Almond Champagne Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners. In a stand mixer bowl, whip together almond paste, butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until fluffy. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, milk, vanilla, and baking soda. In a third bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, spices, and salt. Alternate adding egg mixture and flour mixture to the sugar and butter mixture just until completely combined. Do not over-mix. Spoon batter into a plastic sandwich bag, cut off the tip of the bag, and pipe batter into paper cupcake liners until each is 2/3 full. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from the pan and allow to cool completely.

Almond Champagne Buttercreme:

Cut sticks of room temperature butter into tablespoon-sized slices and set aside. Scoop marshmallow fluff into a stand mixer bowl and begin to mix on medium speed. Pop open new bottle of Wilson Creek Almond Champagne and measure 1 cup. Add champagne to marshmallow fluff and continue mixing until combined. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl to retrieve all of the marshmallow fluff and combine with champagne. Continue mixing. Pour in vanilla. Gradually add in slices of butter while beating well to combine each addition. Continue until all butter has been added and mixture is smooth. Scrape bowl again and continue mixing while adding powdered sugar until all is well combined. Add extra sugar if needed to adjust texture. Frosting should be soft and creamy but able to hold a shape for decoration on the cupcake.

Using a butter knife or frosting spreader, cover each cupcake with thin layer of buttercreme. Choosing well-shaped almond slices, place each piece of almond into the buttercreme on the edge of the cupcake, in a single row, creating a flower petal appearance all the way around the cupcake.

Spoon the rest of the frosting into a piping bag or tube with a star-shaped tip. Pipe one full spiral of frosting onto the top of the cupcake until covered. (It is not recommended to pipe on more frosting than this to create a cone-shaped appearance on top of the cupcakes like seen in the picture. This much frosting looks pretty, but is too much frosting for eating when serving to guests.)

Lightly sprinkle frosting with decorative sugar.

Decorative Candy Cupcake Topper:

Place liquid candy tubes in hot water to soften. On a computer, select desired font, size, and word content for the cupcake topper. Place several copies of text on a Word document and print on a regular sheet of paper. Place a page of text on a flat surface and cover with clear parchment paper. Using liquid candy, pipe and trace over text on the parchment paper. Make sure all letters or numbers are attached to one another, creating one single cupcake topper. After text is completed, pipe on a thick attached stem to the bottom of the text, creating a type of stake to insert the candy text into the cupcake frosting. Allow candy pieces to dry completely, about 20 minutes.

Gently remove candy text from the parchment and delicately press into the frosting on the cupcake.

Step back and be super impressed with yourself! Now, invite lots of people over who will oooh and ahhh over these and then devour them with you on a very special occasion.

Happy 2010!