April 29th is almost upon us and with it comes a barrage of TV and magazine specials, tea towel souvenirs and of course cake! Lots and lots of cake. In case you missed it check out my guest post on Cupcakes Take The Cake on Royal Wedding Cupcakes in the UK. I've never had so much fun doing research before!
At the real wedding there will be a fruit cake made by Fiona Cairns and a McVities biscuit cake. I reviewed Fiona's book Bake & Decorate earlier. Read it here and see the three recipes I tested. April 29th has been declared a bank holiday so I have the day off from work. I haven't decided how I'm going to celebrate yet!
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I'm not a huge fan of fruit cake so I made a peach champagne cupcake complete with juicy peach chunks and topped with a luscious champagne swiss meringue buttercream. The cases are made by Meri Meri.
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I bought a mini bottle of Spanish cava at the supermarket which is just enough for the both the cake and frosting. I think swiss meringue buttercream is my favorite kind of frosting at the moment. It's just so fluffy and fun to pipe.
Peach Champagne Cupcakes and Champagne Swiss Meringue Buttercream
adapted from Martha Stewart and Yum Sugar (makes 16)
Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick/115g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla (peach flavoring also optional)
1/2 cup champagne or cava
1 cup diced peaches, tossed in flour
Frosting
5 egg whites
1 cup sugar
4 sticks/450g unsalted butter, chilled cut into cubes
4 sticks/450g unsalted butter, chilled cut into cubes
a few tablespoons of champagne or cava to taste
1 tsp vanilla
1. Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C and line muffin tray with paper liners. In a small bowl whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
2. With an electric mixer on high speed mix cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time beating until combined. Add in the vanilla and peach flavoring (if using).
3. Add the flour mixture in two batches alternating with the champagne until all incorporated. Fold in the chopped peaches.
4. Fill each cup three quarters full and bake for 25 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.
5. Make the frosting by whisking the egg whites and sugar over a double boiler until warm and the sugar has dissolved.
6. Pour the mixture into a large bowl and beat on medium high speed until smooth and fluffy, about 10 minutes. When the bottom of the bowl is no longer warm start adding the butter one cube at a time. Continue beating until all the butter is added and add the vanilla and the champagne one tablespoon at a time. Don't add too much or the frosting will go runny.
7. Once the cupcakes are cool pipe a generous amount of frosting on each and enjoy!
