Easy Champagne Cupcakes
These super easy Champagne Cupcakes are made with a doctored cake mix, then filled and topped with champagne-infused buttercream. Grab this recipe when you need a treat that is super quick yet totally delicious and festive for New Year’s, engagements, promotions, or any other big celebration!
Semi-Homemade, Completely Delicious
As much as I love making a great dessert completely from scratch, I’ve come back around to embracing the beauty of a semi-homemade treat when life requires. These easy champagne cupcakes are a perfect example.
I’ve long loved this champagne layer cake, but when New Year’s Eve rolled around this year, I absolutely did not have the bandwidth to make that from scratch. I could have abandoned a homemade dessert altogether, but instead opted to whip up these semi-homemade cupcakes, and I am so glad. They are perfection: light, fluffy, delicious, and so fun and celebratory. The light texture reminds me of angel food cake, but the flavor is a cut above.
Bonus: they’re really quick and easy! In fact, I made the cupcakes with my 3 year old daughter, and my 8 year old son helped pipe the frosting. A family affair! I did let them have a taste, but they really only ate swipes of frosting, as is typical.
These cupcakes are the perfect addition to any celebration: engagement, bridal shower, graduation, a big promotion or accomplishment at work, new home, retirement, you name it. They would even make a super fun and casual wedding cake. (I made cupcakes for my own wedding party, so yes, it’s a thing!)
If champagne is appropriate, so are these cupcakes!
Pro Tip
If you bake a lot, a cupcake carrier is a great investment! Not only is it perfect for transporting cupcakes safely to parties, the office, school, etc., it’s also a convenient spot to store cupcakes at home that’s completely airtight, has a high lid to protect pretty piped frosting designs, and prevents shifting and sliding around.
Do these have a strong champagne taste?
These cupcakes have a subtle champagne taste in both the batter and the frosting. The flavor is mild–not overpowering. Keep reading for tips on how to dial it down further, or turn it up, if you prefer!
Ingredient Notes
Here are a few notes and shopping tips about the ingredients you’ll need for the cupcakes. Find full amounts in the print-friendly recipe card below.
- White cake mix – Yup, these cupcakes start with a cake mix, which keeps things perfectly quick, easy, and reliable. No shame in that game! I use Duncan Hines cake mix, which we always find delicious and is 15.25 ounces per box.
- Champagne – Use any champagne, Prosecco, or sparkling wine that you would be happy to drink! My favorite tip – you can substitute up to half the champagne with ginger ale to make these cupcakes a little more child-friendly!
- Canola oil – or any other vegetable oil you like. You just want a neutral flavor.
- Egg whites – these add body to the cupcakes without giving them a yellow tinge.
- Almond extract – adds a subtle but definitely noticeable flavor to the cupcakes that so perfectly complements the champagne and will make everyone think they are extra special. Worth picking up a bottle to keep on hand!
Champagne Buttercream
This is a standard American buttercream infused with champagne rather than milk, cream, or another liquid. You will also need butter, powdered sugar (also known as confectioners’ sugar), vanilla extra, and sea salt. As is, the frosting will have a very light champagne flavor.
Want a more intense champagne flavor in the frosting? Use a champagne reduction! Start with 3/4 cup of your champagne, place it in a small saucepan over medium heat, and simmer it down to 1/4 cup. Let the reduction cool completely, then mix into the frosting as directed. This idea is from the always reliable Sally’s Baking Recipes.
You could also try adding a smidge of champagne extract – what a fun ingredient!
How To Make Filled Cupcakes
To take these cupcakes up a notch, you can fill the centers with the champagne buttercream frosting, jam, fruit curd, or any similar spread. These are filled with buttercream. Other favorite pairings include raspberry jam, strawberry jam, or lemon curd.
The simplest way to do this is to hold a cooled, unfrosted cupcake in one hand, take a small paring knife in the other, and cut a small cone-shaped hole out of the center of each cupcake. Lift out the excess cupcake, and you’ll be left with a small open area. Spoon or pipe the filling of your choice into the empty space.
You can either pipe frosting directly on top of the filling or use the paring knife to slice off the very top edge of each cut-out, then gently pat that back on top of the filling. This small extra step does make for a smoother top and avoids any potential for sinking frosting in the middle of your cupcake.
Expert Tips
- Storage: These cupcakes keep well at room temperature for up to 4 days, but it is imperative that they be tightly covered, or they will dry out quickly. For best results use a cupcake carrier or any other plastic container with a tight-sealing lid.
- Piped Frosting: You can decorate these with any designs you like; keep it simple or make it as elaborate as you wish. For this batch, I opted to use just one type of frosting and several different tips, envisioning a fun marriage of monochrome and textural variety. Want to up your piping game? I am not personally an expert but find this guide at Beyond Frosting super helpful!
- Sprinkles: Sparkly sprinkles are obviously optional but extremely fun. I decorated this batch with a mix of leftover white and gold sprinkles from other projects, but a few great options are available on Amazon here, here, and here.
- Pink Champagne Cupcakes: Blitz 2-3 Tablespoons of freeze-dried strawberries into a fine powder, then mix this into the frosting. Fill the cupcakes with strawberry jam, top with the strawberry champagne buttercream, and you have even more elevated beauties!
More Cupcake Recipes
- Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes
- Mojito Cupcakes
- Paloma Cupcakes
- Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes
- One-Bowl Red Velvet Cupcakes
- Filled Lemon Cupcakes
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Champagne Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 1 (15.25 ounce) box white cake mix
- 1 and 1/4 cups champagne see note
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 3 large egg whites
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
For the frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 cup champagne
- white and/or gold sprinkles optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line muffin tins with paper cupcake liners. (This recipe yields 22-24 cupcakes.)
- Combine cake mix, champagne, oil, egg whites, and almond extract in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl. Beat on low for about 30 seconds just to start mixing, then increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes until very smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once if needed.1 (15.25 ounce) box white cake mix, 1 and 1/4 cups champagne, 1/3 cup canola oil, 3 large egg whites, 1 teaspoon almond extract
- Divide the batter among the cupcake liners, filling each about 2/3 to the top. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick or sharp knife inserted into the cupcake centers comes out clean.
- To make the frosting, use an electric mixer to beat the butter on high speed until very smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the powdered sugar about 1 cup at a time, starting each time on low speed, then increasing to high as it incorporates.1 cup unsalted butter, 4 cups powdered sugar
- Add vanilla, sea salt, and champagne, and continue to beat on high speed until the mixture is smooth, creamy, and light in texture. If you want to make it a bit more stiff, add extra powdered sugar, a few Tablespoons at a time.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/8 teaspoon sea salt, 1/4 cup champagne
Notes
- Ginger ale can be substituted for up to half of the champagne in the cupcakes if you prefer, whether for convenience, to reduce the alcohol content, or for any other reason.
- This yields enough frosting to decorate a batch of cupcakes in a moderately generous fashion, similar to what’s shown in the photos in this blog post. If you plan to just do a light sweep of frosting on each cupcake, you could probably cut the frosting recipe to 2/3. Conversely, if you want to go really elaborate and have extra to play, make a 1.5x batch of frosting.
- Want a more intense champagne flavor in the frosting? Use reduced champagne! Start with 3/4 cup, simmer it down to 1/4 cup, let that cool completely, then mix into the frosting as directed. Idea from Sally’s Baking Recipes.
- To keep the frosting as white as possible, use clear imitation vanilla extract.
- Cupcake recipe (barely) adapted from Pizzazzerie; frosting is a classic American buttercream infused with champagne.
