Champagne cupcakes are a wonderful way to celebrate any special occasion. These happen to be vegan, but your non-vegan friends will never know!
Earlier, I shared the story about our New Year’s Eve dinner plans. We went out to dinner with some friends, but one of them has a milk allergy. I made these vegan chocolate cupcakes for the kids but wanted to make something special for the adults too.
The husband is a huge fan of my champagne cupcakes but wanted to make a vegan version so the wife could enjoy them too. Since I’m an inexperienced vegan baker, I turned to the experts to find something that would work. I found a promising recipe and gave it a whirl.
The cupcakes didn’t rise as much as I had hoped so they turned out to have a flat top. To hide their ugliness, I adorned it with a bunch of frosting. I used vegetable shortening as the base for the frosting and it turned out great.
The cupcakes were a big hit, and my friend was very grateful to be able to eat these after dinner. She usually has to order the sorbet at dinner and was pleased to been able to eat the cupcakes this year. Even though we were all stuffed from our meal, she still sampled a cupcake afterwards. She enjoyed it a lot, and the husband even said that he would be happy just eating the frosting alone.
Even though our lives are getting busier with each passing year, I am grateful that we still make this an annual tradition to celebrate New Year’s together.
Vegan champagne cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup champagne or sparkling wine
- 1/4 cup oil such as canola or vegetable
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract can substitute with 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
Frosting
- 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
- 3-4 cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 Tablespoons champagne or sparkling wine
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the cupcakes
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard muffin pan with cupcake liners and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix together the champagne, oil, lemon extract, and vanilla extract. Pour this into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and mix until everything just comes together.
- Evenly distribute the batter into your prepared muffin pan, filling each well about 2/3 to 3/4 full.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.
Make the frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer, beat the shortening on medium speed until smooth and fluffy. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add in the powdered sugar.
- Add in the champagne and vanilla and mix well. Keep adjusting by adding more powdered sugar if the frosting is too runny, or more champagne if it's too dry.
- Decorate the tops of the cupcakes once they have cooled. I used a large open star tip to decorate my cupcakes. Add sprinkles if desired.