Gluten Free Champagne Cupcakes

Don’t let another New Year’s Eve go by without making these gluten free champagne cupcakes. Their intense champagne flavor and light texture will knock your socks off!

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When I first made these cupcakes, I had no idea they’d become the hit that they are in my family. They’re so light and luscious, you’d never know they’re gluten free. They’re one of my mom’s and son’s favorite cupcakes that I make, which says a lot because Brandon isn’t into champagne at all.

What Makes These Gluten Free Champagne Cupcakes So Special?

When I was making the cupcakes, I was trying to figure out how to get the most flavor from the champagne without there being too much liquid in both the cake and frosting.

The cake part was pretty easy. I just substituted 1/3 cup of the milk in the recipe with bubbly champagne. That was just enough to have the essence of the champagne without altering the consistency of the batter.

But what about the frosting? A lot of liquid added to buttercream will just make it soupy and not hold up well when piping. So I used an old trick and reduced the champagne to a syrup. And let me tell ya, this champagne syrup is like liquid gold (or pink in this case). The flavor of the champagne is intensified so a little goes a long way, which is perfect for adding to buttercream.

The Easy Cake Recipe

This vanilla cake is so easy to whip up in no time. And because of the vegetable or canola oil used as the fat (instead of butter), the cake is very light in texture. This is one of my favorite cake recipes for that reason. Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely LOVE butter (if you haven’t yet figured that out), but there’s plenty of butter in the buttercream and I like the lightness of the cake itself. Here are the ingredients:

• Vegetable or canola oil
• Granulated sugar
• Eggs
• Kim’s gluten free flour blend — you can use any other blend you’d like, such as Cup4Cup.
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Vanilla extract
• Whole milk
• Champagne — I like to use Barefoot Bubbly Pink Moscato Champagne, but whatever brand you’d like is fine.
• Sour cream

Making the Most Fantastic Champagne Buttercream

After popping open the bottle of champagne, pour 1/3 a cup of into a small measuring cup and use that in the cake as instructed. Dump the rest of the entire bottle into a small to medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce it to a simmer and let it simmer down until it reduces to about 3-4 tablespoons. Remove it from the heat and pour it into a small container and allow it to cool completely.

This buttercream is an American buttercream, but is one of the best American buttercreams you’ll ever have! The ratio of butter to sugar is 1:1 in weight, which is not the typical amount. Usually there’s way more sugar to butter, which is why most people think American buttercream is sickeningly sweet.

Begin by briefly whipping cool room temperature butter until smooth. Then add the powdered sugar, a little at a time, pulsing so it doesn’t all go flying in your face, haha!

Once all the powdered sugar has been added, drizzle in 3 tablespoons of champagne syrup and the vanilla extract on low, followed by pink gel color if desired. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Then bump the speed up to medium high and mix until the buttercream is lighter in color and texture and is smooth and creamy, about 5 minutes.

For the love of all that is cupcakes, I urge you to make these gluten free champagne cupcakes for your New Year’s Eve party, or just because. You’ll be in heaven with how light and airy and decadent they are!

Adapted from Jennifer Shea’s classes on Bluprint

Gluten Free Champagne Cupcakes was originally posted on December 30, 2018. It has been updated with new pictures, new techniques, and an easier cake recipe.