members recipes

Here are my UltraViolette Kir Royale Cupcakes: a pink champagne cupcake infused with violet, topped with a kir royale buttercream, fresh raspberries and served in a white chocolate cup. This is more than decadent...it\'s a champagne lovers\' sweet dream!

Ingredients
Makes about 16 cupcakes
For white chocolate cups:
4 bars white chocolate
2 tbsp• shortening
16 cupcake liners

For pink champagne cupcakes:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsps• baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 ozs• unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups sugar
¾ cup pink champagne
6 egg whites
2 tbsps• Confit de Violette (or you could use a syrup like Monin), optional
Pinch salt

Kir Royale Frosting:
4 ozs• unsalted butter, softened
4-6 cups powdered sugar
2 tsps• Sirop de Grenadine (or for extra punch, you could use Crème de Cassis or Chambord)
2 tsps• champagne

Method
To make chocolate cups: Melt chocolate and shortening in a double boiler. Stir until smooth. Slowly pour about 1 tbsp. chocolate into cupcake liners and swirl around so that chocolate coats bottom and 2/3 sides of the liner. Place on flat surface and allow to cool. To speed the cooling process, place in fridge. Once cups have hardened, repeat process to coat with a second layer of chocolate. Once the chocolate has hardened, peel off paper wrapper. Keep cool until you are ready to assemble cupcakes.

1) Pre-heat oven to 350/180 degrees. Grease 1 12-cup cupcake tin and 4 cups of second tin.

2) Sift baking powder, salt and flour in medium-sized bowl and set aside

3) Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Alternately beat in flour mixture and champagne, blending well after each addition. Briefly warm confit de violette in microwave to get it to a thick liquid consistency and stir in to combine.

4) Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff and fold into batter, mixing just to combine.

5) Fill cupcake tins 2/3 full. Do not overfill as the batter really rises - must be the champagne! Fill unused cup molds halfway full with water. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Once cool, remove cupcakes from tin and continue to cool on a wire rack.

6) For the frosting, beat 4 cups butter and sugar until creamy and soft. Slowly add champagne and Chambord and continue beating until frosting is of good spreading consistency. If too thin, progressively add more sugar. If too thick, add more champagne.

7) Frost cooled cupcakes and place in individual chocolate cups. Top with raspberries.

Tchin tchin, mes amis, a votre santé!