
5. DEVOUR.

You can also use a simple buttercreme frosting if you aren't a big drinker (which basically means, replace the Bailey's with 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract).

These cupcakes are always a big hit, so if you are making them for a party, make a lot. :)