Name: Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: ¾ cup granulated sugar (150g); 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature (85g); 1⅓ cups all-purpose flour (175g); 2 teaspoons baking powder (7g); ½ teaspoon salt (2g); 1 large egg, at room temperature; 1 large egg white, at room temperature; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (5 ml); ⅔ cup champagne, prosecco, or sparkling wine (160 ml); 1 cup champagne, prosecco, or sparkling wine (240 ml); 8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature (113g); 1¾ cups powdered sugar (225g); ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (3 ml); 6 strawberries, diced (optional); Gold sprinkles (optional); ½ cup strawberry champagne jam

Jump to Recipe

With champagne in the cake, buttercream, and strawberry jam filling in these strawberry champagne cupcakes, this homemade cupcake recipe checks all the boxes for a romantic cupcake. Strawberry champagne cupcakes are fit for any celebration, like Valentine’s Day, New Year’s Eve, anniversaries, and birthdays.

When made with the strawberry champagne jam, these cupcakes use an entire 750 ml bottle of champagne! The carbonation in the champagne helps give the cupcakes an extra airy texture that pairs beautifully with the rich buttercream and sweet jam filling.

A single strawberry champagne cupcake on a small cupcake stand, with more cupcakes on a cake stand behind it. — Pretty as a princess, this strawberry champagne cupcake is a showstopper.

Ingredients for Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

You won’t find complicated or hard-to-find ingredients for these cupcakes here. The cupcakes and buttercream are made with ingredients that you’ll likely already have in your pantry and fridge, with the possible exception of strawberries and champagne.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make these strawberry champagne cupcakes at home:

Granulated sugar. In addition to giving the champagne cake a sweet taste, sugar also keeps the cake moist and prevents it from being dry.
Unsalted butter. Use unsalted butter to keep your cake moist and not overly salty, as each butter brand uses a different amount of salt in each stick.
All-purpose flour. This recipe works well with all-purpose flour, not cake flour, to give the cake its structure.
Baking powder. Baking powder gives the champagne cake its rise.
Salt. Just a pinch helps to enhance the flavor.
Eggs. Eggs contain emulsifiers and protein that help hold the cake together.
Vanilla extract. An extra oomph and bit of flavor to balance out the champagne.
Champagne, prosecco, or sparkling wine. Use the variety of champagne or sparkling wine you like best here!
Strawberry champagne jam. Either homemade or store-bought strawberry champagne jam is best, but plain strawberry jam works in a pinch as well.
Powdered sugar. Without powdered sugar, American buttercream would have no structure.
Strawberries. A necessity for strawberry champagne cupcakes!
Gold sprinkles. While entirely optional, gold sprinkles really sell the “champagne” portion of these cupcakes.

Ingredients needed to make the champagne cupcakes on a white quartz counter. — There are no surprise ingredients in these strawberry champagne cupcakes—just strawberries, champagne, and standard cake ingredients!

Ingredients needed for the filling and frosting on strawberry champagne cupcakes. — There are no surprise ingredients in these strawberry champagne cupcakes—just strawberries, champagne, and standard cake ingredients!

Quick Tips for Prepping Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

This recipe makes about 12 cupcakes (maybe 14 if you prefer smaller cupcakes). I always use large paper liners. Large liners seem to fit in muffin pans better than standard ones, and they prevent your cake from spilling over the edge. I have four of these cupcake pans from Nordic Ware and love them!

Creaming your butter and sugar together will result in a light and fluffy cupcake. You’ll want to beat your egg and egg white into the creamed butter and sugar thoroughly. There are emulsifiers in egg yolks that help this process along, and having your eggs at room temperature help make the mixture homogenous.

A spatula holds up creamed butter and sugar. — Be sure to cream your butter with the sugar until the butter looks fluffy, then add in your egg and egg white one a time.

Two hands separate an egg into a stand mixer bowl. — Be sure to cream your butter with the sugar until the butter looks fluffy, then add in your egg and egg white one a time.

The carbonation in champagne helps make the champagne cake extra fluffy. It’s important to mix only until ingredients are combined to keep as many champagne bubbles in tact as possible.

By alternating the wet and dry ingredients, you reduce the potential to overmix the cake batter. Overmixing the cake batter will result in a dense and gummy cake, which no one wants. Gluten takes a while to develop, however, so it’s pretty difficult to get a truly inedible cake if you follow the recipe. I write them as detailed as possible so that you know exactly what you’re looking for in each step!

A bowl of flour hovers over a stand mixer. — By alternating the wet and dry ingredients, it’s much more difficult to overmix the batter and develop too much gluten.

A measuring cup with champagne pours champagne into a stand mixer. — By alternating the wet and dry ingredients, it’s much more difficult to overmix the batter and develop too much gluten.

Quick Tips for Prepping Champagne Buttercream

Reducing the champagne for the buttercream is imperative for this recipe’s success. Fortunately, it’s incredibly easy.

Why Do You Have to Reduce the Champagne for the Buttercream?

Adding the full cup of champagne straight from the bottle would water the buttercream down incredibly, so we have to reduce the water content. Additionally, champagne is a weak flavor compared to all the sugar in the buttercream. For the full flavor to come through, the champagne has to be reduced.

How to Reduce Champagne

In a small saucepan over medium low heat, bring the champagne to a simmer. Let the champagne simmer for about 20 minutes, until the champagne has reduced to ¼ cup (60 ml).

And although my favorite kitchen task is stirring, stirring is not needed here.

The more champagne you reduce, the stronger the champagne flavor will be. I reduce one cup (240 ml) down to ¼ cup (60 ml), but you could use up to 2 cups (480 ml) for a more intense champagne flavor. If it’s between letting a leftover cup of champagne sit in your fridge or using it up, I’d recommend using the extra cup here.

A small saucepan pours champagne reduction into a measuring cup. — Champagne reduction has a much darker color because the water and alcohol have evaporated out of the drink, leaving behind all the flavor.

Adding the Champagne Reduction to the Buttercream

Once you have reduced the champagne, allow it to cool entirely before adding it to the buttercream. If the reduction is hot, it will melt the butter and turn the champagne buttercream into champagne butter soup.

Once you’ve mixed your buttercream together, transfer it to a piping bag for easy decorating.

A measuring cup pours champagne reduction into a Tablespoon over a stand mixer bowl. — Measure out only half of the reduction to use in the buttercream; the rest will be brushed onto the tops of the cupcakes.

Assembling Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

To fill these cupcakes with strawberry champagne jam, you’ll need to remove the center piece of cake in each cupcake. You can use a paring knife or a cupcake corer to do this. I prefer the paring knife myself. It allows me to get a more shallow cut and fill the cake with more jam, but the cupcake corer is certainly faster.

To remove the center of your cupcake with a paring knife, cut out a cone in the center of each cupcake. Use a 45° angle to keep the tip of the knife angled toward the center of the cupcake at all times.

A hand cuts the center cone out of a cupcake. — Cut a cone out of the center of the cupcake, then fill the cavity with strawberry champagne jam.

A small spoon adds jam to the center of a cupcake. — Cut a cone out of the center of the cupcake, then fill the cavity with strawberry champagne jam.

Pop the piece of cake out and place a heaping teaspoon of strawberry champagne jam inside. Add the cake piece back on top of the filling, pressing down lightly to make sure it stays in place.

Then, brush the remaining champagne reduction onto the tops of the cupcakes.

Two hands replace the cake on top of the jam. — Replace the cake cone on top of the filling, then brush the remaining champagne reduction onto the tops of the cupcakes.

Champagne reduction is brushed onto the top of a filled cupcake. — Replace the cake cone on top of the filling, then brush the remaining champagne reduction onto the tops of the cupcakes.

Decorating Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

Then, it’s time to frost and decorate! I used an open star tip to pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes. Then, I like to decorate with half of a strawberry and gold sprinkles on top, but you can use whatever you like: Gold sprinkles, gold leaf, even plain looks great!

Champagne buttercream is piped on top of a strawberry champagne cupcake. — Finally, pipe your buttercream, add gold sprinkles, and top with half of a strawberry cut in half lengthwise.

A hand places half a strawberry on a strawberry champagne cupcake. — Finally, pipe your buttercream, add gold sprinkles, and top with half of a strawberry cut in half lengthwise.

Note: You can also use diced strawberries on top, just dab them with a towel first to absorb some of the juice. Otherwise, the red juice can start to run down the buttercream onto the cupcake, and it doesn’t look quite as neat.

Other Recipes You May Enjoy

If you enjoyed this recipe, try my cherry almond cupcakes. Two kinds of cherries fill an almond-flavored cake for an absolutely stunning duo.

Looking for more of a breakfast-y little cake? My caramel chai muffins are made with a beautifully chai-spiced cake and topped with salted caramel.

If boozy desserts are your thing, I also have a recipe for a reinvented tiramisu layer cake. Moist coffee sponge cakes are layered with a real tiramisu filling and frosted with a delicious Kahlua and mascarpone frosting.

Dish Cleanup: Gonna Take Awhile

I rate my recipe clean-ups on a scale of 1 to 5. 1 is only a handful of dishes, and 5 is everything including the kitchen sink.

These strawberry champagne cupcakes have a cleanup rating of a 4. Most of these dishes are pretty standard for cupcake recipes. Since the cupcakes are filled, there are a handful more dishes, but nothing too extensive. Definitely worth it for the perfect balance of strawberry and champagne!

Dishes used to make the champagne cupcakes. — All the dishes used to make strawberry champagne cupcakes at home. While there are more dishes than a standard cupcake recipe, this is on par for filled cupcake recipes.

Dishes used to make the champagne buttercream and decor. — All the dishes used to make strawberry champagne cupcakes at home. While there are more dishes than a standard cupcake recipe, this is on par for filled cupcake recipes.

Yield: 12 cupcakes